Set Me on Fire by Yogini Akka Mahadevi
Posted on Jan 21st, 2007
by 
Aditi Devi
Aditi Devi
The yogini Akka Mahadevi devoted her life to the devotion of her Beloved Shiva, who she often referred to as Channamallikarjuna. Akka Mahadevi lived in Karnataka, India, in the 12th century of the current era. She was thought to be living incarnation of the Goddess. Here is one of her poems, or vacanas, expressing the longing for oneness with Shiva that set her soul on fire:
Like the silkworm weaving its home
In love, out of its own body,
And dying in its own strangling threads,
Mind's desires unending
Set me on fire;
Rid my mind of greed,
Draw me near,
O Channamallikarjuna, jasmine-tender.
(from *Songs for Siva: Vacanas of Akka Mahadevi* translated by Vinaya Chaitanya. Altamira Press, 2005, p. 61, #79)
Access: PublicTagged with: Akka Mahavdevi, yogini, dakini, Shiva, Siva, Shakti, Sakti, devotion, women's poetry, women's writing, mystical poetry
akka mahavdevi
February 2008