Passages from "Meditation and Spiritual Life" - 1078 23rd-January-2022
Satwik Joglekar
23-January-2022 (Sunday)
Passages from "Meditation and Spiritual Life" – 1078
PART III SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
Chapter 34 – FOOTPRINTS OF THE SAND OF TIME – 38
Saints of North India – 20
The other saint Mirabai is the most famous of the women saints of India and can be ranked among the foremost of the mystics of the world. The normal place of women in India has from time immemorial been in the seclusion and sanctity of the home. The ideal of the vast majority of the Indian women has been Sita and Savitri — the epic characters who embody the virtues of self-sacrifice, patience and one-pointed devotion to their husbands. This ideal of the chaste wife (pativrata) has been further ennobled by its fusion with the mother ideal. As Sister Nivedita has pointed out, the Hindu woman as mother ‘has been not only the lady and queen of her husband, but also the Goddess enthroned in her children’s worship’. But quite distinct from this average run of women, there have been some outstanding characters who devoted themselves solely to spiritual practice and devotion to God without burdening themselves with the duties of family life. Some of them have left behind, as a treasure for posterity, wonderful hymns and songs about their spiritual struggles and experiences.
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SWAMI YATISWARANANDA – Meditation and Spiritual Life – Ramakrishna Math, Bangalore India. Fourth Edition. 1998 p: 630--