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Mala of Love: 108 Luminous Poems
From the editors of Mala of the 108 Sacred Poems comes a true gift to the lover in all of us. Love sustains our passions and yearnings, holds us in times of joy and loss, nourishes our hearts, and melts our fears. It opens us to our deepest self and releases us into the embrace of the infinite.
This powerful, reflective collection is filled with mystical insights into love. In these 108 poems, great poets, saints, sages, mystics, and artists across cultures give voice to the eternal presence of love. Together, the poems reveal a fuller story, inviting us to discover the inner essence of love within us. Over the ages, the number 108 has symbolized our hidden connections with the sacred. In Mala of Love , 108 poems reveal that love is the path to greater unity and peace.
This powerful, reflective collection is filled with mystical insights into love. In these 108 poems, great poets, saints, sages, mystics, and artists across cultures give voice to the eternal presence of love. Together, the poems reveal a fuller story, inviting us to discover the inner essence of love within us. Over the ages, the number 108 has symbolized our hidden connections with the sacred. In Mala of Love , 108 poems reveal that love is the path to greater unity and peace.
- GenresPoetry
168 pages, Hardcover
First published February 9, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 27, 2020
Night is passing,
sun comes by dawn,
Awaken now, beauty's essence,
heart of love.
— Hakim Omar Khayyam
*
This is how I would die
into the love
I have for you:
As pieces of cloud
dissolve
in sunlight.
— Rumi
*
On the straying moonbeams
I shall steal over your bed,
and lie upon your bosom
while you sleep.
I shall become a dream,
and through the little opening of your eyelids
I shall slip into the depths of your sleep;
and when you wake up
and look round startled,
like a twinkling firefly
I shall flit out
into the darkness.
— Rabindranath Tagore
sun comes by dawn,
Awaken now, beauty's essence,
heart of love.
— Hakim Omar Khayyam
*
This is how I would die
into the love
I have for you:
As pieces of cloud
dissolve
in sunlight.
— Rumi
*
On the straying moonbeams
I shall steal over your bed,
and lie upon your bosom
while you sleep.
I shall become a dream,
and through the little opening of your eyelids
I shall slip into the depths of your sleep;
and when you wake up
and look round startled,
like a twinkling firefly
I shall flit out
into the darkness.
— Rabindranath Tagore
August 19, 2018
Mala of Love: 108 Luminous Poems is a collection of poems about love collected by Ravi Nathwani and Kate Vogt from seventy-four different poets and religious texts from different points in time and from around the world with nine anonymous poems.
Full Disclosure: As a hobby, I make prayer beads such as mala, rosary, komboskini/chotki, misbaha/tasbih, and komboloi and give them away. It is part spiritual, part catharsis, and part medication for me. Therefore, when I noticed that this book of poems was a sequel or companion book for Mala of the Heart: 108 Sacred Poems from the Mystic Tradition, I had to seek this book out and check it out from the library.
This anthology is filled with wisdom and insights to love from great poets, sages, saints, mystics, and artist across cultures and give the eternal and universal presence of love. The poems span a wide range of cultures and civilizations and each one offers a unique, yet universal perspective about love. In concert, the totality of these poems reveals a fuller story and invites us to discover the inner essence of the love within us all.
Having said that it most of the poems are from Rumi, a thirteenth century Persian Sunni Muslim poet, Hafiz, a fourteenth century Persian mystic and poet , and Rabindranath Tagore, a late nineteenth and early twentieth century Bengali polymath with six poems each. The other eighty-one poems (nine are attributed to anonymous sources) are divided among the other seventy-one contributors rather evenly from Yosano Akiko to Zendotus with several from religious texts.
All in all, Mala of Love: 108 Luminous Poems is a wonderful collection of poems about love from around the world and throughout time.
Full Disclosure: As a hobby, I make prayer beads such as mala, rosary, komboskini/chotki, misbaha/tasbih, and komboloi and give them away. It is part spiritual, part catharsis, and part medication for me. Therefore, when I noticed that this book of poems was a sequel or companion book for Mala of the Heart: 108 Sacred Poems from the Mystic Tradition, I had to seek this book out and check it out from the library.
This anthology is filled with wisdom and insights to love from great poets, sages, saints, mystics, and artist across cultures and give the eternal and universal presence of love. The poems span a wide range of cultures and civilizations and each one offers a unique, yet universal perspective about love. In concert, the totality of these poems reveals a fuller story and invites us to discover the inner essence of the love within us all.
