Category: The Jewelled Garden

Sun Bu’er (1124? – 1182? CE) is one of a group of female Taoist masters referred to as the Immortal Sisters. She was intelligent, well educated, wealthy and the mother Continue Reading →

Akka Mahadevi was an important figure in the 12th c. CE Bhakta movement. For more about her, see this earlier post. People,male and female,blush when a cloth covering their shamecomes Continue Reading →

The Prophet Mohammed is quoted as saying, “If you were to commit no sins, you might commit something worse.” He was asked, “What might that be?” The Prophet replied, “The Continue Reading →

Khwaja Abdullah Ansari (1006 – 1088 CE) was from Herat in western Afghanistan. For more about him, see this post. Between praying and nearnessis the same distance as between acquaintance Continue Reading →

It is related that a certain man had dug his own grave, and had been sitting by it for thirty years, emaciated and sick, waiting to die. The great devotee Continue Reading →

Tulsi Sahib was a mystic and poet of the Shabd or Sacred Sound tradition. Listen, O friend, to the thunderous roar of Shabd,Which reverberates throughout the firmament.Water, which becomes turbid Continue Reading →

For more about this 18th c. CE Hindu mystic, poet and devotee of the Goddess Kali, see this post. O wavering mind,awaken your upward-flowing awareness.Become the sublime warrior Goddess Kali,who Continue Reading →

Lalleshwari, also known as Laila or Lal Dad, is the much loved 14th c. CE mystic and poet of Kashmir. For a little more about her, see this post. Don’t Continue Reading →

Fakhruddin Iraqi (1213 – 1289 CE) was a Sufi and poet born in Persia but who travelled extensively, visiting India, Anatolia and Egypt before ultimately passing away in Damascus, For Continue Reading →

This poem by the Punjab mystic Sultan Bahu might make some readers think of the prayers Pir, Nabi and Rasul, which evoke the inspiring ideal of the spiritual guide. So Continue Reading →