MUSICIAN SAINT-MIRABAI

Mira Bai

By

Sri Swami Sivananda

Mira is regarded as an incarnation of Radha. She was born in Samvat 1557 or 1499 A.D. in the village Kurkhi, near Merta, a small state in Marwar, Rajasthan. Mira was the daughter of Ratan Singh Ranthor and the grand-daughter of Dudaji of Merta. The Ranthors of Merta were great devotees of Vishnu. Mira Bai was brought up amidst Vaishnava influence, which moulded her life in the path of devotion towards Lord Krishna. She learnt to worship Sri Krishna from her childhood. When she was four years of age, she manifested religious tendencies. Once there was a marriage procession in front of her residence. The bridegroom was nicely dressed. Mira, who was only a child, saw the bridegroom and said to her mother innocently, "Dear mother, who is my bridegroom?". Mira's mother smiled, and half in jest and half in earnest, pointed towards the image of Sri Krishna and said, "My dear Mira, Lord Krishna—this beautiful image—is your bridegroom".

Child Mira began to love the idol of Krishna very much. She spent much of her time in bathing and dressing the image. She worshipped the image. She slept with the image. She danced about the image in ecstasy. She sang beautiful songs in front of the image. She used to talk to the idol.

Mira's father arranged for her marriage with Rana Kumbha of Chitore, in Mewar. Mira was a very dutiful wife. She obeyed her husband's commands implicitly. After her household duties were over, she would go to the temple of Lord Krishna, worship, sing and dance before the image daily. The little image would get up, embrace Mira, play on the flute and talk to her. Rana's mother and other ladies of the house did not like the ways of Mira, as they were worldly-minded and jealous. They were all annoyed with her. Mira's mother-in-law forced her to worship Durga and admonished her often. But Mira stood adamant. She said, "I have already given up my life to my beloved Lord Krishna". Mira's sister-in-law Udabai formed a conspiracy and began to defame the innocent Mira. She informed Rana Kumbha that Mira was in secret love with others, that she with her own eyes had witnessed Mira in the temple with her lovers, and that she would show him the persons if he would accompany her one night. She further added that Mira, by her conduct, had brought a great slur on the reputation of the Rana family of Chitore. Rana Kumbha was very much enraged. He straightaway ran with sword in hand towards the inner apartments of Mira. Fortunately, Mira was not in her room. A kind relative of the Rana checked him and said, "Look here Rana! Do not be in haste. You will repent later on. Consider well. Enquire into the matter very carefully. Find out the truth. Mira is a great devotional lady. What you have heard now may be a wild rumour only. Out of sheer jealousy some ladies might have concocted a cock-and-bull story against Mira to ruin her. Be cool now". Rana Kumbha agreed to the wise counsel of his relative. The Rana's sister took him to the temple at dead of night. Rana Kumbha broke open the door, rushed inside and found Mira alone in her ecstatic mood talking to the idol.

The Rana said to Mira, "Mira, with whom are you talking now? Show me this lover of yours". Mira replied, "There sits He—my Lord—the Nanichora who has stolen my heart". She fainted. There was a wild rumour that Mira was mixing very freely with Sadhus. She, no doubt, had great regard for Sadhus and mixed freely with them. Mira never cared a bit for the meaningless scandals. She stood unruffled.

Mira was persecuted in various ways by the Rana and his relatives. She got the same treatment which Prahlad got from his father Hiranyakasipu. Hari shielded Prahlad. Here, Sri Krishna always stood by the side of Mira. Once the Rana sent a cobra in a basket to Mira with the message that it contained a garland of flowers. Mira took her bath and sat for worship. After finishing her meditation, she opened the basket and found inside a lovely idol of Sri Krishna and a garland of flowers. Then the Rana sent her a cup of poison with the message that it was nectar. Mira offered it to Lord Krishna and took it as His Prasad. It was real nectar to her. Then the Rana sent a bed of nails for Mira to sleep on. Mira finished her worship and slept on the bed of nails. Lo! The bed of nails was transformed into a bed of roses.

When Mira was thus tortured by her husband's relatives, she sent a letter to Tulsidasji and asked the advice of the saint. She wrote thus: "All my relatives trouble me, because I move amongst Sadhus. I cannot carry on my devotional practices in the house. I have made Giridhar Gopal my friend from my very childhood. I am strongly attached to Him. I cannot break that attachment now".

Tulsidasji sent a reply: "Abandon those who do not worship Rama and Sita as if they are your enemies, even though they are your dearest relatives. Prahlad abandoned his father; Vibhishana left his brother Ravana; Bharata deserted his mother; Bali forsook even his Guru; the Gopis, the women of Vraja, disowned their husbands in order to attain the Lord. Their lives were all the happier for having done so. The opinion of holy saints is that the relation with God and love of God alone is true and eternal; all other relationships are unreal and temporary".