Having said that it most of the poems are from Rumi, a thirteenth century Persian Sunni Muslim poet, Hafiz, a fourteenth century Persian mystic and poet , and Rabindranath Tagore, a late nineteenth and early twentieth century Bengali polymath with six poems each. The other eighty-one poems (nine are attributed to anonymous sources) are divided among the other seventy-one contributors rather evenly from Yosano Akiko to Zendotus with several from religious texts.
All in all, Mala of Love: 108 Luminous Poems is a wonderful collection of poems about love from around the world and throughout time.
January 25, 2022
This collection includes such a wide variety of writings and insights from great poets, nature lovers, sages and mystics, all the way back to Rabia, a woman born in Iraq in 717, who had been sold into slavery, who spent her nights in prayer and meditation and was freed when her master "observed her shrouded in a divine light during her devotions." The writings seem to be a direct transmission from beyond, or from deep within, however you may describe it. Wonderful short inspirations to read before bed or at the beginning of the day. I really enjoyed this surprise gift and am not prone to reading poetry, except by Rumi or Hafiz and only on occasion.
February 10, 2016
Finding words to express our profound love for another person can be a challenge. Sometimes we turn to the greeting cards created for such occasions but only rarely are the words just right. Perhaps the greeting card verses thrive on attachment and romanticism as the editors of Mala of Love point out.
In their book of poems, Ravi Nathwani and Kate Vogt hope to guide readers towards a realization of a more mystical love grounded in acceptance, joy, patience, compassion and gratitude. From my very first reading of the book, I felt they had achieved their intent.
The number 108 honors the 108 beads in the traditional meditation mala used by spiritual practitioners throughout the East. Each poem can be read aloud in the way one might recite a mantra with a mala strand.
Most of the poems are excerpts from the work of mystics across the centuries including Christian (St. John of the Cross, Mechthild of Magdeburg); Buddhist (Zenkei Shibayama, Izumi Shikibu); and Sufi (Attar, Hafiz, Rumi). Words of songs are included and the words of many modern day poets. The book is a rich diversity of genres, cultures and time periods.
"All you need is love, love / Love is all you need," wrote John Lennon and Paul McCartney in their well known song. Those few famous words are included in the book to remind us of love's sustaining power in times of joy and loss.
I so enjoyed reading the "luminous" gems in the book and wanted to find the complete poems for further inspiration and contemplation. The titles of the poems and their sources are acknowledged in the back. I'm intrigued, for instance, by Zeynep Hatun (?-1474), on of the first female Sufi poets of the Ottoman empire.
One wouldn't edit a book of love poetry without including the beloved Chilean poet and Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda. One of his two poems excerpted is: "I love you without knowing how."
Czeslaw Milosz's poem "Gift" exudes such a feeling of contentment and a love that goes beyond the love for one other person. It describes an all-encompassing joy that connects everyone to a "sweet, gentle ocean of love," as the sages and saints expressed it.
"A day so happy," Milosz writes. "Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden . . There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess."
Derek Walcott in his famous poem, "Love After Love," writes of loving again "the stranger who was your self." This is a poem in which you are reminded to love and "greet yourself."
When in love with another we can experience parts of ourselves that haven't been fully expressed before. Alice Walker describes that feeling beautifully in "New Face": " . . . the new face I turn up / to you / no one else on earth / has ever / seen."
As a Zen Buddhist monk ordained in 1949, Thich Nhat Hanh speaks of "true love" as giving us "beauty, freshness, solidity, freedom, and peace."
Many couples have included the words of Paul the Apostle at their Christian marriages ceremonies: "Love is patient and kind..."
And bless that Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) whose exclamations of passion are uttered as if just yesterday: "Wild Nights—Wild Nights! / Were I with thee / Wild Nights should be / our luxury!"
How fascinating to realize our alphabet of 26 letters can be arranged into so many configurations, variations and expressions of love.
These poems, lyrics, and play excerpts are a delight and an inspiration. What a wondrous way to learn of poets' work across the ages and to realize inspiration for our own words of love.
by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
In their book of poems, Ravi Nathwani and Kate Vogt hope to guide readers towards a realization of a more mystical love grounded in acceptance, joy, patience, compassion and gratitude. From my very first reading of the book, I felt they had achieved their intent.
The number 108 honors the 108 beads in the traditional meditation mala used by spiritual practitioners throughout the East. Each poem can be read aloud in the way one might recite a mantra with a mala strand.
