Category: The Jewelled Garden

For more about the Mughal era Sufi and poet Abdul-Qader Bedil (1644 – 1721 CE) see this earlier post. At time’s beginningthat beautywhich polished creation’s mirrorcaressed every atomwith a hundred Continue Reading →

Surdas (1478? – 1581? CE) was born blind, according to tradition, and was poorly treated by his family. When he heard a wandering group of devotional musicians, he left home Continue Reading →

Swami Brahmananda (1863-1922), born to an aristocratic family near Calcutta, was recognised by Sri Ramakrishna as his ‘spiritual son,’ and went on to be the first president of the Ramakrishna Continue Reading →

Swami Vivekananda (1863 – 1902) was a Bengali born yogi and philosopher, and one of the principal disciples of the mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda travelled widely in the west, giving hundreds Continue Reading →

Dongshan was a Chan Buddhist monk born in eastern China during the Tang dynasty, which is to say in the 9th c. CE. He started his Chan studies at a Continue Reading →

For more about the deeply venerated mystic of Kashmir, Nuruddin Rishi, see this earlier post. If you repent, you will cross the worldly river.Repentance is the ferry boat at this Continue Reading →

Saraha was a Buddhist monk born in what is now eastern India some time in the 8th c. CE. He studied for a while in a monastery, but left, or Continue Reading →

For more about the 14th c. Kashmiri mystic Nuriddin Rishi, see this earlier post. I depend on you     both here and there –          make my rose garden bloom.Renouncing all,     I have caught hold Continue Reading →

For more about the Andalusian Sufi Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (1165 – 1240 CE) see this earlier post. Their spring meadowsare desolate now. Still, desirefor them lives alwaysin our heart, never Continue Reading →

Guru Nanak (1469 – 1539 CE) was the founder of the Sikh faith. Born in what is today Pakistan in a family of merchants, he showed interest in spiritual matters Continue Reading →