An idol is but a lump of stone, a temple is but a lump of stone. From crown to sole each is of but the one stuff. O learned Pandit! what is this to which thou offerest worship? Bring thou together a determined mind and thy vital airs.
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Hindu
Lalleshwari (Lal Ded)
Hinduc. 1320 CE – c. 1392 CEPandrethan, near Srinagar, Kashmir97 quotes
Lalleshwari, lovingly remembered as Lal Ded, was a 14th-century Kashmiri mystic of the Kashmir Shaivism tradition whose luminous quatrains, the Lal Vakhs, became the earliest poetry of the Kashmiri language and a beloved spiritual treasure cherished by Hindus and Muslims alike.
Lalleshwari, revered across Kashmir simply as Lal Ded, "Mother Lalla," was a saint, mystic, and poet of the 14th century whose voice continues to resonate seven centuries after she walked the valleys of her homeland. Born around 1320 CE in Pandrethan, near present-day Srinagar, into a Kashmiri Brahmin family, she grew up within the rich devotional culture of Kashmir Shaivism, the school of Hindu philosophy that understands the entire universe as the joyful self-expression of one supreme consciousness, Shiva. From this profound tradition Lal Ded drew the heart of her teaching: that the divine is not distant but ever-present, awaiting recognition within the seeking soul. Married in her youth, as was the custom of her time, Lalleshwari felt drawn ever more deeply toward the spiritual life. In her mid-twenties she embraced the path of renunciation and devotion to Lord Shiva, becoming a disciple of the Shaivite master Siddha Srikantha, also known as Sed Boyu. Under his guidance she advanced along the contemplative path, and tradition lovingly recalls the radiance of her spiritual realization. She gave herself wholly to meditation, austerity, and the direct experience of the sacred, wandering as a free and God-intoxicated soul, sustained by simple alms and by an unshakable inner peace. Lal Ded's enduring gift to the world is her poetry. She composed her verses in the form known as vakh (from the Sanskrit vac, meaning "speech" or "utterance"), short, concentrated quatrains that distill the highest spiritual insight into a few unforgettable lines. A treasured body of these vakhs is attributed to her, and they are celebrated as among the earliest surviving compositions in the Kashmiri language, the very foundation stones of Kashmiri literature. Rather than confining her wisdom to the learned Sanskrit of the scholarly elite, she sang in the living tongue of ordinary people, making the loftiest truths of the spirit freely available to all, regardless of caste, creed, gender, or station. In doing so she became a teacher not of one class but of an entire people. Her message is one of radiant simplicity and universal welcome. She taught that the Divine is realized through direct, personal experience rather than through outward ritual alone, urging seekers to look beyond name and form to the formless Reality that dwells within the heart. She spoke of self-realization, of the impermanence of worldly things, of the dissolving of the ego in the ocean of God, and of a boundless love that embraces all beings. Her vakhs are at once intimately personal and gloriously universal, the testimony of one who had tasted the truth she described and who longed to share it. Through vivid, homely images, drawn from spinning, from boats and rivers, from the daily rhythms of Kashmiri life, she made the path of inner awakening feel near and possible for everyone who heard her. Lal Ded stands as one of the great unifying figures of Kashmir's spiritual heritage. Rooted in Kashmir Shaivism, her teachings also flowed naturally into the gentle, all-embracing spirituality that came to characterize the valley, and she is honored as an inspiration to the saint Nund Rishi (Sheikh Noor-ud-din) and the Rishi tradition that followed. For nearly seven hundred years she has been venerated by Hindus and Muslims together, a rare and beautiful emblem of shared devotion and mutual respect. Her name has become woven into the very fabric of Kashmiri life, her sayings quoted as proverbs, her wisdom passed lovingly from one generation to the next. In the modern era, Lal Ded's poetry has reached far beyond the valley of her birth. Her vakhs were collected and translated into English by the scholar George Grierson in 1914, and later generations of translators and poets, among them Ranjit Hoskote, have carried her voice to readers across the world. She is celebrated today as one of Kashmir's most beloved literary and spiritual figures, an early and luminous voice of women's wisdom, and a teacher whose call to seek the Divine within remains as fresh and inviting now as when it was first sung. In remembering Lalleshwari, the world remembers a soul who turned her whole life into a song of God, and whose song still gently guides all who listen toward peace, freedom, and the light of the inner Self.