Once Akbar and his court musician Tansen came in disguise to Chitore to hear Mira's devotional and inspiring songs. Both entered the temple and listened to Mira's soul-stirring songs to their heart's content. Akbar was really moved. Before he departed, he touched the holy feet of Mira and placed a necklace of emeralds in front of the idol as a present. Somehow the news reached the Rana that Akbar had entered the temple in disguise, touched the feet of Mira and even presented her a necklace. The Rana became furious. He told Mira, "Drown yourself in the river and never show your face to the world in future. You have brought great disgrace on my family".

Mira obeyed the words of her husband. She proceeded to the river to drown herself. The names of the Lord "Govind, Giridhari, Gopal" were always on her lips. She sang and danced in ecstasy on her way to the river. When she raised her feet from the ground, a hand from behind grasped her. She turned behind and saw her beloved Krishna. She fainted. After a few minutes she opened her eyes. Lord Krishna smiled and spoke to her these words: "My dear Mira, your life with this mortal husband is over now. You are absolutely free. Be cheerful. You are Mine. Immediately proceed to the bowers of Vraja and the avenues of Brindavan. Seek Me there, my child. Be quick". He then disappeared.

Mira obeyed the divine call immediately. She walked barefoot on the hot sandy beds of Rajasthan. On her way, she was received by many ladies, children and devotees with great hospitality. She reached Brindavan. She found out her Flute-bearer there. She went about Brindavan begging for her food and worshipped in the Govinda Mandir which has since become famous and is now a place of pilgrimage. Her devotees of Chitore came to Brindavan to see Mira. Rana Kumbha came to Mira in the disguise of a mendicant, revealed himself and repented for his previous wrongs and cruel deeds. Mira at once prostrated before her husband.

Jiva Gosain was the head of the Vaishnavites in Brindavan. Mira wanted to have Darshan of Jiva Gosain. He declined to see her. He sent word to Mira that he would not allow any woman in his presence. Mira Bai retorted: "Everybody in Brindavan is a woman. Only Giridhar Gopal is Purusha. Today only I have come to know that there is another Purusha besides Krishna in Brindavan". Jiva Gosain was put to shame. He thought that Mira was a great devotional lady. He at once went to see Mira and paid her due respects.

Mira's fame spread far and wide. So many princesses and queens have come and gone. So many Ranis, Kumaris and Maharanis have appeared on the stage of this world and vanished. How is it that the queen of Chitore alone is still remembered? Is this on account of her beauty? Is this on account of her poetic skill? No. It is on account of her renunciation, one-pointed devotion to Lord Krishna and God-realisation. She came face to face with Krishna. She conversed with Krishna. She ate with Krishna—her Beloved. She drank the Krishna-prema-rasa. She has sung from the core of her heart the music of her soul, the music of her Beloved, her unique spiritual experiences. And she has sung songs of surrender and Prem.

Mira had the beautiful cosmic vision. She saw Krishna in the tree, in the stone, in the creeper, in the flower, in the bird, in all beings—in everything. As long as there is the name of Krishna, there will be the name of Mira also.

It is extremely difficult to find a parallel to this wonderful personality—Mira—a saint, a philosopher, a poet and a sage. She was a versatile genius and a magnanimous soul. Her life has a singular charm, with extraordinary beauty and marvel. She was a princess, but she abandoned the pleasures and luxuries incident to her high station, and chose instead, a life of poverty, austerity, Tyaga, Titiksha and Vairagya. Though she was a delicate young lady, she entered the perilous journey on the spiritual path amidst various difficulties. She underwent various ordeals with undaunted courage and intrepidity. She stood adamant in her resolve. She had a gigantic will.

Mira's songs infuse faith, courage, devotion and love of God in the minds of the readers. They inspire the aspirants to take to the path of devotion and they produce in them a marvellous thrill and a melting of the heart.

Mira's earthly life was full of troubles and difficulties. She was persecuted. She was tormented and yet she kept up an undaunted spirit and a balanced mind all through, by the strength of her devotion and the grace of her beloved Krishna. Though she was a princess, she begged alms and lived sometimes on water alone. She led a life of perfect renunciation and self-surrender.

Mira had Raganuga or Ragatmika Bhakti. She never cared for public criticism and the injunctions of the Shastras. She danced in the streets. She did no ritualistic worship. She had spontaneous love for Lord Krishna. She did not practise Sadhana-bhakti. From her very childhood she poured forth her love on Lord Krishna. Krishna was her husband, father, mother, friend, relative and Guru. Krishna was her Prananath. Mira had finished the preliminary modes of worship in her previous birth.

Mira was fearless in her nature, simple in her habits, joyous in her disposition, amiable in her deportment, graceful in her behaviour and elegant in her demeanour. She immersed herself in the love of Giridhar Gopal. The name of Giridhar Gopal was always on her lips. Even in her dreams, she lived and had her being in Sri Krishna.

In her divine intoxication, Mira danced in public places. She had no sex-idea. Her exalted state could not be adequately described in words. She was sunk in the ocean of Prem. She had no consciousness of her body and surroundings. Who could gauge the depth of her devotion? Who could understand her internal Premamaya state of Maha-bhava? Who could measure the capacity of her large heart?

