Playing with Lalla G:94. Naturally

The guru speaks of one direction:

Outer expression, inner entrance.

That became Lalla’s sacred word and practice.

Thus began my natural naked song and dance.

Playing with Lalla G:76. True

True knowledge is the only clothing for the body.

What verses Lalla speaks, the heart inscribes.

Thus the breath of wisdom swallows Lalla.

Pure light has cleared away those false alarms of death.

Playing with Lalla G:49. There!

All dust on the heart was burnt away.

Physical desires were extinguished.

Then the name of Lalla took flight and departed.

And when all attire itself was abandoned, there!

Playing with Lalla (aka Lal Ded or Lalleshwari) G: 58. This

image from a spanish translation 
true to her legend of a mad woman
 wandering naked reciting wise poetry

Whatever one’s actions is one’s worship.

Whatever speech uttered is one’s mantra.

What is experienced as the body is one’s realization.

This is the Supreme Tantra.

Playing with Lalla G: 3. Inside

I, Lalla, issued forth in passionate love

and lived, searching throughout each night and day,

only at last to see that sage of Self inside myself,

and here I grasp all phases of the moon

and every sudden moment of the sun.

Playing with Lalla G: 93. Forever New

Spirit ever new. Moon ever new.

I see the ocean, wave on wave, forever new.

In this tide of time, my body and my mind gets clarified.

And ever since, I, Lalla, am forever new.

Playing with Lalla G:42. Offering

Heaven is your name and earth is your name.

You are the daylight, the breath of life, the night.

Sacrificial supper, ritual incense, consecrated flowers, baptismal waters—

all of these and everything you are!

What possible atonement can I ever make to you who are the One?

Playing with Lalla G:44. Realization

Although always who I am, you hid from me,

And so I kept on looking for the one you are.

When I finally saw you in my heart of hearts,

O all was realized I was you and you were I.

Playing with Lalla G:109. Dance

From Inner Light into the Moonlight I come looking.

Looking, I see that light is seeking the light.

All is Narayana! All is Absolute! All is Narayana!

Why does your dance keep turning everything around?

Playing with Lalla G:48. Doing

I, Lalla, tried beyond trying in my search,

Discovering only my efforts had redoubled.

No matter what I did the door remained bolted.

By resolving only to stay there did I see

the door was my own doing.

Playing with Lalla G:105. Awake

In the waning moonlight, the madwoman rises

to soothe her pain in the light of that Supreme.

Lalla Lalla the beloved awakens!

And all vitalities merge in a shimmering lake.

Playing with Lalla G:13. Difference

You have six and I have six;

now tell me Blue-throated Shiva,

what exactly is the difference here?

Oh, never mind, I totally know.

You are the master of your six

and make them accolades of immortality.

But I’ve been enslaved by mine

making them blemishes of personality. 

Playing with Lalla G: 95. Nandi

How do I manage five elements, ten vital energies,

and eleven functions of senses, expressions, and mind?

They have emptied out this container and run away!

If only they had pulled upon a single lead together,

the happy bull of Shiva would not have gone astray.

Playing with Lalla G:102/103. Way

I, Lalla, wished only to be a natural lovely cotton flower 

but the cleaning woman split me and the carding man shred me 

and the spinner then conditioned me to fine thin thread upon its wheel—

and lastly I was stretched upon the weaver's loom 

and woven into finished useful worldly cloth.

Only when the washing one turns me over stone,

and scrubs me with hard earth and soap,

and the tailor works its scissors on me, piece by piece, 

am I, Lalla, open to the way of that supreme truth.

Playing with Lalla G:7. Who

Lord Shiva! I didn’t realize precisely what I am.

I merely thought I was this substance of a body.

You are me and I am you. O that I never knew!

Asking who are you and who am I undoes that doubt of who.

Playing with Lalla G:8. Thou

Shiva the Auspicious One or Vishnu the Demon-Killer

or Buddha the Conqueror or the Lotus-Born Lord Brahma,

whatever your designation is as That, please alleviate

this unwell woman from the sickness which is this world,

in the name of Thou or Thou or Thou or Thou or Thou.

Playing with Lalla G:18. Ashes

Let them cast a thousand curses at this naked woman.

Their pointed words will never touch my heart.

I am devoted to the innate and annealing truth of Shiva.

Nothing but polishing comes from throwing ashes on a mirror.

Playing with Lalla G:83. Release

I've seen a wise man die of hunger.

And leaves fall in winter even with the slightest wind.

I’ve seen a fool beat his cook.

And Lalla waits for love of an absurd world to let go.

Playing with Lalla G:108. "Drop it”

This sack of sweetness gets heavier

as the shoulder strap loosens and drops.

The road before me appears crooked and lost.

O how can I carry this burden any further?

The liberating words of the guru keep falling

hard on my shoulders with blistering loss.

Ah but this flock of senses has no shepherd!

O how can I carry this burden any further?

Playing with Lalla G: 67. Riverboat

Lightly, lightly, I am sighing for you Soul.

You have lost your mind upon a Ship of Fools!

The shadow of an anchor cannot hold you there

and yet, dear me, you've lost the current of my self.