on Yoginis

The Yoginis of days gone by were sometimes wanderers who had left behind their normal social roles as daughter, wife, and mother in order to answer the call of their Beloved. There are many stories of these women going against social conventions in so many ways, including being digambari, wearing only the sky like Lalla and Akka Mahadevi. 

Thus said Lalla:

Some people abandon their homes.

Others abandon hermitages.

All this renunciation does nothing,

if you’re not deeply conscious.

Day and night, be aware

with each breath,

and live there.

My teacher, you are God to me!

Tell me the inner meaning

of my two breathings,

the one warm, the other cool.

“In your pelvis near the navel is the source

of many motions called the sun,

the city of the bulb.

As your vitality rises from that sun,

it warms, and in your mouth it meets

the downward flow through the fontanel

of your higher self, which is cool

and called the moon, or Shiva. 

This rivering mixture feels,

By turns, warm and cool.”

(Barks 1992:49)

Here we see Lalla not only discussing the importance of renunciation in her own life, but also receiving teachings about the mysteries of pranayama and the inner yogas. 

We are fortunate to have the teachings, the poetry, and names of some Yoginis like Lalla and Mirabai and Akka Mahadevi. Yet, the majority of the Yoginis who might be role models for us today are actually nameless, unnamed, or referred to only in relation to a named Yogi. For example, an unnamed Yogini was one of the teachers and initiators of Padmasambhava. Most of the biographies of the great male practitioners include brief mention of an enlightened woman who gave them precious teachings at a key moment in their development. Maybe she pounded sesame seeds for a living, or herded pigs, or pressed grapes into wine. These Yogis searched out these Yoginis because in Shakta Tantra—and some other forms of Hinduism and in some forms of Buddhism—it is said that women have a better chance of becoming enlightened just by nature of their residence in a human form and thus women are revered as teachers, gurus, consorts, partners, and embodiments of the Goddess. Some even say, that having a female teacher, a female guru, is preferred.

These named and unnamed Yoginis were gloriously alive, free, embodied, and devoted themselves to a life of union with the divine. I honor these amazing women who against all odds lived their lives in accordance with the deepest yearning of their hearts without any mirroring of their path. They made their way by listening to that inner lamp.