Meera Bai – The Devotee of Lord Krishna 

Who in our country does not know the name of Mira Bai? She was the daughter of the royal family, the daughter-in-law and queen of the royal family, the world-famous beacon of Krishna devotion and the great poetess of the Hindi language. She is considered one of the eight authentic Hindi poets. Her poetic intellect, swelling of thoughts, purity of style of poetry, simplicity of speech and most of all, purity of her devotional heart make Meera one of the greatest poets in the world.

Meera Bai was the daughter of Rana Ratan Singh Rathore, a prince of the Maratha dynasty. She was born in 1504 AD. She was engaged to the famous Rana Sanga’s prince Kanwar Bhoj Raj and was married in 1516 AD. 

One day, a wedding procession was passing in front of Meera’s father’s palace. Meera, along with the other maids of the palace, was watching Janj standing at the window. One of the attendants answered, “Princess, this bridegroom has gone to marry the bride.” When Meera turned inside the women, her mother was still worshiping the idol of Krishna at the place of worship. When her mother had finished worshiping, Bali Meeran asked: “Mother, when I become a bride, who will be my bridegroom?” Mata ji pointed to the idol of Sri Krishna. Meera looked at the idol of Krishna and the accumulated devotion of many births and incarnations arose in her soul. Meera immediately pulled out the ghund, as a newly wed girl pulls out when she sees her husband. From that day on, Meera started worshiping the idol of Krishna as a husband and without any shame said to everyone: “Krishna is my husband and I am his wife.”

When Meera got married, Meera’s prince came to Meera’s father’s house with great pomp. But as was the custom in the Rajput dynasties, Meera did not perform three rounds of his husband or recite his Aarti. Instead, she paid no attention to her human husband. As soon as Meera started to leave, she insisted on taking the same idol of Krishna that Meera’s mother used to worship with her. He told everyone that it would be difficult for him to live apart from that idol of Krishna. Hearing this, Meera’s parents complied with Meera’s request and gave the idol of Krishna to Meera in dowry.

When Meera reached her in law’s house, she was asked to do durga puja as their ritual but she refused to do so which upset her in law’s and Meera was locked in a room of the palace. Meera installed the same idol of Krishna in the same room, and began to spend her days in worship of that idol. The well-wishers of the royal family and Meera’s Nanad persuaded Meera to give up her hand and lead a practical life as a householder. But Meera’s interest became day and night in devotion to Krishna and in the company of saints. Devotees of Krishna from far and wide started coming to Saint Meera. Meera sang and talked with them day and night, or spent time in the service of the saints. 

Extremely angry, Meera’s husband Rana called Meera’s mother to Chittor and told her everything and asked her to explain her daughter. When these efforts failed, Meera’s husband asked Meera’s mother to mix poison in Meera’s food with her own hands. Meera’s husband mixed poison in a bowl. He told Meera’s mother to go and gave this poison to her. When Meera’s mother started giving poison to Meera by calling her Charanamit, her heart melted and water started flowing from her eyes. Meera understood the whole story and said to her mother, “Janani, crying is meaningless. This body is impermanent. If it is destroyed in Krishna Bhakti dhan, Dhan Bhag! 

She took the bowl of poison from her mother’s hand and drank it. Lord Krishna spread such a blessing that she didn’t die after drinking it instead her face started glowing. It is said that Meera’s devotion to Krishna spread far and wide in the country. Akbar came to Chittor without seeing the emperor, disguised as a recluse, and accompanied by the royal singer, Tansan. When he saw Meera and saw the spiritual radiance on her face, he was overjoyed and thanked Allah in his heart that he had seen Zahid Wali like Meera in this life. He took out a necklace of precious pearls from his lap and presented it to Meera. Meera replied, “I am a sage, what is my use of a string of pearls?” Akbar, disguised as a recluse, said: And is worthy of the idol of Sri Krishna. ” Hearing this, Meera accepted the rosary.

After this incident, Rana took a poisonous snake in a box and sent it to Meera so that that snake bites Meera and she dies. Meera understands everything, she prays to Krishna and then she opens that box after that a miracle happened that the snake in the box was changed into Shaligram. Meera became so happy and she started dancing in front of the idol of Krishna. After this incident Meera’s husband Rana died. 

Meera’s father-in-law Maharana asks Meera to become Sati. Meera, wanting to immerse her body in the waters of the Yamuna, went to Vrindavan and jumped into the river. But the waves of the Jamuna River threw Meera’s body out onto the bank. When Meera regained consciousness, she got up and went straight to the green erena of Sri Krishna, Brindaban.

Meera went to Dwarka and stood in front of the statue of Ranchhod and fell into it. When the Brahmins from Chittoor visit there, they blink their eyes, they see that Meera’s sari is wrapped around the idol of Ran-Chhod. Only in the Panch Bhautik Sansar, this saree of Meera or the physical idol of Ranchhod remained and Meera’s light merged in the light of her revered Dev. Meera Bai died in 1547 AD in Dwarka.

Biography of Meera Bai – The famous devotee of Lord Krishna