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?

~ Lalla, 14^th century mystic of Northern India. Translation by Coleman Barks.

According to legend, Lalla left her husband and family at age 24 to wander India, naked, singing love songs to God. Lalleshwari (Lalla, the Great Yogini) first came into my “field” the month before I met my Guru, Ammachi. It was May, 2006, and I was at a meditation group in which a couple visited to give us diksha, a transmission of the state of Oneness. I wrote the following about that experience in my memoir, The Rita Lila: A Western Yogini’s Journey to Bliss:

“My projection of what I think it will look like to merge with the One Radiance is holding me back. I am afraid that if I really let go, I will be too wild and I won’t wear clothes! Fear of being too wild and naked. Fear of not being a polite, good girl. Fear of being socially inappropriate. Fear of singing in public.”

Of course everyone laughed along with me, when I shared that, and then someone said that I really needed to read the poetry of Lalla… so the next day I ordered Coleman Barks' book Naked Song. On the back of the book, he describes Lalla as a “lioness.” He writes, “She rides the breath, and she knows the way of courage.”

I love Lalla’s poems so much – I read them over and over, and I’ve memorized many of them to recite around the fire with friends. Last December, at the Winter Solstice Gala fundraiser for the Goddess Temple of Ashland, Lalla made her first public appearance through me. You can watch that performance at this link: Yogini-Bliss on YouTube.

And as for me going naked, well, that hasn’t happened…yet. Who knows what the future holds?! Of course I still have fear about that… but then, I remember that everything happens at the right time in the right way… like how I was also afraid of singing in public, but then I learned to sing and lead chants, by Amma’s Grace, and now singing in public is a joy rather than a fear. 

What fears are holding you back from merging with the One Radiance?

May all beings experience the healing warmth of Radiance rising within them.

May all beings know Peace and Love. 

Om Shanti (Peace),

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of blue bird in pear blossoms by Teja Shankara.