Wisdom
When cold hath obtained the mastery over water, the water becometh ice; or, again, it may be turned to snow. Thus there are three different things; but, on reflection, we see that they are not different. When the sun of the Supreme Consciousness shineth forth, the three will become the same. Lo! By it all things, whether with life or without it, the universe itself, are seen as only Siva.
Whate'er work I did, that was worship. Whate'er I uttered with my tongue, that was a mystic formula. This recognition, and this alone, became one with my body, that this alone is the essence of the scriptures of the Supreme Siva.
They came and came, and then they have to go. Ever must they, night and day, move on and on. Whence they came, thither must they go. What is anything? It is nothing, nothing, nothing.
I searched for myself, and wearied myself in vain, for no one hath, I ween, e'er by such efforts reached the hidden knowledge. Then absorbed I myself in It, and straightway reached the abode of nectar, where there are many filled jars, but no one drinketh from them.
He who gaineth a kingdom is he who hath wielded a sword. He who gaineth paradise is he who mortifieth himself and who giveth in charity. He who hath knowledge of the nature of the Self, is he who followeth the Guru's teaching. That which reapeth the fruit of virtue and of vice is a man's own Self.
Let him utter a thousand abuses at me. But, if I be innately devoted to Siva, disquiet will find no abode within my heart. Is a mirror fouled if a few ashes fall upon it?
Though thou hast knowledge, be thou as a fool; though thou canst see, be thou as he that is one-eyed; though thou canst hear, be thou as one dumb; in all things be thou as a non-sentient block. Whatever any one may say to thee, say thou the same to him. It is this that is the true practice for obtaining the knowledge of the basal truths.
Look upon thy mind alone as the ocean of existence. If thou restrain it not, but let it loose, from its rage will issue angry words, like wounds caused by fire. Yet, if thou weigh them in the scales of truth, their weight is naught.
I, Lalla, wearied myself seeking for Him and searching. I laboured and strove even beyond my strength. I began to look for Him, and, lo, I saw that bolts were on His door, and even in me, as I was, did longing for Him become fixed; and there, where I was, I gazed upon Him.
There is no 'Thou', no 'I', no object of contemplation, not even contemplation. It is only the All-Creator, who Himself became lost in forgetfulness. The blind folk saw not any meaning in this, but when they saw the Supreme, the seven worlds became lost in nothingness.
Whatever work I may do, the burden of the completion thereof lieth on myself, but the earnings and the collecting of the fruits thereof are another's. If in the end, without thought for their fruits, I lay these works as an offering before the Supreme Self, then, where'er I may go, there is it well for me.
If, in flux of time, thou hast destroyed the whole body of thy desires, choose ye a home-life, or choose ye a hermitage. If thou wilt come to know that the Lord is all-pervading and without taint, then, as thou wilt know, so wilt thou be.
I, Lalla, passed in through the door of the jasmine-garden of my soul. And there, Joy! saw I Siva seated united with His Sakti. There became I absorbed in the lake of nectar. Now, what can existence do unto me? For, even though alive, I shall in it be dead.
Murder thou the murderous demons, lust, anger, and desire. Otherwise they will aim their arrows, and destroy thy Self. With careful thought, by meditation on thy Self, give to them quietism as their only food. Then wilt thou know what, and how little firm, is their realm of power.
Let him bind abuse upon me, let him orate blame against me, let each one say to me what pleaseth each. Yea, let him worship me with the offering of his own soul for the flowers. Still keep I myself untouched and undefiled by all these; so who getteth what therefrom?
Some have abandoned home, some have abandoned hermitage; but fruitless is every abiding-place, if thou hast not thy mind under subjection. Day and night counting each breath, as thou art, so there abide.
He who ever calleth on the name of Siva and who beareth in mind the Way of the Swan, even if night and day he remain busy with his worldly calling, and who without thought for fruits maketh his mind non-dualist, on him alone is ever gracious the Lord of the Chiefest of gods.
With a rein did I hold back the steed of my thought. By ardent practice did I bring together the vital airs of my ten nadis. Therefore did the digit of the moon melt and descend unto me, and a void became merged within the Void.
The day will be extinguished, and night will come; the surface of the earth will become extended to the sky; on the day of the new moon, the moon swallowed up the demon of eclipse. The illumination of the Self in the organ of thought is the true worship of Siva.