Mira wafted the fragrance of devotion far and wide. Those who came in contact with her were affected by her strong current of Prem. Mira was like Lord Gauranga. She was an embodiment of love and innocence. Her heart was the temple of devotion. Her face was the lotus-flower of Prem. There was kindness in her look, love in her talk, joy in her discourses, power in her speech and fervour in her songs. What a marvellous lady! What a wonderful personality! What a charming figure!

Mira's mystic songs act as a soothing balm to the wounded hearts and tired nerves of those who toil in this world with the heavy burden of life. The sweet music of her songs exerts a benign influence on the hearers, removes discord and disharmony, and lulls them to sleep. Mira's language of love is so powerful that even a downright atheist will be moved by her devotional songs.

Mira acted her part well on the stage of the world. She taught the world the way to love God. She rowed her boat dexterously in a stormy sea of family troubles and difficulties and reached the other shore of supreme peace and absolute fearlessness—the kingdom of supreme love. She belonged to the gentle fair sex and yet how undaunted in spirit and how courageous she was! Though she was young, she bore the persecutions silently. She endured the piercing taunts and sarcastic criticisms of the world bravely. She has left an indelible impression on the world and her name will be handed down to posterity.

From Brindavan, Mira proceeded to Dwaraka. There she was absorbed in the image of Lord Krishna at the temple of Ranchod.

Mirabai, 1478 - 1540

Mirabai, Poet and Bhaktha of Shyam, [Lord Krishna] 1478 - circa 1540
[Mira, Meera, Mirabai]

In the tradition of the troubadour, the wandering minstrel, and the Singer of Songs, comes Mirabai, Rajput Princess, famous for her bhaktha poems, her day-long sitting in front of Krishna at Temples, and her wanderings, seeking Lord Krishna. Mirabai's poems and love songs are sung in many temples, in India. Her spiritual peers were Tulsidas and the blind Surdas.

Recalling greatly honoured women bhaktas, Mirabai stands among Radha and Sukkabai. She is more popularly known as Bhaktha Meera. She achived mergence through her persistent devotion to Krishna.

I danced before my Giridhara.
Again and again I dance
To please that discerning critic,
And put His former love to the test.
I put on the anklets
Of the love of Shyam,
And behold! My Mohan stays true.
Worldly shame and family custom
I have cast to the winds.
I do not forget the beauty of the Beloved
Even for an instant.
Mira is dyed deeply in the dye of Hari.

Over 5000 songs and poems are attributed to Mirabai, who is sometimes accused of simply wanting to bed Lord Krishna. Doubtless many such songs attributed to Mirabai were fueled by the erotic Krishna-Gopi oral history and ignorance of the true rasa-vilola. Mirabai is plainly tormented by separation from her Lord. This separation reaches deeply into the recesses of all she is. Later she will sing most starkly of the torment of being in a body, separated by the veil of maya.

Down by the river a flute!
0 ruined heart,
what is conviction
that a flute player dissolves it?
Dark waters, dark trousers
and Krishna darker than ever-
one bamboo flute note
so pure it drives Mira out of her mind.
Lord, this stumbling body,
free it from torment.

The erotic slant on the cult of Krishna was very strong in the north of India in Mira's times. Little, if any, of this erotic Krishna lore bears any resemblance to Mirabai's dancing in front of Krishna at Temples all over North and Northwest India, nor any relation or account of her thirty years seeking and wandering through villages and forests in search of her Lord and God, Shyam, the Dark One.

I am your slave.
Bind me in tethers, Mira's your slave.
She wakes up at dawn,
sits in the garden,
haunts the pathways of Brindavan forest
making up ballads.
Fever, memory, craving,
birth after birth they come with me.
I slip on a saffron robe
hoping to see you.
Yogins come to Brindavan to know oneness,
hermits perform terrible spells,
holy men come to sing gospels-
but Mira is deeper, lord,
and more secret.
She waits with a ruined heart every night
by the river
just for a glimpse.

Mirabai and Tulsidas, quite independently of each other, were to revive devotion in their times; Tulsidas with the Ramayana and his devotion to Rama, Krishna and Siva. Mirabai became famous in her own lifetime as the mad princess who danced for her consort Krishna, everywhere. Her family pleaded with her not to take to the path of pilgrimage, urging her to turn back. The world of princess, fort, family, obligation, riches, fame held nothing for her. It was emptiness. No-one understood her one pointedness with Krishna, her devotion. She could not return to live among those who did not see Shyam everywhere. It was a path of thorns, as any path with one pointed discipline is:

This infamy, O my Prince
is delicious!
Some revile me,
others applaud,
I simply follow my incomprehensible road
A razor thin path
but you meet some good people,
A terrible path but you hear a true word
Turn back?
Because the wretched stare and see nothing?
O Mira's Lord is noble and dark,
and slanderers
rake only themselves
over the coals

Mirabai has that rare suddhi, single pointed purity of devotion to Shyam. This vision was to later lead her to wander to all the 68 places of pilgrimage, to stumble and falter, to wear the yellow rags of a yogini, and be utterly single-minded in pursing the consummation of this vision of Krishna:

Hari, hear my plea.
Dark One, I am
your servant,
a vision of you has driven me mad.
Separation eats at my limbs.
Because of you
I'll become a yogini and ramble
from city to city
scouring the hidden quarters-
pasted with ash, clad in a deerskin
my body wasting
to cinder.
I'll circle from forest to forest
wretched and howling-
0 Unborn, Indestructible,
come to your beggar!
Finish her pain and touch her
with pleasure!
This coming and going will end,
says Mira,
with me clasping your
feet forever.

