What the Yoginis and Dakinis Know

Let yes yes flow from your mouth like amrita

Aditi Devi — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 12:08:04 +0000

Sung to Raga Vibhasa

Come, Radha, come. Krishna follows your
every desire.

‘Soil my bed with indigo footprints, Kamini,
lay waste the grove
savage it with your petal-soft feet.

‘I take your feet in lotus hands, Kamini,
you have come far.
Lay those gold flaring anklets across my bed.

‘Let yes yes flow from your mouth like amrita.
From your breasts, Kamini,
I draw off the dukula-cloth. We are no longer separate.’

–from the Gitagovinda (xii.2, 3, 4) by Jayadeva

Oxford Anthology of Bhakti Literature (2011:69)

Kali’s Dark Grove

Aditi Devi — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:49:16 +0000

Kali!
Today in the dark grove
creepers with their crimson shots
are a fiery mass.
Anklets tinkle, bees hum,
cuckoos sweetly sing.

On Her head is a peacock’s crown,
at Her ears, vihangi bird ornaments.
Her navel is a while lotus
and She has restless khanjana bird eyes.
Bees sip nectar
from her flowery face.

With tamala trees for legs, ankleted
with snakes
She stands on Siva
the silver mountain.

Kamalakanta,
look at this great wonder:
Sankari on the chest
of Sankara.

–Kamalakanta Bhattacarya

Lalla’s Offerings

Aditi Devi — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:13:41 +0000

You are the earth, the sky,
the air, the day, the night.
You are the grain
the sandalwood paste
the water, flowers, and all else.
What could I possibly bring as an offering?

~Revised by Andrew Schelling,

from the translations by Jayalal Kaul.

In The Oxford Anthology of Bhakti Literature (2011, p. 105)

The Merit of a Consort

Aditi Devi — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:02:22 +0000

Even a sick old
buffalo
gives milk if the herdsman’s
got practiced hands
but a consort whose
breasts
swell when she glimpses you
takes lifetimes of
merit

~Anonymous, from the Sattasai 5.62
~in The Cane Groves of Narmada River: Erotic Poems from Old India translated by Andrew Schelling, 1998, p.27

A Woman to Her Lover, the Dark Lord Muvva Gopala

Aditi Devi — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 20:25:57 +0000

This poem is from a woman, perhaps a courtesan, to her Lover, God, in the form of Muvva Gopala. It was written by Ksetrayya, a south Indian Tamil poet who’s work focuses on the devotional longing for non-dual union with the Beloved. Ksetrayya often wrote in the voice of a woman who is “caught in the grip of the Love God,” called Muvva Gopala. Here, we can see how short the distance is from our longing to our Longing . . . .

How soon it’s morning already!

There’s something new in my heart,
Muvva Gopala.

Have we talked even a little while
to undo the pain of our separation til now?
You call me in your passion, “Woman, come to me,”
and while your mouth is still on mine,

it’s morning already!

Caught in the grip of the Love God,
angry with him, we find release drinking
at each other’s lips.

You say, “My girl, your body is tender as a leaf,”
and before you can loosen your tight embrace,

it’s morning already!

Listening to my moans as you touch certain spots,
the pet parrot mimics me, and O how we laugh in bed!

You say, “Come close, my girl,”
and make love to me like a wild man, Muvva Gopala,
and as I get ready to move on top,

it’s morning already!

Ksetrayya 175
“cellabo yento vegame”
raga: useni

from When God is a Customoer: Telegu Courtesan Songs by Ksetrayya and Others, edited and translated by A.K. Ramanujan, Velcheru Narayana Rao, and David Shulman (University of California Press, 1994, p. 127).

Khandro Tsring Chödrön: In memory of a Dakini who flies

Aditi Devi — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 14:14:33 +0000

According to several reputable sources, Khandro Tsring Chödrön left her body on May 30th, 2011, in France. A strong practitioner who emanates a kind of feminine strength, her embodied awareness is palpable. In the past, seeing her photos has made me weep with joy. That she incarnated, existed, is a gift to all of us.

From what I can gather, she was also a terton.

The link below includes a link to download her singing a song about the Karmapa that is stunning.

I rejoice in her existence and non-existence! I rejoice in her awakening. I rejoice in the life of a female practitioner that offers us a small view of one way to go deeply and take the teachings to fruition.

May all beings benefit!

http://chronicleproject.com/stories_293.html

Aditi Devi — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:49:07 +0000

A fragment of Sappho’s wisdom, on desire, the divine sort:

“you came and I was crazy for you
and you cooled my mind that burned with longing”

~ verse 48
from Anne Carson’s If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho. Alfred Knopf, 2002, pp. 100-101

Lalla Dances

Aditi Devi — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 16:06:38 +0000

Lalla says:

Dance, Lalla, with nothing on
but air. Sing, Lalla,
wearing the sky.

Look at this glowing day! What clothes
could be so beautiful, or
more sacred?

~ from Lalla: Naked Song by Coleman Barks.

The Wisdom Dakini Sukhasiddhi

Aditi Devi — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 14:48:20 +0000

“Disengaged from the six senses’ domains,
Not thinking is the path of transcendance.
The absolute expanse has no concepts.
Freedom from mental activity is Great Seal.

Don’t meditate! Don’t meditate! Don’t meditate with the mind!
The mind’s meditation amounts to deluded thoughts.
Thoughts bind you to cyclic existence.
With release from the mind, there is no meditation.

In space, emptiness without awareness,
Tame the root of the mind endowed with awareness.
Tame its root and relax.

~in Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse from the Shangpa Masters

I, the Yogini

Aditi Devi — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 21:48:23 +0000

“I, the Yogini who engages in the uncontrived conduct of fearlessness, moves in the measured tread of dance that extends evenly throughout samsara and nirvana.”

~Dakki Chonyi Zangmo (aka Shuksep Jetsunma Mani Lochen, 1865-1953)