A friend of mine took initiation to some kind of lineage to Mirabai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabai A devotee to Rupa Goswami and all, I wonder what kind of relation do we have to her?
A devotee to Rupa Goswami and all, I wonder what kind of relation do we have to her?
Every time I have heard GM asked about Mirabai, he makes the point that Mirabai has a different aspiration in bhakti than our lineage. She wants to relate directly with Krsna in svakiya (married love), whereas we are interested in serving the servants of Krsna's servants in vraja bhakti. We do not want an exclusive relationship with Krsna, rather we want to live amongst his devotees. That is where the bhakti is the sweetest. Srila Sridhar Maharaj speaks something about Mirabai along these lines in Sri Guru and His Grace I believe.
As for Mirabai's relationship with Srila Rupa Goswami, this is disputed; can't give you a reference right now... Here is a sanga question about Mirabai -
I don't know how accurate the Wikipedia article is about Mirabai's philosophical views, but this is a most unflattering representation of it (Mayavada :Black Eye: ). One would hope that if she has a lineage of people interested in bhakti, that they would dispute this description:Q. Recently I heard it said that Mirabai was a disciple of Jiva Goswami and that her songs are good to sing for bhakti. Is that true?
A. Srila Prabhupada did not teach this. Prabupada had very little to say about her and seemed to take a neutral position at best. It is not possible for Jiva Goswami to have initiated Mirabai. In his famous book Sadhana-dipika, Radha Krsna Goswami clearly states that it is common knowledge that Jiva Goswami had no initiated mantra disciples. He further states that Jiva's successor at Radha Damodara temple, Krsna dasa pujari, was only his his siksa disciple, his student, to emphasize his point. Most biographers of Mirabai say that if she was initiated at all, she was initiated by Ravi dasa, who she mentions in her songs. None of her songs mention Jiva Goswami.
Furthermore, Mirabai lived from 1498-1546. During this period Jiva Goswami was not the leader of the sampradaya in Vraja, but rather a young man. It is likely that Jiva Goswami had not even arrived in Vridavana by the time Mira left the world. He would have been 33 at that time.
I also read recently where someone said that Mira attained the prema of a queen of Dvaraka and that this is mentioned in Cakravartipada's Ragavatma candrika. However, there is no mention of Mirabai in my edition of this book. According to Srila Sridhara Maharaja, Mirabai would have done well to associate with true devotees of Krsna and thus have had the chance to become one herself. Whatever her attainment was, it was not Vraja bhakti. All Gaudiya Vaisnavas are in agreement with this.
Thus, in my opinion, it is better not to sing her songs, but to sing the songs of those who are properly motivated for attaining Vraja bhakti. When we sing the songs of these great souls we associate through sound with their inner feelings. This will help us to progress in the line of Rupa Goswami.
Mirabai belongs to the Saguna class of worshippers of Brahman. Theologically, they believed that between atman and paramatma (here the Sanskrit Parama- carries approximately the same meaning as Latin Trans-), this physical body is the only wall, and upon death the atman and paramatman will combine, just as a pot filled with water is placed in pond and if the pot breaks the water inside (atman) will combine with the water outside (Parama Atman).