(Seeking outside what lives within)
Going on a pilgrimage is like falling in love with the greenness of faraway grass.
I wore myself out, looking for myself. No one could have worked harder to break the code. I lost myself in myself and found a wine cellar. Nectar, I tell you. There were jars and jars of the good stuff, and no one to drink it.
34 Bitter can be sweet and sweet poison. It’s a question of what your tongue wants. It’s hard work to tell what it wants, but keep going: the city you’re dreaming of, it’s at the end of this road.
(God is found inside, not by outer technique)
42 Don’t flail about like a man wearing a blindfold. Believe me, He’s in here. Come in and see for yourself. You’ll stop hunting for Him all over.
44 You won’t find the Truth by crossing your legs and holding your breath. Daydreams won’t take you through the gateway of release. You can stir as much salt as you like in water, it won’t become the sea.
45 I burnt the dirt from my mind, twisted a knife in my heart, spread my skirt to kneel at His door. Only then did Lalla’s name travel from mouth to mouth.
(The heart refined through love and fire)
50 I pestled my heart in love’s mortar, roasted it and ate it up. I kept my cool but you can bet I wasn’t sure whether I’d live or die.
51 My mind boomed with the sound of Om, my body was a burning coal. Six roads brought me to a seventh, that’s how Lalla reached the Field of Light.
55 I came into this world of births and deaths and found the true Self by mind-light. No one will die for me, nor I for anyone. How wonderful to die! How wonderful to live!
(God inseparable from your every movement)
72 He laughs when you laugh, sneezes in your sleep, yawns for you, coughs for you. He bathes every day in the river of your thoughts. He’s naked, all year round, and walks where you walk. Just go up and introduce yourself.
81 Gourmet meals and elegant clothes can’t buy you peace of mind. Only they climb higher, who have left delusion behind. They know Death is fire behind a smiling mask and Desire is a tough lender who talks sweet.
(Equanimity and the unshakeable inner lamp)
91 Good or bad, I’m happy to welcome both. I don’t hear with my ears, I don’t see with my eyes. A voice speaks inside my heart, my jewel-lamp burns bright even in a rampaging wind.
92 They lash me with insults, serenade me with curses. Their barking means nothing to me. Even if they came with soul-flowers to offer, I couldn’t care less. Untouched, I move on.
93 Let them hurl a thousand curses at me, pain finds no purchase in my heart. I belong to Shiva. Can a scatter of ashes ruin a mirror? It gleams.
97 Restless mind, don’t infect the heart with fear. That virus is not for you. The Infinite knows what you hunger for. Ask Him to carry you across.
(Liberation in life and the unchanging Self)
125 Those who glow with the light of the Self are freed from life even while they live. But fools add knots by the hundred to the tangled net of the world.
132 So many times I’ve drunk the wine of the Sindhu river. So many roles I’ve played on this stage. So many pieces of human flesh I’ve eaten. But I’m still the same Lalla, nothing’s changed.