ॐ कृष्णाय नमः
Om Krishnaya Namah
Accept my salutations, Oh Sri Krishna
It was a day of great celebration in the village of Chaukari in Merta, Rajasthan - Rao Dudaji the raja of Marwar had been blessed with an exquisitely beautiful granddaughter. The joy her father Ratan Singh and mother Veer Kuvari felt knew no bounds. They named their baby daughter Mira.
It was such a joyous occasion that every home in the village was decorated with rangoli and flowers and tiny oil lamps lit up every street corner. The royal family distributed sweetmeats and fruit as the local town crier beat his drum and announced the happy news. The little princess, however, lay blissfully asleep completely unaware of the unmitigated jubilations at her birth.
Mira, being a royal princess, was brought up in the lap of luxury. As an infant she was rocked to sleep every night in her golden cradle and swaddled in the softest of silks and muslin. As she grew older, she was dressed in the most beautifully stitched clothes with intricate gold embroidery and precious gems embedded into the design. Everyday her handmaids would choose ornaments for her hair, hands, waist and feet that matched each new outfit she wore.
Princess Mira was educated by tutors at the palace and besides the scriptures and music she was also taught archery, fencing and horseback riding. She was a clever student and a very pleasing and well-mannered child. Everyone loved Mira for her kind and caring nature. Mira’s beauty too was beyond all words. In fact, Mira was perfect in every way. Everyone was captivated by this adorable child.
One day, when Mira was about four years old, her mother took her to a wedding. Mira was mesmerized by the pageantry and grandeur of the occasion and when she saw the handsome bridegroom arrive on a beautiful white mare, she innocently asked her mother, “Ma who is that?”
“Mira that is the bridegroom,” replied her mother. “This is his wedding to the beautiful bride we met earlier in the house. They are to be married and will live happily ever after.”
Taking another careful look at the bridegroom whose face she could barely see beneath the flowers covering his face, Meera asked, “Ma who will be my bridegroom?”
Her mother laughed, pointed to a picture of Lord Krishna and jokingly replied, “Do you see that picture there of the handsome man with the peacock feather in his hair? He will be your bridegroom.”
Meera then turned to the picture of Lord Krishna and staring intently at the Lord she embedded his face and form into her little heart.
A few years later Mira’s idyllic life was jolted when her mother Veer Kuvari passed away. Unfortunately, soon after, the child was fated to lose her father too. Ratan Singh lost his life on the battlefield defending his country. Mira was then left in the care of her grandfather Rao Dudaji. Rao Dudaji loved his granddaughter very dearly. He made every effort to ensure that young Mira never felt the loss of her parents. He loved Mira so much that he would even have her sit on his lap while he discussed important matters of state.
One day, a holy man visited the palace. He was welcomed in with great respect by the family. The sage stayed with them for a few days. Every day he would offer prayers and puja to an idol of Lord Krishna. Mira was fascinated by the puja. She watched closely as the holy man worshipped the idol. She listened attentively to the mantras he chanted. She saw him make offerings to the Lord. She also observed the joy the sage experienced as he prayed and worshipped. Nothing escaped the child’s astute observation.
When it was time for the sage to leave and he came to Rao Dudaji to bid him farewell, little Meera rushed up to him and said, “Please respected sage, give me your idol.”
The sage was horrified by this request and hugged the idol even closer to his chest. Meera began to weep and kept begging him to leave Krishna with her. Rao Dudaji unable to see his darling granddaughter this distraught requested the sage, “Sir, it is my humble request that you gift this idol to Meera. She will be heartbroken if she does not have it. Please do be kind enough to indulge me this once.”
At the king’s request the holy sage reluctantly handed over the idol of Lord Krishna to an ecstatic Mira. Hugging her Krishna tightly the child skipped off merrily not giving the sage a chance to change his mind.
From then on Mira would spend hours with the idol. She would play with him, feed him, dress him, adorn him with flower garlands and ornaments and at the end of each day she would sing him to sleep. She was fascinated with all the hymns and songs about Krishna and would sing and dance to these songs to entertain her Lord. She was, in her child mind. married to Krishna. It was around this time that Mira’s extraordinary talent for poetry and verse manifested. She would create the most divine lyrics in praise of Lord Krishna. She would sing these wonderful songs as she strummed her ektara, a simple stringed instrument. Mira would spend much of her day adoring and reveling in Lord Krishna’s company. Though her relatives found her behavior rather excessive and strange they could not divert Mira’s attentions from her beloved Krishna.
