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| Sri Swami Vishwananda singing a Meerabai bhajan |
Sri Swami Vishwananda always refers to Meerabai as “a model of bhakti; a model of devotion and surrender” to Lord Krishna. He said, “One of the most beautiful aspects of bhakti is Meerabai. She was so much into it that she forgot about herself. She forgot about her body. She forgot about her mind. That state is only Eternal Bliss. This is the soul itself.”
“When Meerabai was singing for Krishna, people would say, ‘She’s crazy’, but this didn’t change her faith, this didn’t change her Love. She was so concentrated; her mind was so focused and one-pointed towards the Lord that nothing could move her. It is said that devotion has another name: one single-pointed mind. If your mind is completely focused on God, you will have Him.”
“When Meerabai was singing for Krishna, people would say, ‘She’s crazy’, but this didn’t change her faith, this didn’t change her Love. She was so concentrated; her mind was so focused and one-pointed towards the Lord that nothing could move her. It is said that devotion has another name: one single-pointed mind. If your mind is completely focused on God, you will have Him.”
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| Murti of Krishna into which Meerabai merged with her physical body. |
“She was a princess who loved Krishna with all her heart. There was not even a single cell in her that was not in Love with Krishna.
"One day she was sitting in the temple and was singing for Krishna; whenever she would sing for Krishna, people would see Krishna, standing next to her. The King disguised himself. He was a Muslim king, Akbar, so he disguised himself and he was so touched by the devotion of Meerabai, that he gave his pearl necklace to the temple. Of course, Meerabai didn’t take anything.
"However, because of that, her father-in-law got very angry. As she was a princess, the father-in-Law was a king; so he said, ‘Because you have sung in the temple and the enemy has come, we accuse you of treachery.’ Meera said, ‘Well, in the temple everybody is equal. Whether the person is Muslim, Christian, Hindu; everybody is allowed in the temple. The Lord is for everybody.’
"For that they said, ‘We command you to drink poison.’ She said, ‘Okay, if you have condemned me for that, I accept it.’ So they brought the cup with the poison for her. As she was drinking it, she thought of Krishna, she thought that Krishna was giving her Divine nectar – amrit – to drink. She drank this poison, and she walked to the nearby temple of Krishna. Everybody followed her. She entered the temple and as she had the effect of the amrit, she became one with her Lord. She disappeared physically into the deity in the temple.
"Even the poison didn’t stop her. How did she view the poison? She accepted it. The same way is with how we see the outside; if we learn to accept the outside, we will change it and we ourselves are going to change as a result of that.“
"One day she was sitting in the temple and was singing for Krishna; whenever she would sing for Krishna, people would see Krishna, standing next to her. The King disguised himself. He was a Muslim king, Akbar, so he disguised himself and he was so touched by the devotion of Meerabai, that he gave his pearl necklace to the temple. Of course, Meerabai didn’t take anything.
"However, because of that, her father-in-law got very angry. As she was a princess, the father-in-Law was a king; so he said, ‘Because you have sung in the temple and the enemy has come, we accuse you of treachery.’ Meera said, ‘Well, in the temple everybody is equal. Whether the person is Muslim, Christian, Hindu; everybody is allowed in the temple. The Lord is for everybody.’
"For that they said, ‘We command you to drink poison.’ She said, ‘Okay, if you have condemned me for that, I accept it.’ So they brought the cup with the poison for her. As she was drinking it, she thought of Krishna, she thought that Krishna was giving her Divine nectar – amrit – to drink. She drank this poison, and she walked to the nearby temple of Krishna. Everybody followed her. She entered the temple and as she had the effect of the amrit, she became one with her Lord. She disappeared physically into the deity in the temple.
"Even the poison didn’t stop her. How did she view the poison? She accepted it. The same way is with how we see the outside; if we learn to accept the outside, we will change it and we ourselves are going to change as a result of that.“
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| Sri Swami Vishwwananda visiting the Krishna temple where he found the Murti of Krishna into which Meerabai merged |
This year, in May, during the 9 Goddesses ' Pilgrimage (North India), Sri Swami Vishwananda visited a Krishna temple, where unexpectedly he found the Krishna murti into which Meerabai herself merged with her physical body.
The whole story can be found in this blog ( http://swamivishwananda-info.blogspot.de/2014/05/9-goddesses-tour-day-3-4.html ). The priest responsible for that temple offered a smaller murti of Krishna, called Nurbur Krishna as a gift to Sri Swami Vishwananda, who afterwards named it as Giridhari Gopal. Since then this murti is worshipped daily and travels with Swamiji abroad, being present also during this week, at all events of the tour in Portugal.
The whole story can be found in this blog ( http://swamivishwananda-info.blogspot.de/2014/05/9-goddesses-tour-day-3-4.html ). The priest responsible for that temple offered a smaller murti of Krishna, called Nurbur Krishna as a gift to Sri Swami Vishwananda, who afterwards named it as Giridhari Gopal. Since then this murti is worshipped daily and travels with Swamiji abroad, being present also during this week, at all events of the tour in Portugal.
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| Giridhari Gopal |