MEERA BAI BY ASHIKHA ARUN

INTRODUCTION TO MEERA BAI Meera bai was a great devotee of Sri Krishna. She wrote many nice bhajans in her time. Now people in India still remember her as a great saint.

MEERA BAI’S CHILDHOOD Meera, a Rajput princess was born in Kudki (Kurki) which is presently in the Pali district of Rajasthan in northwest India. Her father, Ratan Singh, was a warrior of the Rathore clan, son of founder of the city of Jodhpur in 1459. When Meera Bai was six, her mother gave her an deity of Sri Krishna . She worshiped the deity day and night. She would talk to the deity and sing songs and give obeisance to the deity .

WHY MEERA BAI TREATED KRISHNA AS HER HUSBAND. One day Meera watched a wedding procession and asked her mother when she will get her husband. Her mother replied, she already got Krishna to play husband. Meera believed her mother’s words and started treating Krishna as her husband. Soon Meera bai’s mother died and there was nobody to guide her through her adolescent years. She started spending all her time singing bhajans for Krishna and even wrote poems for Him.

MEERA BAI’S MARRIAGE LIFE When Meera Bai was sixteen, her father started working on her marriage. She got married to prince Bhoj Raj the eldest son of Rana Sanga. But she couldn’t treat him as her husband . She treated Krishna as her husband. Meera bai even refused to worship Bhoj Raj’s family idol. She often spent time with wandering saints singing Krishna bhajans which was considered bad for a princess.

MIRACLES!!! Meera’s devotion and love for Krishna got her in trouble all the time. Since she treated Krishna as her Husband and did not treat Bhoj Raj as her husband they tried to kill her once with a poisonous snake and another time offered her poison in a cup for her to drink. But due to Lord Krishna’s mercy, Meera Bai miraculously escaped from these attempts to kill her.

MEERA BAI SLOWLY LOSES HER FAMILY Meera bai’s husband Bhoj Raj died in a war. But Meera refused to do the funeral for him as her husband. The royal family insisted that she should also die with Bhoj Raj by throwing herself in his funeral fire. That was the custom in those days for queens and princess’. But Meera bai refused since her husband Krishna did not die and she refused to accept that she is a widow. Soon her Father, uncle and other close relatives died one after the other and Meera was left without any family ties to keep her in the palace.

MEERABAI MERGING WITH THE LORD! Meera bai went to vrindhavan, Mathura and was singing and worshiping Krishna all the time. For a princess who spent her life in palace, she slept under the trees or in temples. Soon she reached Dwaraka. It is believed that in Dwaraka she merged with Krishna leaving her human body behind.

WHAT I THINK ABOUT MEERA BAI What I think about Meera Bai Is that she was a great devotee of Sri Krishna. She never questioned the existence of the lord. I think that she’s a great example of a Krishna devotee. This is how a real devotee should be. A devotee should love and care for Krishna and should never worry about what others think of it.

QUIZ TIME !!!!! Q1. Where was Meera Bai born? Q2. How old was Meera bai when her mom gave her the deity? Q3. Meera bai’s devotion and love got her into what? Q4. Where did Meera bai merge with Krishna ? Q5. How did Meera Bai escape the poisonous things her “husband” try to do to her?

REFERENCES http://www.biographyonline.net/spritual/meerabai.html http://www.iloveindia.com/indian.com/indianheroes/mirabai.html http://www.answers.com/topic/mirabai_l http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine12.html