Mantra
Om Namaḥ Śivāya
Shaivite dissolution as sibling to Sufi fana — annihilation in the divine.
Grief curdled into rage — eight years in a crouch.
Fierce compassion — knows instantly where the tender heart hides under armour.
The Dancing Flame — what burned in her becomes light given away.
The Path of the Reed — Rumi's reed, cut, singing its exile.
Her egg travels with her to Konya; the dragon turns once when she turns once.
Linked to Naomi — Layla was the student of a Sufi master in 13th-c. Konya who was killed in a Mongol raid.
Women and the war-displaced — whose grief becomes pity or a think-piece.
The Sisters of this Path walk these tales of the Yoga Vāsiṣṭha: one a week, in order.
- 4The Former Vasiṣṭha and ArundhatīDenial → Ease · Seat 54
- 16The Song of KacaSeparation → Care · Seat 45
- 18Puṇya and PāvanaSeparation → Care · Seat 17
- 24Bhāsa and VilāsaSeparation → Care · Seat 36
- 41The Man Who Built Houses in the AirSeparation → Care · Seat 3
- 42Bhṛṅgīśa and Śiva: The Triple ConductDenial → Ease · Seat 28
- 43Manu and Ikṣvāku: The Seven StagesSeparation → Care · Seat 11
Every tale, with its guided practice and its song, in The Sixty-Four Tales of the Supreme Yoga (two volumes, ePub).