The Meerabai Great Krishna Bhakta

Mirabai is one of the brightest stars in the star-filled spiritual firmament of our country. We are too near history to either add to her greatness or detract from it. For, five hundred years in the history of a nation that stretches back several millennia is a short period. But her place in the religious history of our country is unique as she had danced and sang her way into the hearts of millions of her admirers.

This Rajput princess was an Empress among God’s devotees and a princess only in name. She treated royal conventions with disdain in worshipping her beloved Murlidhar (Krishna). She belonged to the Rathore clan of Medta, in Marwar, and married into the Sisodia family of Chitor, Mewar. The Sisodias were very proud of their lineage and did not tolerate any deviation from etiquette which they considered to be correct. And it was this etiquette that Mira flouted from the beginning.

Mira, like Andal of yore and the legendary gopis, considered Bhagwan Krishna to be her Lord and husband, even after her marriage to Bhojraj, son of Rana Sangramsimha (Rana Sanga) of Mewar. What is worth noting is the fact that while her menfolk clashed with Muslim invaders, and her father Ratansimha and her husband attained martyrdom, Mira kept herself busy singing bhajans in praise of Krishna or Kanha, unmindful of the din of battle all around.

She sums up her spiritual message in a kirtan, “Satsang no ras chãkh prãni...” – “O being! Savour the fruit of satsang, in the beginning it may be bitter. But as time goes on it will become as sweet as mango. Don’t you be proud of this body, in the end it will be reduced to ashes. You cannot take elephants, horses, other forms of wealth when you depart this world. If you resort to satsang you can have mukti; as the Vedas proclaim. Mira says take refuge at Hari’s feet.”

A brief account of the times in which Mira lived places her remarkable life in the correct perspective. It is certain she belonged to the sixteenth century as Rana Sanga was a contemporary of the Mughal invader, Babar, who fought the First Battle of Panipat in 1526.

The century was a period of uncertainty in the history of India. The weak Lodhi dynasty was on its last leg. Rana Sanga, a brave battle-scarred Rajput warrior, made the mistake of inviting Babar to invade India. He was under the impression that the Farghana adventurer would hasten the end of the Lodhis, collect his booty and go back to his native Central Asia. But after defeating Ibrahim Lodhi at the First Battle of Panipat, Babar had other ideas. He founded the Mughal empire which turned out to be an enduring one till it was supplanted by the British in 1856. Rana Sanga had to fight Babar in the Battle of Khanua, near Agra. Ratansimha, Mira’s father, fought alongside Sanga in this battle.

Now coming to Mirabai, she became an ardent devotee of Krishna when she was three. It came about this way. Her grandfather Dudaji was a devotee of Krishna. One day a sadhu came to his palace. He had a murti of Krishna with him. Child Mira wanted the murti of Krishna; the sadhu was reluctant to part with it. Mira began to cry for the murti and gave up eating. According to one account Krishna appeared to the sadhu in his dream and asked him to hand over the murti to Mira, which he did. The murti was to become a lifelong companion of the princess.

As long as Mira stayed with her grandfather she had no problems. When she was seven years old, she lost her mother, Hansaba. Just before that Mira saw a marriage procession passing by from the palace window. He asked her mother, “Who’s going to be my bride-groom?” Her mother replied, “Kanha.” That took root in her mind; and Mira had to face a sea of troubles once she entered the proud Sisodia family. The royalty worshipped Durga, the goddess of the warrior class, befitting the martial traditions of the family. As part of the ritual, they used to sacrifice animals and eat meat as prasad. This Mira could not do and made no bones about it. This led to a lot of friction between Mira and the Mewar royalty. These differences were fuelled by her sister-in-law, Uda. When she stood her ground an explosive situation developed. Things became worse after the death of her husband, Bhojraj. She was asked to ascend the funeral pyre of her husband which she flatly refused as she was wedded to Giridhar and not to any mortal.

Matters took a turn for the worse with the accession of Vikramjit (her brother-in-law) to the throne of Chitor. He tried to kill her by various means, but all his efforts failed by the grace of Giridhar Gopal (Krishna).

Mira continued to offer unalloyed devotion to Krishna till she merged in his murti in Dwarka, Saurashtra, in a state of ecstasy.