Many poems recall Mirabai's wanderings through the forests. She slept on the forest floors, seeking only the company of Shyam, and as a wife would reach out to touch her husband, Mira reached out only to find emptiness. Perhaps the poems capture the driven desire of a physical need to love and be loved, as any faithful woman needs and wants. Perhaps the poems reveal the limits of desire and understanding of the Divine. But Mirabai, no Brahmin, no guru, knows she has chased Shyam from birth to birth, through countless wombs. Still, she desires this divine touch. Sometimes the touch of rain on her clothing and skin is for her the touch of the Lord.

Another night without sleep,
thrashing about
until daybreak.
Friend, once I rose
from a luminous dream, a vision
that nothing dispels.
Yet this writhing, tormented self
cries out to meet
her Lord of the outcast.
Gone mad, gone crazy,
mind and senses confused with unspoken secrets-
Oh the Dark One
holds life and death in his hands,
he knows Mira's anguish.

Although there is some disagreement about the precise details of her life, it is generally agreed that she was born in 1498, the only daughter of a Rajput chieftain and landlord by the name of Ratan Singh, in the neighborhood of Merta, a fortress-city, founded by her grandfather Rao Dudaji, about 40-50 miles north-east of Ajmer. Her mother died when Mirabai was only four or five years old. Mirabai is said to have been devoted to Krishna from a very early age, and in one of her poems she asks, "O Krishna, did You ever rightly value my childhood love?"

Meera asked her mother, as a tiny girl, "Mother! We are playing a game. The other girls have all given out the names of the man each will wed; who is to be my husband - tell me, I must tell them his name". When she worried her for some little time, the mother blurted out, "This Giridhara, installed in this shrine, He is your husband. Go". Meera dedicated herself to the Lord Giridhara (Krishna) from that moment and saw everywhere, at all times, only His complexion and His compassion.

O sweet tongue'd Enchanter,
I was a child.
You paid no attention to my
little girl love,
then you vanished.
Bewitched, jerked here and there,
I stumble about,
contradictions eating my heart.
Don't you get it? Mira is yours.
One word, sweet tongue'd Enchanter,
I'll tell everyone,
I'll beat it out
on my drum.

Mirabai crossed the one, single structure of society that was rigidly enforced by all members of society - the lines of varna, caste. This was a most courageous act of devotion, a princess putting on the yellow rags of a yogini. Varna, or caste, is the basic melding of all persons born into their rightful place, marriage, learning, occupation, dharma, and spiritual upkeep of India as a whole. For a royal to abandon palace and take to the byways of the sadhu was cause for gossip:

Let them gossip.
This mind never wavers
Love fixes my mind on that enchanter of minds
like sorcery fixes on Gold.
Birth after birth lost in sleep
until hearing the teacher's
word, I awoke.
Mother, father, clan, tribe-
snapped like a thread!
Mira's Lord can lift mountains
he has aroused her.

As her father was away much of the time, she was then sent to be raised at her grandfather's house. Other members of the family were also inclined towards Vaishnava practices, and in this environment Mirabai's own religious sentiments could grow freely. Upon the death of her grandfather, her uncle Viram Dev took her into his charge, and it is this uncle who consented to have her married off to Bhoja Raj, the heir apparent to the throne of the famous warrior Rana Sanga of the House of Sisodiya.

There were no children from this marriage, and in the event Mirabai took no interest in her earthly spouse, since she believed herself to be married to Krishna. This enraged her inlaws:

Friend, without that Dark raptor
I could not survive.
Mother-in-law shrills at me,
her daughter sneers,
the prince stumbles about in a permanent fury.
Now they've bolted my door
and mounted a guard.
But who could abandon a love
developed through uncounted lifetimes?
The Dark One is Mirabai's lord,
who else could
slake her desire?

Mira all the time thought of only Giridhara (Lord Krishna) and chanted His name. Her eyes were filled with the form of Krishna and her mind was filled with the thoughts of Krishna. But, her husband thought that she was crossing her limits in the name of devotion to Krishna. So, one day, he threw her out of the Krishna temple for the sake of false worldly honor. Then she wrote a letter to Tulsidas seeking his advice as to what she should do, whether to give up Krishna, the eternal companion, or to forsake her husband. Tulsidas sent a reply saying, "Mother, God is the greatest of all and the path leading to God is the noblest of all. Husband is like a passing cloud, but God is always with you, even before your birth and after your death. Trikalabhadhyam Sathyam (Truth transcends all the three periods of time). How can you give up God who is the Embodiment of Truth? Husband entered your life in the middle and will go away in the middle. You may serve him as long as he is alive. But, when he himself discards you, there is nothing wrong in leaving him for the sake of God." [ Sathya Sai Baba, 15 Apr 99, Brindavan]

My Dark One,
they've placed him off limits-
but I won't live without him.

