Audiobooks by Mirabai

Mary Frances Butts was born on 13th December 1890 in Poole, Dorset.Her early years were spent at Salterns, an 18th-century house overlooking Poole Harbour. Sadly in 1905 her father died, and she was sent for boarding at St Leonard's school for girls in St Andrews.Her mother remarried and, from 1909, Mary studied at Westfield College in London, and here, first became aware of her bisexual feelings. She was sent down for organising a trip to Epsom races and only completed her degree in 1914 when she graduated from the London School of Economics. By then Mary had become an admirer of the occultist Aleister Crowley and she was given a co-authorship credit on his 'Magick (Book 4)'.In 1916, she began the diary which would now detail her future life and be a constant reference point for her observations and her absorbing experiences.During World War I, she was doing social work for the London County Council in Hackney Wick, and involved in a lesbian relationship. Life changed after meeting the modernist poet, John Rodker and they married in 1918.In 1921 she spent 3 months at Aleister Crowley's Abbey of Thelema in Sicily; she found the practices dreadful and also acquired a drug habit. Mary now spent time writing in Dorset, including her celebrated book of short stories 'Speed the Plough' which saw fully develop her unique Modernist prose style.Europe now beckoned and several years were spent in Paris befriending many artists and writing further extraordinary stories. She was continually sought after by literary magazines and also published several short story collections as books. Although a Modernist writer she worked in other genres but is essentially only known for her short stories. Mary was deeply committed to nature conservation and wrote several pamphlets attacking the growing pollution of the countryside.In 1927, she divorced and the following year her novel 'Armed with Madness' was published. A further marriage followed in 1930 and time was spent attempting to settle in London and Newcastle before setting up home on the western tip of Cornwall. By 1934 the marriage had failed.Mary Butts died on 5th March 1937, at the West Cornwall Hospital, Penzance, after an operation for a perforated gastric ulcer. She was 46.Once more Butts reveals her wonderful talents. Here, two sisters plan a prank on their neighbour. But when real life imitates and amplifies their idea unease and dread come to the fore.

Mary Butts, Mirabai (Author), Lisa Braverman (Narrator)

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The Bhakti Poet Saints

Whilst Europe endured the Dark Ages in the 6th & 7th Centuries devotees of Shiva and Vishnu in Southern India were creating the Bhakti Movement. Some of these exponents, as in our volume, were bestowed with the title of saint but some had the additional title of sant, swami or goswami.Broadly speaking, Bhakti poetry, as in Hinduism itself, is divided into 'Nirguna', the idea that the divine is formless as exampled by Kabir and 'Saguna' which interprets the divine as having physical form as captured by Mirabai. The rapid spread, of the Bhakti movement, with its theme of love and devotion to God, proffered by these rebellious poet saints, did, over the following centuries, meld with much needed Hindu reforms and went to the heart of human existence. These 'God possessing' rather than 'God fearing' poets rejected hierarchies and intermediaries in their spiritual devotion and were critical of rules, regulations and ritual observances administered by Brahmin priests in the sacred but elitist court and temple Sanskrit. Their poems, in their local language, emphasised personal devotion as a route to salvation with kind deeds and a humble life rather than ritual mediation, stretched the fabric of society. They were all from lower castes and many were women giving the movement an egalitarian spirit that helped reinforce the message that god's love was all-encompassing for every person willing to surrender to the divine. Furthermore, their verse was accessible, simple, innovative with new poetic forms and often expressed in songs with a fierce passion and ecstasy that demonstrated the movement's focus on inner, mystical and authentic devotion and humility. Impromptu performances with provocative outbursts of singing and dancing in unconventional settings or public gatherings evolved into poetic presentations and community recitals as the rapid popularity of the movement spread. Although the language is every day and simple, many verses carry undercurrents of complex ideas, philosophical and psychological dilemmas, nuance and humour

Guru Nanak, Kabir, Mirabai (Author), David Shaw-Parker, Ghizela Rowe, Laurel Lefkow (Narrator)

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The Poetry of Mirabai

Mirabai was a Rajput princess born to the Rathore clan in 1498 in Kudaki, Rajasthan in northern India. Despite being one of the most significant saints in the Bhakti tradition and an immensely popular Hindu mystic and religious poet, very few facts are actually known about her life including her date of birth. It is clear that her mother died when she was very young and she was greatly influenced by her father, also a worshipper of Krishna. From a young age Mirabai's devotion to Krishna was absolute surrender and complete devotion. It was only with great reluctance that she entered a marriage, arranged by her uncle, to Prince Bhoj Raj of Chittor in 1516. The marriage ended after 5 years with the death, in quick succession, of her husband and then father-in-law, who was her protector. Her now public display of faith, mainly demonstrated by attending religious meetings, or Satsangs, with their devotional singing and dancing, brought persecution by her remaining in-laws who insisted she stop. On hearing that her brother-in-law, Vikramaditya, the then king of Chittor, might harm or even kill her, she fled.She travelled through northern India expressing her love for Krishna with some 1300 bhajans or sacred songs, usually composed with a simple rhythm and a repeated refrain. Her use of everyday language, infused with a sweetness of emotion and charm brought her a growing respect and popularity It is popularly believed that she spent her last years as a pilgrim in Dwarka Gujarat and miraculously merged with the image of Krishna in 1556.

Mirabai (Author), Eve Karpf, Ghizela Rowe, Libby Brunton (Narrator)

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