So absorbed was Meera in her devotion that she did not noticed the upheavals occurring in the family on account of the disunity between the royal families. Nor did she even realize the imminent danger to her state in the form of a Moghul invasion. This was a time when the Rajput kings desperately needed to unite together to avert Moghul domination.
The most powerful of the Rajput kings, Sangram Singh (Sangaji) of the Sisodia dynasty, was ruling the kingdom of Chittorgarh. Being a politically shrewd ruler, he realized that he needed the support of other Rajput rulers in order to stem Moghul domination. He decided to form an alliance with Merta so that they would appear as a united force against Emperor Akbar.
In those days alliances between rulers were often through marriage. Rana Sangram Singh proposed the marriage of his son Prince Kumar Bhojraj with Mira. With this marriage he would build a healthy relationship between the two most powerful kingdoms of the Rajputs. Mira, who had just turned sixteen, was totally opposed to this match. Unfortunately, girls in those times had absolutely no say in the matter of their marriage.
Forced into a marriage against her will young Mira rebelled in the only way she could – she refused to allow the prince to touch her or even come too close to her. Initially, her husband and family did not take Mira’s behavior seriously. They believed that no one, especially not a young girl like Mira, would ever dare to displease the powerful Sisodia clan. At first, they tried to gently persuade Mira to change her mind. Mira remained adamant. She was, in her mind, married to Lord Krishna and he alone would be her husband. When persuasion failed, they turned to threatening her but Mira was unfazed. It was then that they decided that their only recourse was to kill her.
On their first attempt they sent Mira a container in which they placed a deadly cobra snake. They were certain that as she removed the lid the venomous serpent would bite her. Mira’s heart was so pure that she never even suspected for a moment that her in-laws could conceive anything wicked. She opened the box. There to her joy and delight she found a flawless icon of Sri Krishna crowned with a laurel of pretty blooms. Mira was ecstatic. Her enemies were baffled.
Not yet ready to give up, her in-laws decide to poison Mira. Mira was handed a cup of poison under the pretext of it being amrit (nectar). Guileless Mira took the cup to her Lord and after offering it to him first she drank the remainder with relish. To everyone’s amazement Mira was completely unharmed by the poison. The Rana was furious that all attempts to get rid of Mira were failing. In his anger he sent her a bed of nails for her to lie on. Mira willingly lay down on the bed which magically transformed into a luxurious bed of roses.
Unable to kill her, Mira’s mother-in-law and sister-in-law decided they would defame her and ruin her reputation. They felt that if they besmirched her name, her husband, who still loved Mira, would surely throw her out of their home. Prince Kumar Bhojraj was a good man. He understood Mira’s devotion for Lord Krishna and even respected her for it. He had even indulged Mira’s request to build a small temple of worship for her Lord. Mira’s mother-in-law and sister-in-law hoped that by spreading lies about her character they would succeed in turning Bhojraj against his wife.
They began by spreading vicious rumours about Mira being in love with another man. “Do you know,” they would say, “Mira might look innocent and naïve but she is actually very deceitful. Every night she goes out to meet a stranger and spends hours talking to him”.
As they had expected these rumours caught on like wildfire with each person repeating it adding their own gory embellishments.
Then late one night they both rushed to Bhojraj and said, “You do not seem to take any heed of the many stories circulating about your wife’s misdeeds. Since you seem deaf to all that is being said about her, come with us and see it with your own eyes. Mira is not faithful to you.”
They took Bhojraj to Mira’s sleeping chambers. The room was empty. In unison they shouted, “See she is not in her room. Where does she go so late at night? And who is she meeting? Now you will catch your unfaithful wife red-handed.”
The three of them headed to the little temple Bhojraj had permitted his wife to have built. Standing outside they could clearly hear Mira talking and then singing. Eyes ablaze with excitement Bhojraj’s mother said, “Look we told you she meets someone else at night and yet you did not believe us.”
For the first time doubts arose in Bhojraj’s mind. He rushed even closer to the temple where Mira spent so much of her time. As they neared, they could hear Mira’s voice clearly. She was expressing her love and adoration for someone. A few minutes later they heard her sing and the tinkle of her anklets as she danced to her song. Bhojraj could no longer contain his rage he stormed in; his sword raised to kill whoever was in there with his wife. But to their surprise when they walked in there was no one besides Mira in the room.
Bhojraj shouted in anger, “Where are you hiding your lover? Bring him out right now.”