Delighting in Hari,
coming and going with sadhus,
I wander beyond reach of the world's snare.
Body is wealth
but I just give it away-
this head was long ago taken.
Full of rapture
Mira flees the jabbering townsfolk,
going for refuge
to what cannot perish-
her Dark One.

When atma has seen paramatma, no earthly passion or desire can slake the soul's thirst. Although Mirabai was in the body, her soul was ardently seeking Shyam. Her intellect and discrimination were seeking only paramatma, whom she once described as "slipping through the courtyard" as she slept.

Go! Go to that land
where a glimpse of the Dark One
is had.
Give me the word,
I'll wear a red sari,
give me the word, I'll dress up in hermit rags;
one word, I'll lace pearls
through the part in my hair,
or scatter my braids into dreadlocks.
Mira's lord rules the true court,
she says, go,
go where he dwells.
Then heed the songs of your
king.

That land "seems" to be a physical place, a region called Mathura or Dwakara; yet Mira seeks that which cannot be had in the nights of wasted sleep, tossing, turning, desiring her lord, reaching out for one who is not there;

Another night without sleep,
thrashing about
until daybreak.
Friend, once I rose
from a luminous dream, a vision
that nothing dispels.
Yet this writhing, tormented self
cries out to meet
her Lord of the outcast.
Gone mad, gone crazy,
mind and senses confused with unspoken secrets-
Oh the Dark One
holds life and death in his hands,
he knows Mira's anguish.Mira seeks that which cannot be found on the level of the senses:
Yogin, a single glimpse
and I'd be exultant.
But life on this crazy planet is torment,
day and night torment.
Mad, raked by separation-
drifting from country to country-
look at Mira's black hair
it's turned white.

Birth after birth after birth, Mirabai is sickened by separation from Shyam, the Beloved Dark One. Tired of the world and the karma of birth, Surrender is all that is left:

Guide this little boat
over the waters,
what can I give you for fare?
Our mutable world holds nothing but grief,
bear me away from it.
Eight bonds of karma
have gripped me,
the whole of creation
swirls through eight million wombs,
through eight million birth-forms we flicker.
Mira cries. Dark One
take this little boat to the far shore,
put an end to coming
and going.

Overstepping all propriety, she would descend from the Sisodiya palace, into town, where she would consort with sadhus and low caste bhaktas in local temples. Her inlaws were enraged. She was suspected of consorting with spies.

Binding my ankles with silver
I danced-
people in town called me crazy.
She'll ruin the clan
said my mother-in-law,
and the prince
had a cup of venom delivered.
I laughed as I drank it.
Can't they see?
Body and mind aren't something to lose,
the Dark One's already seized them.
Mira's lord can lift mountains,
he is her refuge.

There were three attempts to kill her. A much younger male relative, Vikramajita, is described as having locked her into a room, but when that failed to bring Mirabai to her senses, he attempted, unsuccessfully, to poison her. It has been suggested that her relatives expected her to commit sati, or self-immolation, after the death of her husband; indeed, in one of her poems Mirabai wrote, "sati na hosyan girdhar gansyan mhara man moho ghananami", "I will not commit sati. I will sing the songs of Girdhar Krishna."

He has stained me,
the color of raven he's stained me.
Beating a clay
two-headed drum at both ends
like a nautch girl I dance
before sadhus.
Back in town I'm called crazy,
drunkard, a love slut-
they incited the prince
who ordered me poisoned
but I drained the cup without missing a step.
Mira's lord is the true prince,
he stained her the color of raven,
birth after birth
she is his.

Many narratives agree that at this vital juncture Mirabai was left vulnerable to the hostility of her conservative male relatives, and that this hostility increased as Mirabai became visibly detached from the affairs of the world and her obligations to her in-laws. She quickly departed from Sisodiya terrritories, took to the road on foot, fled excessive pride and wealth that shackled her, the calculating in-laws, the mediocre religion and the subservient widow's role imposed on her.

Shame would kill
these people
if anyone heard them speak a true word.
They dash
from here to there in the village
but complain they're too tired to visit a temple.
A fight breaks out
they storm off to watch it;
a busker starts jesting,
a whore dances,
the townsfolk sit laughing for hours.
But Mira sits somewhere else-
at the lotus feet
of her Dark One

She crisscrossed northwestern India repeatedly, treading the roadways of Rajastahan and Gujarat, pursuing ther elusive Krishna throught the forests and villages he was rumoured to frequent.

The Dark One's love-stain
is on her,
other ornaments
Mira sees as mere glitter.
A mark on her forehead,
a bracelet, some prayer beads,
beyond that she wears only
her conduct.

