We are happy to announce that The Inspired Wisdom of Lalla Yogeshwari: A Commentary on the Mystical Poetry of the Great Yogini of Kashmir by Swami Nirmalananda (Abbot George Burke) is now available on Amazon and soon other online sites as an ebook and as a paperback. And for a limited time, the ebook is on sale for 99¢.
Lalla Yogeshwari, also known as Lalleshwari or Lad Ded (Mother Lalla), was a great fourteenth-century yogini of Kashmir. She created a form of mystic poetry called Vatsun or Vakhs (from the Sanskrit Vak, which means Speech) that were the earliest compositions in the Kashmiri language. They were first written down in the twentieth century, until then having been memorized and spoken or sung only.
Swami Nirmalananda’s commentary of these Vakhs mines the treasures of Lalleshwari’s mystic poems and presents his reflections in an easily intelligible fashion for those wishing to put these priceless teachings on the path of yogic self-transformation into practice.
There is almost nothing known about her. What is commonly believed is that she was born in 1326, a daughter of a Kashmiri Brahmin named Cheta Bhat, near Pampore, Kashmir, and was married at the age of twelve in accordance with the local customs. Following her marriage, she was renamed, as was the custom, Padmavati, but continued to be known as Lalla or Lal Ded. She seems to have left home sometime between the ages of twenty-four and twenty-six, to become a disciple of a spiritual leader, Siddha Srikanth (Sed Boyu), who was a Shaivite yogi. From then on she wandered, living on alms and became a teacher and spiritual leader herself. She was universally considered as a supreme siddha (perfected yogini) during her lifetime and afterward.
Lalla was in the tradition of the Nath Yogi Sampradaya whose meditation practice is that of Soham Sadhana: the joining of the mental repetition of Soham Mantra with the natural breath. (The mental intonation of the syllable So when inhaling and the mental intonation of the syllable Ham [“Hum”] when exhaling.) [See Soham Yoga: The Yoga of the Self]
Early readers of the book have given high reviews. Dylan Grant shared the following:
It is only the sincere and matured spiritual aspirant who has practiced a career of Sadhana for many decades that can write a commentary on something like Lalla’s Vakhs with any degree of value and George Burke is perfectly qualified. His sober insights and entertaining anecdotes reveal a humble and completely dedicated practitioner of authentic Yoga, making this work a rare treat.
A good spiritual book should really have everything you need, in one volume, so you can return to it again and again so that instead of amassing a vast library of spiritual books you can simply return to the one book. Abbot Burke has blessed us with just this.
Five out of Five Stars.
You can read Dylan’s full review on his website here.
Get The Inspired Wisdom of Lalla Yogeshwari: A Commentary on the Mystical Poetry of the Great Yogini of Kashmir as a paperback and as an ebook (on sale at 99¢) on Amazon now.