Most of the poems are excerpts from the work of mystics across the centuries including Christian (St. John of the Cross, Mechthild of Magdeburg); Buddhist (Zenkei Shibayama, Izumi Shikibu); and Sufi (Attar, Hafiz, Rumi). Words of songs are included and the words of many modern day poets. The book is a rich diversity of genres, cultures and time periods.
"All you need is love, love / Love is all you need," wrote John Lennon and Paul McCartney in their well known song. Those few famous words are included in the book to remind us of love's sustaining power in times of joy and loss.
I so enjoyed reading the "luminous" gems in the book and wanted to find the complete poems for further inspiration and contemplation. The titles of the poems and their sources are acknowledged in the back. I'm intrigued, for instance, by Zeynep Hatun (?-1474), on of the first female Sufi poets of the Ottoman empire.
One wouldn't edit a book of love poetry without including the beloved Chilean poet and Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda. One of his two poems excerpted is: "I love you without knowing how."
Czeslaw Milosz's poem "Gift" exudes such a feeling of contentment and a love that goes beyond the love for one other person. It describes an all-encompassing joy that connects everyone to a "sweet, gentle ocean of love," as the sages and saints expressed it.
"A day so happy," Milosz writes. "Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden . . There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess."
Derek Walcott in his famous poem, "Love After Love," writes of loving again "the stranger who was your self." This is a poem in which you are reminded to love and "greet yourself."
When in love with another we can experience parts of ourselves that haven't been fully expressed before. Alice Walker describes that feeling beautifully in "New Face": " . . . the new face I turn up / to you / no one else on earth / has ever / seen."
As a Zen Buddhist monk ordained in 1949, Thich Nhat Hanh speaks of "true love" as giving us "beauty, freshness, solidity, freedom, and peace."
Many couples have included the words of Paul the Apostle at their Christian marriages ceremonies: "Love is patient and kind..."
And bless that Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) whose exclamations of passion are uttered as if just yesterday: "Wild Nights—Wild Nights! / Were I with thee / Wild Nights should be / our luxury!"
How fascinating to realize our alphabet of 26 letters can be arranged into so many configurations, variations and expressions of love.
These poems, lyrics, and play excerpts are a delight and an inspiration. What a wondrous way to learn of poets' work across the ages and to realize inspiration for our own words of love.
by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
May 7, 2019
Endorsements:
“An utterly ravishing book of love poems — a slim volume that reverberates with the mysteries of the human heart.”
— Stephen Cope, author of The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling
“A spectacular collection of poems that trigger inspiration and a deep knowing of our true nature. A beautiful gift to the world!”
— Lama Tsultrim Allione, author of Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict
“In an age of boundaries being frantically drawn and redrawn in the name of self-preservation, this book lovingly reminds us of the boundless.”
— BJ Miller, executive director of the Zen Hospice Project
“Fluid. Inspirational. Divine....Required reading in these troubled times.”
— Shobhaa De, columnist and novelist
“With an incredibly varied assortment of authors and poetic forms, this collection wraps the heart in words of comfort, joy, wonder, and the many faces of love. Each page is an invitation to explore who, how, and why we love and how to express it in so many beautiful ways.”
— David Lurey, international yoga teacher and musician
“A rare gem of a book. It will become one of your wise, lifelong companions of the heart, its pages worn and faded by use and time, and its every word, every bead, still possessing the power to make your heart ring like a bell.”
— Kirsten DeLeo, teacher of Contemplative End-of-Life Care
“An utterly ravishing book of love poems — a slim volume that reverberates with the mysteries of the human heart.”
— Stephen Cope, author of The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling
“A spectacular collection of poems that trigger inspiration and a deep knowing of our true nature. A beautiful gift to the world!”
— Lama Tsultrim Allione, author of Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict
“In an age of boundaries being frantically drawn and redrawn in the name of self-preservation, this book lovingly reminds us of the boundless.”
— BJ Miller, executive director of the Zen Hospice Project
“Fluid. Inspirational. Divine....Required reading in these troubled times.”
— Shobhaa De, columnist and novelist
“With an incredibly varied assortment of authors and poetic forms, this collection wraps the heart in words of comfort, joy, wonder, and the many faces of love. Each page is an invitation to explore who, how, and why we love and how to express it in so many beautiful ways.”
— David Lurey, international yoga teacher and musician
“A rare gem of a book. It will become one of your wise, lifelong companions of the heart, its pages worn and faded by use and time, and its every word, every bead, still possessing the power to make your heart ring like a bell.”
— Kirsten DeLeo, teacher of Contemplative End-of-Life Care
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews