Meera Bai
16th-century Hindu mystic poet, saint and devotee of the god Krishna
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Meera Bai, also spelled Mira Bai (c. 1498–c. 1547) was a Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She was one of the most significant Sants ("true" or "saints") of the Vaishnava bhakti movement. Some 1,300 pads (poems) commonly known as bhajans (sacred songs) are attributed to her. These are popular throughout India and have been translated and published worldwide. In the bhakti tradition, they are in passionate praise of Lord Krishna. In most of her poems, she describes her unconditional love for her Lord and promotes Krishna bhakti as the best way of life because it helps us forget our desires.
This passion has yet to be slaked.
Quotes
editLyrics or mystic songs
- For your sake, I gave up all pleasures,
Now why are you making me long for you?
You create the pang of separation inside the bosom
So that you can come and quench it?
O! Lord! Now I will not leave you
Smilingly, call me soon!
Meera is your servant in birth after birth
Unite me with you in every limb.- V.K.Subramanian in Mystic Songs of Meera, p. 21
- Mother, I have bargained and bought Govinda!
Let some say:Cheap!Let some say:Costly!
I have weighed in the balance.
Let some say:He is in the house, some say!In the woods!
Sporting in the company of Radha!
When Meera’s Lord Giridhar Krishna comes, love.- V.K.Subramanian in "Mystic Songs of Meera", p. 23
- I want you to have this,
all the beauty in my eyes,
and the grace of my mouth,
all the splendor of my strength,
all the wonder of the musk parts of my body,
for are we not talking about real love, real love?”- Meera Bai, in [ http://books.google.co.in/books?id=fpcvv5pGKWMC&pg=PA250 Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West], p. 250
- Don't forget love;
it will bring all the madness you need
to unfurl yourself across the universe.- Mīrābāī, in ” Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West”, p. 251
- One night as I walked in the desert the mountains rode on my shoulders
and the sky became my heart,
and the earth - my own body, I explored.
Every object began to wink at me, and Mira wisely calculated thinking,
My charms must be at their height
now would be a good time to rush into his arms,
maybe He won't drop me so quick.
- The Great Dancer is my husband," Mira says, "rain washes off all the other colors.”
- Mīrābā, in Christian Mysticism East and West: What the Masters Teach Us, p. 121
- My lover's gone off to some foreign country, sopping wet at our doorway
I watch the clouds rupture.
Mira says, nothing can harm him.
This passion has yet to be slaked.- Mīrābāī, in For love of the Dark One: songs of Mirabai, p. 55
- That dark dweller in Btaj
Is my only refuge.
O, my companion,
Worldly comfort is an illusion,
As soon as you get it, it goes
I have chosen the Indestructible for my refuge
Whom the snake of death
Will not devour.
My Beloved dwells in my heart,
I have actually seen that Abode of Joy.
Mir’s Lord is Hari, the Indestructible
My Lord, I have taken refuge with Thee
Thy slave.- Mīrābāī, in Indian Religions: A Historical Reader of Spiritual Expression and Experience, p. 351
- O my companion, worldly comfort is illusion,
As soon you get it, it goes.
I have chosen the indestructible for my refuge,
Him whom the snake of death will not devour.
My beloved dwells in my heart all day,
I have actually seen that abode of joy.
Meera's lord is Hari, the indestructible.
My lord, I have taken refuge with you, your maidservant.- Mira Bai, in Saints of India: Mirabai, p. 251
- I have felt the swaying of the elephant's shoulders;
and now you want me to climb
on a jackass? Try to be serious.- Mīrābāī, in “Christian Mysticism East and West: What the Masters Teach Us “, p. 122
About Meera Bai
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- Her [Mira;s] childlike simplicity, deep devotion to God, intense spiritual yearning and soulful poetry make the God-intoxicated songs of Meera a national heritage of India, which have transcended regional, lingual, and time barriers and are sung all over India.
- Quoted in "Mystic Songs of Meera", p. 1
- Mira's Bhajans! How can they be not beautiful? I am very familiar with many bhajans of Mirabai. In my Sabarmati Ashram these bhajans are sung repeatedly and with love and devotion to Her. Such rare joy is experienced from her bhajans.
- Mahatma Gandhi quoted in Others on Mirabai
- The saint Mirabai is the most famous of the women saints of India and can be ranked among the foremost of the mystics of the world.
- Swami Yatishwaranandji in “Others on Mirabai”
- Love is something absolutely unselfish, that which has no thought beyond the glorification and adoration of the object upon which our affections are bestowed. It is a quality which bows down and worships and asks nothing in return. Merely to love is the sole request that true love has to ask. It is said of a Hindu saint (Mirabai) that when she was married, she said to her husband, the king, that she was already married.
To whom?" asked the king.
To God," was the reply.- Swami Vivekananda in “Others on Mirabai”
- There is nothing highly wrought bout Mira's style, and no erotic element in her poetry whatsoever.
But with her they are instruments used to express a deep and personally felt emotion. She may use the marriage-bed as a symbol of mystical union with God in the manner of Saint -- poets, or as a symbol of the devotee's readiness to give the Lord all that is in his power. But in Mira's poetry there is no tendency to luxuriate in devotional feelings tinged with eroticism.- A.J. Alston in “Others on Mirabai”
- Mira sang of her love for Krishna with such simplicity and directness that in her songs millions have found a voice and echo of their own God-yearning.
- Swarup, Ram (2000). Meditations: Yogas, gods, religions. p. 196
