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Lalleshwari: The Jars Were Filled to the Brim
Lalleshwari or Lal Ded (1320–1392 CE) was born near Srinagar in Kashmir, and became a major influence in Kashmiri poetry and mysticism. According to the custom of the time, she was married at the age of twelve, but it was not a happy marriage, and in her mid-twenties she abandoned family life and became a wandering ascetic in the Shaivite stream. Her verses are said to be the earliest such compositions in the Kashmiri language, and she was a major influence on the important Sufi saint Sheikh Nuruddin Rishi, whose poems have been posted here on a number of occasions, most recently here.
I search for my Self
until I grow weary,
but no one, I know now,
reaches the hidden knowledge by mere effort.
Then, absorbed in ‘Thou art Everything,’
I found the place of Wine.
All the jars were filled to the brim
but no one was left to drink it.
* * *
To memorize the scriptures is easy,
to live them is hard.
Faking sincerity is a learned skill.
Being sincere is a life long endeavor.
Look deep:
words vanish.
Joyous, silent,
The Awakened One finds the dreamer.