Mirabai

And the beauty is those that were helpful… Become harmful when you begin to grow.

I mean, the famous story of Mirabai that when she wants to follow another path than the husband's, that's when everybody starts obstructing her.

And she writes to Tulsidas that, what do I do? And he says, no, you should follow the truth of your own being.

And he gives example of Bharat.

If it is done with the right attitude, it is more than enough.

Like you had Mirabai who did rituals, but she focused on her attitude and her love for the Lord.

Similarly, Santuka Raman.

There are so many across the board in India and elsewhere, devotees who have used rituals with the right purpose.

What comes next?

So then we move into an almost later tantric or medieval period where we zone in really on one woman who is the poet Princess Mirabai and who is pretty much in love with the god Krishna.

and writes a series of poems in praise of Krishna.

Krishna is really the God that is the most worshipped in the Bhakti practice.

So there's a huge sense of devotional practice here.

Mirabai is not the only poet who wrote to Krishna, but she's a good example because she's a female and that's kind of the content of the course.

And she's also a rebel.

because she is a high caste woman who has an arranged marriage, who then becomes a young widow.

is moving, which is creative.

when Mirabai

from Rajasthan travelled to Vrindavan and was trying to enter a Krishna temple, where at that time the rule was only males can enter.

But she just went in, nobody could stop her.