All the while she was singing and dancing before him. Her audience comprised sadhus and other devotees. With kartal in one hand and a stringed instrument in the other and ghungroo on her feet she used to sing her bhajans.

Mirabai has mentioned about her trials and tribulations in her compositions, not by way of complaint, but to illustrate the concern of her loving Dinanath, who stood by her at every crisis in her life.

She addresses Krishna by various names: Kanha, Prabhu, Murlidhar, Giridhar Nagar, Ghanshyam, Dwarikadhish, Ranchod, Dinanath, etc. in her bhajans written in Marwari Hindi and Gujarati, with a sprinkling of Punjabi words. She herself set the tunes to her compositions.

By choosing Raidas, a leather worker as her guru, Mira had committed an unpardonable sin in the eyes of the Sisodia family. In another bhajan she describes the anger of Rana for choosing Raidas as her guru, “Ignominy and shame and the scandal of the world, I cherish and welcome for the love of Paramatma, O Rana.

“I care neither for the disgrace nor the applause of the world – for my spiritual path is different from that of the world. With great difficulty I gained my guru. If the world condemns me for meeting him, my preceptor, then says Mira, on such people’s heads may hell fires fall.”

When they made it impossible for her to worship her Krishna, Mira considered it the last straw on the camel’s back and left Chitor. She set out on a tirth yatra connected with the lila of Bhagwan Krishna. In her bhajans she recounts the adventures of Bal Krishna during his Vrindavan days as a saviour – a role he played so admirably. These compositions relate to the killing of Putana, Kaliya mardan, crowned by the annihilation of his own arrogant Uncle Kansa. She touches on her own life and the trials and tribulations she had to undergo because of her intense ardour and devotion to her Ghanshyam. She did a circuit of the places connected with Krishna, as had already been mentioned. During her stay in Vrindavan a strange thing happened. Mira expressed a desire to meet the distinguished Vashnava saint and disciple of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Jiva Goswami. When she went to his hut she was told that he could not see a woman as it was against his code of conduct. Mira exclaimed, “I thought in Vrindavan the only man is Krishna and all others are gopis.” On hearing this retort the Acharya realized his mistake. He came out of the hut and conducted her inside.

The following is the purport of what Mira had to say of her life and devotion as gleaned from her bhajans:

Referring to her marriage to Bhojraj, her temporal husband, she tells Vikramjit who harassed her the most, “Ranaji I wholeheartedly love Girdhar. In my previous life I was a gopi of Vraj. I have come to this place by mistake. I was born in King Jaimal’s house and was given in marriage into your family. I shall not forsake Krishna’s name even for a minute even though you tried to poison me. Mira has married Hari.”

Talking of the purpose of human life one of her bhajans proclaims,

“O mind! You worship dear Mohan, the dear one who plays murali. You have crossed the seven seas, don’t drown on the shore. Human birth is for liberation, why bother about family. O mind always sing the praise of Giridhar’s qualities.” She was only exhorting others what she had done all her life.

When the ruler made it extremely difficult for Mira to worship Krishna she decided to leave Chitor for Medta. Before leaving she declared, “Govind nã guna gãshu...” – “I shall continue to sing Govind’s virtues. I have vowed to take charanamrut and visit the mandir every day after getting up (in the morning).

“If Rana is angry, he will deprive me of my kingdom. But if Bhagwan is angry, I will die.

“The Rana (Vikramaditya) sent a cup of poison which turned into nectar. I will row the boat of Bhagwan’s name and cross the ocean of Maya.

“Mira has taken refuge in Giridhar and shall ever remain at his lotus feet.”
Mira’s death in Dwarka at the age of 67 in 1546 was a miraculous phenomenon. The Chitor ruler and his subjects felt that the problems they were facing were a sign of divine displeasure at the way they had treated a great devotee of God. The Rana sought to make amends for it by sending a deputation of Brahmins with a request to Mira to return to Chitor. She was not willing to leave the peaceful Dwarka to an uncertain welcome in Mewar. She was not sure whether she would be allowed to worship her Giridhar Gopal in peace. She conveyed her message to the Brahmin deputation. The Brahmins went on a hunger strike to make her change her mind. Mira was greatly distressed at the turn of events. She entered Dwarkadhish mandir and never came out of it as she became one with her Murlidhar.