Make-up is worthless
when you've gotten truth from a teacher.
0 the Dark One has
stained me with love,
and for that some revile me,
others give honor
I simply wander the road of the sadhus
lost in my songs.

Never stealing,
injuring no one,
who can discredit me?
Do you think I'd step down from an elephant
to ride on the haunch
of an ass?

Sometime around 1538 Mirabai arrived in Vrindavan, where she spent most of the remainder of her life before moving, shortly before her death, to Dwarka.

By her fiftieth year Mira had come to reside in the coastal Gujurat city of Dwaraka. In Dwaraka stands the Ranchorji Temple, one of the four main temples for pilgrimage in India. Some legends say Mira set up a soup kitchen and hospice alongside the temple where she would attend to the poor. Back in her homeland the Sisodiya clan meanwhile had suffered a series of devestating military reversals. One account says 13,000 women in Sisodiya territroy, on learning their husbands had been lost in battle, collectively immolated themselves on a pyre rather than await an expected humiliation by enemy forces.

Rumour flared through the region that the defeats had come as divine retribution for mistreatment of Mira. Confronted with a possible revolt in their domains, Mira's inlaws decided to bring home their princess, hoping to manipulate Mirabai's reputation in order to legitmise their rule in the eyes of the populace. They dispatched a crew of civic officials and brahmins to Dwaraka to fetch her.

The envoy located her at the soup kitchen she had founded and threatened to starve themselves to death if she did not return with them. This was a blatant misuse of their authority, knowing that Mirabai would not take on the karma of their deaths.

Faced with the prospect of a return to the indignities of the Sisodiya household, the wealth that held no interest, the title she had rejected once and for all as useless, Mira requested and was granted a final night alone in the Ranchorji temple, which housed a favourite image of her God.

Mirabai's Mergence

Many noble souls merged in God through love. Don't you know Mira who attained liberation by chanting Krishna's name? Prahlada, bitten by serpents, trampled upon by elephants, given poison, yet chanted God's name and attained liberation. He considered everything divine. Yad Bhavam Tad Bhavati (as is the feeling, so is the experience). So, you should think of God with love [Mumbai, 14 March 99]

In the morning when the envoy opened the locked gates, all that remained - draped across the feet of the deity - were Mirabai's robe and her hair.

0 - Mind,
praise the lotus feet that don't perish!
Consider all things
on heaven and earth-and their doom.
Go off with pilgrims, undertake fasts,
wrangle for wisdom,
trek to Banaras to die,
what's the use?
Arrogant body just withers,
phenomenal world is a coy parakeet
that flies off at dusk.
Why throw a hermit robe over your shoulders-
yellow rag yogins
are also bewildered,
caught every time in the birth snare.
Dark One, take this girl for your servant.
Then cut the cords and
set her free.

Perhaps the most remembered and quoted woman in India history is a sixteenth century poet, singer and saint called Mirabai, or Meera. Versions of her songs are sung today all over India, and she appears as a subject in films, books, dances, plays and paintings. Even Mohandas Gandhi promoted her, seeing Mira as a symbol of a woman who has the right to chose her own path, forsake a life of luxury, and in nonviolent resistance find liberation.

Mirabai belonged to the Rajput aristocracy. From an early age, she worshiped the image of Krishna. Her form of worship was influenced by a number of her male relatives who were devotees of a mystical form of Hinduism called Bhakti. In the Bhakti tradition, one approached one's god through pure love, without any restrictions of caste, color, or gender. Many Bhakti followers gave up their worldly life and left their families to became wandering teachers or live together in like-minded communities. Their message usually was spread through deeply personal poems through which they conversed with their chosen God. Female devotees who aspired to live this life also had to give up their husbands and family. They had to live among people from a variety of castes, including those considered forbidden to them. In spite of what many felt were acts of subversive, some who overcame obstacles to follow their spiritual quests in time became respected and even revered.

In 1516 Mirabai was married to Prince Bhoj Raj of the Rajput kingdom of Mewar, the most powerful Rajput state in the early 16th century. It's capital was Chittor. From the start Mira was a problem. She refused to worship her husband's family's goddess (devi), claiming that she already had offered herself to Lord Krishna and considered herself married to him. She refused the family's gifts of silks and jewels. She insisting on associating with the community of bhaktas. And when her husband died after only three short years, Mirabai refused to join him on his funeral pyre, a practice at the time expected of high caste Rajput widows. Instead she claimed that now she was free to devote herself completely to the worship of Krishna.

Mira's devotional practices became increasingly intense. She often sang and danced herself into ecstasies, even in public places like temples. News about her spread all over India and she soon attracted a following of devotees from all social groups and castes.

Mira lived in a time and place when the sexual virtue of women was fiercely guarded. Her husband's family was shocked by her actions and finally locked her inside the house. In her songs Mira says that on two occasions they tried to kill her, but she was miraculously saved both times. At some point she left the palace and city of Chittor and returned to her birth family. They too disapproved of her actions. Sometime around 1527 she set off as a wanderer, traveling to places of pilgrimage associated with the life of Krishna. Her popularity grew. Before she even arrived at the site, people gathered singing her songs. Mirabai returned once briefly to her home, but in the face of further family harassment decided to leave the kingdom of Chittor for good. She passed her last days in Dwarka on the coast of the Arabian sea, the site believed to be that of Krishna's youth.

