[Poetry Chaikhana] Lalla (Lal Ded) - Coursing in emptiness,

August 11, 2008

Dear Friends,

Ivan Granger, the American Poet, has given me permission to forward any relevent poems to our site as I wish, from his site Poetry Chaikhana..

Regards to all,

Alan --- On Mon, 11/8/08, Poetry Chaikhana <ivan wrote:

Poetry Chaikhana <ivan[Poetry Chaikhana] Lalla (Lal Ded) - Coursing in emptiness,alanadamsjacobsDate: Monday, 11 August, 2008, 4:11 PM

Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --

Coursing in emptiness,

By Lalla (Lal Ded)(14th Century)

English version by Coleman Barks

Coursing in emptiness,I, Lalla,dropped off body and mind,and stepped into the Secret Self.Look: Lalla the sedgeflowerblossomed a lotus.

-- from Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, Edited by Jane Hirshfield

Amazon.com / Photo by Crystalline Radical /

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Thought for the Day:

Each day should be approachedwith amazement, wonder, gratitude.Afterall, what have you doneto earn the inconceivable gift of life?

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Here's your Daily Music selection --

Zakir Hussain

Magical Moments of Rhythm

Listen - Purchase

More Music Selections

Hi Alan -Lal Ded, also affectionately called Lalla, Lal Diddi, or Lalleshwari, was born in Kashmir in northern India. As was the custom, she was a child bride, married at the age of twelve. After moving into her husband's family home, she was abused by her mother-in-law and ignored by her husband. After enduring this mistreatment for several years, she eventually escaped to take sanyas (initiation into the world of renunciates) in the Shaivite tradition. Lal Ded became a sadvi, a wandering ascetic, singing of her bliss and love for the Divine. The name Lalla means, appropriately enough, 'seeker.'--I love the opening phrase in this poem's translation: "Coursing in emptiness..." Reality is recognized as being vast and empty -- but a living emptiness! -- like a great formless sea. And the point of awareness, though supremely at rest, covers the entire spaciousness like

one reclined on a coursing clipper ship carried along by a gentle, steady wind.And in this pure state of awareness, the agitated ego-mind that constantly chants "I, me, mine, MINE!" -- that part of the mind that we normally think of as ourselves -- it grows thin and ghost-like until it disappears. Even the physical body becomes unreal to us and the awareness of it can completely fade away....Yet we remain. The collection of mental processes and agitations that we thought was our identity has ceased. The body has become at most an idea, a form of expression. It is a tool or interacting with an idea world. The body has dropped off, yet we remain. Completely stilled and settled, we are returned to the natural experience of bliss and wholeness. In the deepest way possible, we are at home, at one. We finally know who and what we really are. This is the return to the Secret Self. This is the way to step into the Secret Self.Lalla's

final pair of lines -- "Look: Lalla the sedgeflower / blossomed a lotus" -- expresses the utter surprise and delight of this first recognition. A sedgeflower grows low among the grasses, close to the ground, hardly noticed. How can something so humble, something so lost among the weeds and dust of earthly existence come to such vibrant life? How could this little thing I call "me" have stepped into the radiant enlightenment that blossoms like a lotus in the crown? The sedgeflower -- the little self -- discovers within it the scintillating lotus of the True Self!--We had a storm last night, clear skies this morning. Everything glistens with drops of sunlight...IvanPS - Do yourself a favor and listen to the music link. Tabla by the great Zakir Hussain. Better than any coffee in the morning to get the heartbeat up. You'll head off into the day with a smile on your face and rapidly tapping fingers.

Share Your Thoughts on today's poem or my commentary...

New on the Poetry Chaikhana BlogIn addition to the daily poem, other recent blog posts include:

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