Bhaktha Meera Bai

During   the reign of the Pandavas Udaipur was a great holy town. It had beautiful buildings and temple towers. It was a flourishing town and the people were very pious. The people spent their free time in listening to religious lectures, devotional songs and participating in bhajans .They worshipped lord Krishna with great love.

The king of this region was a reverent bhaktha of Vishnu, to whom by the grace of god a beautiful girl baby was born and she was given the name Meera Bai. This Meera Bai grew up to be very devoted to lord Krishna. She would always have an idol of Krishna with her named “Giridhara gopala”. She would decorate the idol with beautiful silk dresses, pearl  malas and other jewels which made the idol so pleasing to look at and enchanting with his wonderful  broad smile. In the palace she used to listen to Bagavatham and Bhagavad-Gita lectures. With passage of time she developed intense bhakthi to lord Krishna and even firmly decided to marry Krishna when she grew up.

Meera with Lord Krishna

Soon Meera Bai came off marriageable age and her father decided to look for a worthy bridegroom and get her married. On hearing about this Meera Bai said in a sweet voice to her father, ”I have already chosen a husband for myself and  it is none other than lord Krishna ,whom you worship.”The king was taken by surprise and he tried to convince her, telling her that the Krishna she was so fond of was only an image and it would only be befitting for a princess like her to marry a prince belonging to a great dynasty. Meera Bai was reluctant and argued saying that Krishna was more than an image and was the most superior being ever. She was very strong willed  and on seeing her bhakthi the king was astonished and even gave her an exclusive  room in the palace  for her Krishna .Meera Bai  installed her Giridhara Gopal in that room and did aradhana, adorned him with beautiful ornaments and garments. She constantly chanted his nama and sang hymns which were outpourings of her divine bhakthi. Giridhari looked charming with vaijayanthi mala, a beautiful tulsi mala and he also adorned a crown and often in true visible form showed his beauty to her. Meera bai would often invite holy people and worship them and listen to them tell numerous interesting stories of Krishna and also performed nama sankeertanam with them.

However there were some crooked minded men in the town remarking that Meera Bai was ruining the reputation of the king and spoke ill of Meera Bai’s activities. They thought that it was improper for the royal princess to engage with sadhus and poor bhaktas by singing and dancing in their presence. Rumors about Meera’s immoral character and unbecoming behavior were afloat throughout the town and they soon reached to the kings ears. The king due to a gross lapse of judgment grew angry with Meera and decided to punish her. He asked his wife to control and put an end to Meera’s bhakti related activities and expressed his desire to get her married right away.

The queen went to Meera Bai and told her about her father’s unhappiness with her behavior and  his wishes. Meera Bai replied, ”Tell my father I will marry only Krishna and none other. My heart has no fear. Some say, I have become crazy, but those ignorant people do not understand my heart. I am determined to walk the path of bhakthi.” Unable to convince Meera, her mother came back and told the king about Meera Bai’s strong determination .Hearing this the king became very angry and replied,” then I have no choice other than to poison her. “He gave the queen a cup of deadly poison and asked her to give it to Meera with her own hands.

The queen was shocked. But due to the king’s order, crying bitterly she took the cup of poison and went to the temple where Meera was. She said to Meera, ”oh lovely child, your father has sent this cup of poison to you.” Meera pacified her mother with her sweet voice  ,”Ma, Don’t worry, nothing will happen, due Krishna’s blessing and grace this poison which you have brought will turn into a nectar.” Meera took Krishna in one hand and the poison on other hand and said, ”Oh Lord, my father has sent poison for me. Now I will reach your lotus feet. But my only worry is who will look after you when I am nomore.” She offered the poison to Giridhara Gopal  as she habitually  always offered  everything to him before par taking it and drank it  as Prasad at once.

A wonderful thing happened. The poison Meera Bai drank really  became harmless nectar. But the idol began to change its colour due to the poison’s effect. On hearing about this the king rushed there immediately, his throat choked with emotion. He then pleaded, ”I am a sinner and a wicked person, I have made god drink this poison.” He grasped the feet of Meera Bai and begged her to forgive him for his gruesome deed. She lifted the head of her father and prostrated in front of him and said, ”O father, it is because of you that the lord has shown and demonstrated that he is integral with me.”

