Mirabai Cracks The Matka…3 of 3

I fell under Mirabai’s spell in Manhattan, when a western friend who had just returned from India handed me a slim book about her extraordinary life. At the time I was still struggling to make sense of what appeared to be a chaotic, violent and apparently loveless world in which I could see no sign of what the citadels of monotheism called “the moving finger of God”. If such an entity existed, I decided in a fit of pique, he’d made a royal mess of things.

Absorbing Mira’s amazing story, I found the courage to go deeper within myself. Now here was a rebel I could identify with, an Indian female who had fought with infinite grace to become light, joyous and free—that too in a distant era when Hindu women were most often forced into claustrophobic prisons constructed by outdated custom and patriarchal mores.

When I read the version of her life that described how Mira had courageously refused to obey her father-in-law’s order that she leap on to her husband’s funeral pyre, I was exultant—now this was my idea of a heroic Indian woman! Not only had she stood up to her royal father-in-law—a terrible sin in those archaic times—but she had won!

Mirabai’s Dazzling Cosmic Vision…2 of 3

Mira saw her entrancing Blue God everywhere—in rocks, forests and blossoms, in storm, thunder and lightning, in animate and inanimate things. Fearless and ascetic, graceful and elegant, Mira was saint, philosopher, singer and poet, and one of India’s most versatile geniuses.

Uncaring of her critics, Mira danced wildly on the streets of Vrindavan. Averse to the ritualistic worship so entrenched in the Indian psyche, she focused on Krishna—who was husband, friend, family and Guru to her. Shielded by his love, she forsook royal extravagance for a beggar’s life on the bustling streets of ancient Vrindavan. Wars erupted around her, and human consciousness sank to its nadir, yet nothing could stop this Queen from her simple devotions.

This is why, centuries after her miraculous passing, her poem-songs continue to infuse people with courage and unconditional love of the Divine; they express both her yearning to merge with Krishna, as well as the ecstasy of divine union. Her songs melt the angry wounded human heart into surrender; they inspire not because she was a skilled wordsmith, but because they were tender outpourings of a heart dedicated to the Divine. Even atheists have been profoundly moved by Mira’s potent language of love.

And Mirabai Sang the Blues…1 of 3

Six hundred years or so ago in the fabled land of Rajasthan, Home of Kings, Princess Mira blossomed under the benevolent guidance of her grandfather. Many versions of her amazing life in 14^th century India abound; this particular retelling is not to please the historian or the scholar, for I am neither, but merely to give you a sweet taste of the soul of an exceptional female who transformed both her inner and outer worlds.

Mira was exquisitely lovely, talented and intelligent; her life was a sparkling tapestry of everything a young royal could dream of. Aware of her unusual potential, her grandfather encouraged Mira to immerse herself not just in the scriptures and in the art of making superb music, but also to acquire the skills of archery, fencing, horseback-riding and chariot-driving, for that was a time of frequent war.

At fourteen, Mira was persuaded to marry Rana Kumbha of Mewar, who adored Mira not just for her beauty but for her passionate love of god. Mira could well have lived out her life as just another of India’s pampered royals; instead her unflinching passion for the Blue God in the face of the hostility she faced from her in-laws—for refusing to abandon Krishna for the family deity Goddess Durga, for befriending holy men, and for proclaiming the Blue God as her true husband—gradually metamorphosed her into a mighty exponent of Prema Bhakti (Divine Love). Today, six centuries after her death, Mirabai is famed as an inspired poet-saint whose tender odes to Krishna have endeared her for all time to the Indian masses.