Mira, though rudely and abruptly disturbed, showed no signs of fear or agitation. She was however surprised to hear Bhojraj’s query. Looking directly at him she answered, “There is only my Lord here with me.”
Bhojraj dissatisfied with her reply asked, “Then who were you talking to?”
Mira, pointing to the beautiful idol of Lord Krishna calmly replied, “There he sits. I was talking to Him.”
Bhojraj though heartbroken that he could never gain his wife’s love sympathized with her. He understood her and the devotion she had for the Lord. He loved his wife. Mira and Bhojraj had a deep friendship that continued until Bhojraj died while fighting a battle. Throughout his life he would protect her from criticism and vilification. When he died Mira lost a true friend.
Her in-laws, finally tired of her, sent Mira back to her parental home. Mira did go back to Merta but as the political situation was bad and the kingdom was rife with wars it became difficult for her to stay on at her hometown. Mira steadfast in her love for Lord Krishna then decided to go to Vrindavan, the birthplace of Lord Krishna.
In Vrindavan too Mira faced difficulties. She went to visit a famed sadhu to gain more spiritual knowledge. But the sadhu stoutly refused to meet her saying, “I will not see Mira as I have taken a vow never to see any woman.”
Agreeing to leave, Mira sent word to the sadhu saying, “I did not know there were any men in Vrindavan other than Lord Krishna.”
The truth in her words stung the sadhu. For all his wisdom he had not fully understood that God sees us all as one. He does not differentiate between men and women, adult and child, animal and human nor between any living being. In His eyes we are all one.
Mira spent her days in doing what she loved the most – singing in the praise of the Lord. Her kirtans and hymns were so melodious and poignant that people from far and wide came to hear of them and they too began to sing them. It is said that Emperor Akbar too heard of Mira’s bhajans. He wished to hear her sing. Akbar and his renowned court musician Tansen disguised themselves and came to listen to Mira sing to her Krishna. The emperor was so moved to hear Mira that he touched her holy feet and placed a necklace of priceless gems around the idol of Lord Krishna. Unfortunately, the Rana of Chittor got to hear of this incident. He was furious that Mira had allowed his worst enemy to touch her and hear her sing . Attacking Mira with harsh words he roared, “You have brought only shame and infamy upon your family. Go drown yourself in the river and never show us your face ever again.”
Unafraid of the consequences Mira complied with the wishes of the king. She stepped into the river and kept going in further and further. With each step she chanted, “Govinda, Giridhari, Gopala.” There was not a trace of fear in her countenance which reflected only pure bliss and euphoria. As she stepped deeper into the water, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned back. There before her was her beloved Lord Krishna. Speaking gently and with love he said, “Mira, your life and existence with your human family has ended. You are completely free. You will always have me beside you for ever.”
Though she had tried to drown herself on the bidding of the king she was kept afloat by the Lord.
Mirabai continued to travel, singing her soul-stirring hymns and playing her ektara. Travelling along she reached Dwaraka. Legend has it that on Krishna's Janmashtami at the temple of Krishna there was a grand celebration of the Lord’s birth. The whole temple was aglow with the light of a myriad oil lamps. The sweet scent of incense sticks and fresh flowers filled the air. The mellifluous sound of bhajans echoed across the temple. The devotees with heads bowed were all praying fervently. Then a hush descended upon the house of God. Mira with her eyes shut began strumming at her ektara with one hand and tapping her wooded cymbals with the other. She began singing what could only be described as songs of ecstasy. She was singing for Gopala who stood smiling before her closed eyes. A few moments later Mira stood up and danced to her song 'Mere janama maran ke sathee'. As she danced, she stumbled over some flowers and fell at the feet of the idol of Lord Krishna. Still lying on the floor Mira raised her head and looking up adoringly at the Lord Mira she said, “Oh, Krishna, are you calling me? I am coming”.
Just at that very moment a bright flash of light covered Mira and the sanctum sanctorum from everyone’s view. The doors of the sanctum shut on their own. When the doors opened again, Meera's saree was enveloping Lord Krishna's idol. Her sweet voice could be heard singing but this time instead of the ektara and cymbals it was the divine flute that played in accompaniment.
LIFE LESSONS
1. Like Mirabai always be true to yourself.
2. Like Mirabai have faith in the Lord.
3. Like Mirabai always think well of others.
4. Like Mirabai be certain that if you are good, kind and loving God will always protect you.
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