Everyone who spoke ill about Meera felt ashamed of themselves as they failed to recognize Meera’s supreme stature. On the other hand all the bhakthas on seeing this miracle became ecstatic and burst out singing and dancing with joy. The entire place reverberated to the namavali ,”Giridhari Giridhari Govardhana Giridhari ….”

The king severely regretted his misdoing and begged Meera to pray to Lord Krishna so that his form be restored to its original color. This, he said would let him feel relieved and indicative of the lord’s forgiveness. But Lord Krishna however chose to retain his changed colour around his throat so as to demonstrate to the world the greatness of Meera’s bhakthi.

Another version of bhaktha Meera charitra which is very popular is as follows.

Right from her childhood Meera was totally in love with lord Krishna and her bhakthi was known far and wide. She held her idol “Giridhara Gopala“ even dearer than her own life. This extreme form of bhakthi was an obstacle to her father who tried to get her married to some deserving prince. However Prince Kumba Rana who himself was a great devotee of Krishna respected Meera for her bhakthi and asked for her hand in marriage. Meera too agreed to the wedding as lord Krishna appeared in her dream and asked her to marry.

After their wedding, Kumba Rana erected a beautiful temple for Meera’s Giridhara Gopala as a token of appreciation of Meera’s bhakthi. Meera, then spent most of her time in the temple itself singing  bhajans, conducting poojas and assembling  sadhus and  other devotees and  her bhajans gained great popularity far and wide. With passage of time Meera’s activities were misunderstood by the people of Mewar who did not realize her greatness. Due to sheer ignorance they spoke badly about her. On one occasion Tansen the renowned singer in King Akbar’s palace sang one of Meera’s compositions and that emotionally moved King Akbar and haunted him that he decided to visit Mewar in disguise to hear Meera herself sing. In Mewar, Akbar in the disguise of a sadhu listened to Meera’s bhajans and rewarded her with a garland of precious stone and she accepted it as Krishna Prasad. But this incident made Jaimal Kumbarana’s brother cast an evil eye on Meera and talk badly about her doings. Even though Kumbarana heard many of his relatives talk badly about Meera for negating her royal duties he never mistook her.

However considering his duties to his subjects more important than his own opinion and due to severe  lapse of judgment Rana decided to poison Meera, but the poison did not affect Meera one bit. Then he finally decided to bring down the temple that he himself once constructed for Meera’s Giridhara Gopala. Unable to bear the insult that her husband inflicted on her lord Giridhara  Gopala Meera decided to leave the palace and left for  the holy land of Vrindavan. The queen of Mewar who until recently was bejeweled with priceless ornaments made a home for herself and settled on the banks of Yamuna. It is said in the puranas that dwelling in Vrindavan is evermore a greater blessing than Vaikunta itself and Gopi Bhava is special to this place.

Once Meera was standing on the banks of Yamuna and was singing Kirtans on Krishna. Some Vaishnavas passing that way recognized her and knowing her greatness, they prostrated in front of Meera and said,” we have come from Dwaraka. The doors of the temple of Dwaraka have remained closed for sometime now and we are of the collective opinion that only a person of your stature can get the doors open and enable everyone have darshan of Srinathji” (the presiding deity of Dwaraka). Meera said, ”I am not a great bhaktha as you think, But  I cannot refuse the  wish  of vaishnava sadhus like you and I will come along with you.” Then along with Meera they left for Dwaraka, singing bhajans all the way.

At Dwaraka Meera Bai sang, ”oh, Krishna, Govardhana prabo, Pranams. Oh, Bhaktavatsala, srinatha, In this world you are the only one I know. You are my father, mother, husband and guru. There is no other protector in this world other than you. I have suffered a lot of trials and tribulations in this samsara. Kesava, please take me in your lotus feet, your leela of shutting yourself in is unbearable for us. So ,oh, Gopala, Accept my prayers, bless me and give darshan. ”To the joy and exclamation of the devotees of srinathji who had gathered around, “The doors  opened, Lord Krishna with his beautiful lotus eyes and broad smile welcomed her and immediately Meera Bai ran into the temple and embraced Krishna .There was a flash of bright light and  She became one with the lord and her form vanished.”

Our Sath Gurunath Maharaj, Sri Sri Krishna Premi says the specialty of Meera’s charithram is that those who read it or listen to her life stories will develop absolute Prema bhakti.