Mira's life resonates in the hearts of many in India today for many reasons. First there are her words, which with beauty and joy express a kind of female liberation. In them, her rejection and even disdain of the wealthy and their life of riches also appeals to the poor. Then there is her rebellion, which is seen as being against injustice within the family and within kinships groups in general. While valuing women as mothers above all, India also reveres the self-expression of Mira, a childless woman who is identified as having rebelled against her husband and in-laws.

Mirabai

Mirabai

-- Poems by Mirabai

Meerabai was a born poetess. Through her numerous poems, marked with simplicity and lack of pretension, she has beautifully expressed her intensity and depth of love for Krishna. Meerabai's bhajans (songs dedicated to the lord), composed centuries ago still capture the thoughts and emotions of devotees today. These songs are highly regarded for the mystic quality as well as their rich inner meanings. Meerabai offered her soul to the lord, singing and dancing, in a trance, to please her beloved and her lord, Krishna. And through these songs and her devotion she has left behind a legacy of thoughts and ways of making one's soul reach Lord Krishna.

Portraying herself as a lover of Krishna, longing for him, Mirabai's poetry puts love for Krishna above love for friends and family. She perceived Krishna to be her husband, lover, lord and master. Even though those around her try to stop her from her quest for Krishna, she remains unstoppable in her pursuit of Krishna, whatever the consequences.

Making use of erotic imagery as one of the tools to portray her love for Krishna, she is able to describe her pining for him, her quest for union with him. Even though her symbolism is erotic, her love is divine and pure - selfless, all-absorbing, immaculate, insatiable and endless. The expression of Mira's love is very intimate in nature.

It is through love that she communes with God. "Mira's Lord is none other than Giridhara." (Giridhara being Krishna) - these are usually the ending words of Meera's poems which are predominantly an expression of her oneness with Krishna. Mira's love for Krishna is all-encompassing. The lord of her heart and soul, she used to weep for him and spend sleepless nights for a sight of him. Mirabai says she had "sold" herself - surrendered herself - completely to him. She says "I am colored with the color of dusk", dusk implying the color of Krishna. As if her love for Krishna permeated every pore of her body, just like dye permeates a garment. This aspect of union through surrender is predominant in Mira's poetry.

For Mirabai, her freedom lay in her union with her lord. She sings:

"Love in which there is laughter and sobbing,
Moaning, throbbing and clasping in tight embrace,
That alone is liberation for me,
I care for no other."

This great saint of Hinduism and one the greatest devotees of Krishna, Mirabai was born into the royal family of Rana Ratan Singh of Merta in Rajasthan in 1498 A.D. As a three-year old child she grew extremely fond of a statue of Lord Krishna. So much so that her mother had once jokingly remarked that Krishna would one day be the girl's (Mirabai's) groom. This remark made an indelible mark on the impressionable mind of the young child.

Buy this doll

MEERABAI SINGING FOR LORD KRISHNA

She nurtured the notion of Krishna being her sole lord, her lover, friend and husband as she matured into a woman. She agreed to her marriage to Rana Kumbha of Mewar in Rajasthan, against her heart's wishes, to honor her grandfather's promise to Rana Kumbha. In spite of her marriage, her heart still belonged to Lord Krishna and she spent a great deal of time in the Krishna temple at her husband's palace, albeit after fulfilling her household duties. Conspiracies were unfortunately hatched against her by several around her, to defame her, and eventually to kill her, but all of those could not deter her from her chosen path of devotion. Her husband however is seen to have been a sympathizer of Mirabai, till her death in 1546 A.D. According to other versions, though, it is believed that her husband died within ten years of their marriage.

Such great was her devotion that it is believed that she merged with the lord in his temple at Dwarka in Gujarat. According to one version, she is believed to have entered the sanctum of the temple in a state of singing ecstacy. The sanctum doors are believed to have closed on their own and when later opened, the sari (garment) of Mirabai was seen enwrapped around the idol of lord Krishna.

Through her devotion-filled yet tumultuous life she gained a number of enemies, owing to her rising fame and her undeterred and unconventional devotion to Lord Krishna. But more than she gained enemies, she gained followers and admirers. Not only the common people, but also the Mughal emperor Akbar and his famous court musician, Tansen, are believed to have visited her in disguise and are said to have touched her feet, in awe of her devotion for Lord Krishna.

What set apart Meera from the other devotees of Krishna was that she looked upon Krishna as her husband, rather than only as a master. She believed that in her previous life she was one of the several gopis in Vrindavan, in love with Krishna (Vrindavan was the place where Krishna spent most of his childhood. Gopis were the several female companions of Krishna). Mira used to consider herself an incarnation of one of the gopis mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana, called Lalita, a very close female companion of Radha, who was the greatest devotee and a beloved of Lord Krishna.

