Saint Mira

Author(s): T L Vaswani
Publisher: Saint Miras English Medium School

Page 34

OF THE RACE OF HEROES
Give me, too, a place in the Boat! Thy glory shall I sing!
And with Thy Name And Thy Song on my lips
I shall plunge into the sea of life!
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In the sixteenth century, India listened to the songs of a number of Hindi poets, who all worshipped at the one shrine of the love of God and man. One of these was this great woman-singer, Mira. Yet another great poet associated with the same century was Tulsi.
Sur Das and Mira Bai are the greatest Krishnapoets in Hindi, Namdev and Tukaram are the greatest in Marathi, and Narsinh Mehta is a master-singer of Krishna in Gujerati.
Sur Das is often referred to as "the blind bard of Agra". Was he born blind? Or did he become blind at a later period? Or does he call himself "blind" figuratively? I do not know. He himself said that Krishna's vision came to him and, thereafter, all was "darkness" to him. Yes, the vision of the Lord so filled him, that samsara (the world) lost all attraction for him. The world became to him a vale of "darkness."
Tulsi is, indeed, a very great name in Hindi literature he sang of Rama, as Mira sang of Krishna.