Category: The Jewelled Garden

Lalleshwari or Lal Ded was a 14th c. Kashmiri yogini in the Shaivite tradition. She is deeply loved in Kashmir, both by Hindus and Muslims, and it is said that Continue Reading →

As this is now the celebration of the Urs of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya (1238 – 1325 CE), the great Sufi master known as Mahbub-e-Ilahi, the beloved of God, this short Continue Reading →

Lu Tung-pin (755 – 805 CE) was a scholar, poet and student of the inner life who is considered one of the ‘Eight Immortals’ of the Taoist tradition. The ‘Tao’ Continue Reading →

In the Buddhist tradition, a bodhisattva is one who is on the path to Buddhahood, or supreme enlightenment. The simplest form of the Bodhisattva Vow is, “May I attain Buddhahood Continue Reading →

Najmaldin Kubra (1145 – 1221 CE) was born in present day Uzbekistan and became a very influential Sufi, the founder of the Kubrawiya Order. Among his students was the father Continue Reading →

Fikirchand was a 19th c. Baul mystic and poet. My soul cries out,Snared by the beautyOf the formless one.As I cry by myself,Night and day,Beauty amassed before my eyesSurpasses numberless Continue Reading →

An excerpt from The Dhammapada, the sayings of Gautama Buddha. Do not follow a bad law. Do not live in thoughtlessness. Do not follow wrong ideas. Do not be attached to the world. Continue Reading →

For more about Allama Prabhu, see this post. Looking for your light,I went out:      it was like the sudden dawn     of a million million suns,      a ganglion of lightnings     for my wonder. Continue Reading →

For some background on Sri Ramakrishna, see this post. You should remember that the heart of the devotee is the abode of God. He dwells, no doubt, in all beings, Continue Reading →

This excerpt is taken from “The Mine of Meaning,” discourses of the 14th c. CE Shaikh Sharafuddin Maneri (‘the Revered Master’) compiled by his student Zain Badr Arabi (‘the ‘Helpless Continue Reading →