Much like the gopis, as mentioned in tales of Krishna, Mirabai looked upon Krishna as her lover, seeking physical union with him. Her writings were at the same time, spiritual and erotic. Mira's songs portray a personal universe where the only existence was that of Krishna - her sole object of desire.

Through her love songs addressed to her beloved, Krishna, Meera paints on a literary canvas, the longing of the individual soul (atman) to merge with the universal soul (paramatman). These songs talk about the beauty of the object of her love and her passion and longing for union with him, the madness of her love, and the pain of separation from him. They oscillated between feelings of sensual bodily love for the lord to a state of spiritual love, but at all times, openly describing her heart's longings. Within the songs, she shifted between feeling anguish at being separated from her lover to feeling jealousy and suspicion about her lover. At other times she would be ecstatic with visions of being close to him. At all moments, she would imagine herself to be a part of the existence of Lord Krishna, as she would imagine him to be a part of her existence.

Even when, at times, her poetry describes scenes of Krishna's childhood pranks, as described in various Hindu texts, she does not fail to superimpose her own character as one of the lovelorn Gopis in the scenes. One of these songs depicts the story of the young Krishna stealing the clothes of the gopis as they bathed in the river Yamuna. Mirabai imagines herself as one of the gopis and sings about her true spiritual self being revealed to the lord as she stood naked in front of Krishna.

Mirabai's state of mind is typically called madhurya by the Vaishnavas, followers of a prominent school of Hinduism. In such a state, love for God acquires the flavor of a relationship that is found in the union of the lover with the beloved.

A Mira poem is traditionally called a Pada, a term used by the 14th century preachers for a small spiritual song. This is usually composed in simple rhythms and carries a refrain within itself. Her collection of songs is called the Padavali. Primarily devotional in nature, Mirabai uses sprinklings of eroticism in her songs. The typicality of Indian love poetry of those days was used by Mirabai but as an instrument to express her deepest emotions felt for her lord. Her typical medium of singing was Vraja-bhasha, a dialect of Hindi spoken in and around Vrindavan (the childhood home of Krishna), sometimes mixed with Rajasthani.

As compared to the literature of the then-existing Hindu schools of devotion (bhakti), which typically saw devotees as servants of the lord, Meera Bai's poetic preoccupation with worship and love as it exists between lovers, sets apart her devotional philosophy. This love-based philosophy of Meera Bai took time to catch on but as she grew popular, her songs and philosophy caught the imagination of the common-folk as a means of reaching out to their popular deity, Lord Krishna. Disregarding her royal lineage, Meera Bai traveled across vast distances of North India, spreading her gospel of love for Krishna being the only weapon that could conquer the transient nature of life. Through her tender and simple odes and hymns, which were rich, sweet, inspiring, and yet void of any rhetoric or esoteric language, she brought to the masses the genuine outpourings of a heart dedicated completely to the lord.

When seen in the context of the conservative and male-dominated society with a unidimensional perception of life and religion, Mirabai can be seen as a perfect example of a woman - a symbol of courage and defiance - who was far ahead of her times in seeking freedom not only from social barriers but also the ultimate freedom from the bondage of human existence.

The insane nature of Meera's love for Lord Krishna and the sheer frenzy of her passion saw her face the intense and brutal opposition of her ways by society and family, with calmness and patience. Her intense experiences of love for Krishna can only be explained as those had by a divine lover, and not by a docile lover. The singular and all-encompassing truth of her life was her love for the lord and that is what allowed her to face all the turmoil and opposition that came along with the conviction that she had towards her love. In her state of frenzied pursuit of Krishna, she was totally oblivious of the world of political intrigue and royal life she was surrounded by.

Mirabai

1498-1547

	barasai badariyaa saavan kii, saavan kii man bhaavan kii. saavan me.n umagyo mero manavaa, bhanak sunii hari aavan kii.. uma.D ghuma.D chahu.n disase aayo, daamaNa damake jhar laavan kii. naanhii.n naanhii.n buu.ndan mehaa barasai, siital pavan sohaavan kii.. miiraa.N ke prabhu giradhar naagar, aananda ma.ngal gaavan kii..
It is raining in the month of Savan, I like the rain coming down. In Savan, my heart starts to pine, I hear the sound of Hari coming. The clouds have rolled in from all sides, lightening occurs and it pours. Tiny drops come from the clouds, and I enjoy the cool breeze. O lord of Mira, called Giradhar Nagar, The cloudy season is for singing joyfully.

	herii mhaa darad divaaNaa.N mhaaraa darad n jaaNyaa.N koya. ghaayal rii gat ghaayal jaaNyaa.N hiba.Do agaN sanjoya.. jauhar kii gat jauharii jaaNai kyaa jaaNyaa.N jaN khoya. miiraa.N rii prabhu piir miTaa.Ngaa jab vaid saa.Nvaro hoya..
I am crazy with pain, and no one understands it. Only the wounded knows the pain of the wounded saving the fire in his heart Only the jeweller knows the values of the gem, not the one who lost it. O lord, Mira's pain will only go when the Dark One is the healer.