In the previous episode, we saw how a young girl namely Mahadevi dared to take on the entire world. She did not care how the worldly people look at her. She discarded all identities, even the identity as a female!
She went around naked without any hesitation or feeling of shame.
The fact is that she did not identify herself with the body. Nor with her gender. So, shame, bashfulness, fear, and so on, which naturally come along with a female identity, did not bother her anymore. She was in love with her beloved who is none other than Chenna Mallikarjuna – her chosen form of God, or IshTa daiva.
Identification with one’s body is supposed to be the toughest trap to free oneself from. This arrogation of a specific identity on to ourselves is the root cause of all our problems. How do we come out of these problems caused by false identities?
The root cause of this false identification is often termed as Maya. This word Maya is a very loaded word. It could mean multiple things.
In the Advaita tradition of Shankara, this term is used to mean ‘illusion’ – the illusion that makes us think that we exist, that we are so and so, that we are of such and such a gender, that we are of such and such physical attributes, and so on. As per Shankara, our existence itself is an illusion or Maya. Shankara says that in reality, we are no different from God and our separate existence is just an illusion.
But that raises lot of paradoxes.
Over a period of time, this word Maya was gradually redefined to iron out these paradoxes. It gradually took on the meaning of some illusory power of God that tricks human beings. Under the influence of this unsurmountable power of Maya, human beings get trapped in this world and distance themselves from God.
During the time of Mahadevi, Allama, Basavanna and other social reformers, their main belief system revolved around the Advaita of Shankara. They believed in the oneness of the creator and the creation as Shankara did. But unlike Shankara, they believed in a real world with real beings. But these beings are deluded because of the illusory power or Maya of God. This delusion keeps a person separate from the God, though in essence he or she is God in reality. So, a spiritual seeker often tries to break the trap of Maya. That means one needs to free from physical identities.
That was what Mahadevi tried when she discarded all body identities – as a queen, as a married person, as a woman, as a person bound by feelings of shame, fear, and so on. But was that that simple? Mahadevi describes her struggle in this spiritual journey as follows
“Just when I thought that I have freed myself from the clutches of Maya, it would raise its head and it is back again. It seems that it would never leave my back however much I try. No wonder, even the great sages are not free from its influence.”
But Mahadevi dares God to trick her with his illusory power. She says
“O Chenna mallikarjuna, I am not scared of your Maya or illusory power. I swear!”
But then she realizes that it is not that simple. She knowns that even the divine beings come under the formidable influence of Maya. The only way is to surrender to God and beg him to withdraw the power of Maya. That is what she finally does.
Let us listen to how the well-known Indian singer S. Janaki expresses this struggle of Akka Mahadevi, in Akka’s own words. Janaki is accompanied by the well-known music composer C. Ashwath and his team. This is how it goes…
Going through this kind of arduous spiritual journey, Mahadevi had finally reached Kalyana, to the congregation of saints gathered over there. She expected guidance from the saints for her onward spiritual journey.
As we discussed in the previous episode, the leader of the saints, namely Allama, initially suspects her true intention. Or maybe, he was just pretending to suspect her. He tests her by asking incisive questions. Allama asks her
“If you have really overcome all bodily identity, why are you covering your nudity with your flowing hair? Does It not mean that you still have the feeling of shame left?”
Mahadevi calmly replies
“I cover it for the sake of those people who are still not perfect in their spiritual practice. I don’t want to derail them”
Allama was quite pleased with her reply.
Finally, Allama declares Mahadevi as a great saint. He says that in spite of her young age, she is well qualified to be an elder sister to all other saints who gathered there. So, he honors her by calling her Akka Mahadevi.
The Kannada language word ‘Akka’ means an elder sister. So, from that day, Mahadevi is recognized as Akka Mahadevi. She becomes one of the three pillars of the SharaNa movement, along with Allama and Basavanna, to reform the ailing society.
Akka Mahadevi spends sometime in KalyaNa mingling with other saints. She composes hundreds of short pithy poems which are called Vachanas. These Vachanas have deep philosophic meaning and show her deep love for her beloved Chenna Maliikarjuna, while simultaneously guiding the society on the right track.
But Akka Mahadevi was not quite satisfied with whatever she had achieved. She was yearning to reunite with her beloved Chenna Mallikarjuna. She had come out of all association with the body, but her urge to see Chenna Mallikarjuna in a physical form was still silently burning within her.
This is a tricky situation. On one hand, the intellect says that God is formless. But on the other hand, the human body insists on seeing that formless God in some perceptible form. The body has its own way of dealing with things. Akka was going through this dilemma. So, after sometime, she left KalyaNa and went in search of her beloved!
How does Akka pass through this phase of her life? Let us see that in the next episode.
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Credits:
MRT Music Bhakthi Sagara Presents: "Sree Shaila Chandrike" Audio Songs Jukebox. Sung By : S. Janaki, Music Composed By : C. Aswath, Lyrics By : Akka Mahadevi, Vachanagalu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7KI_ShNjH8
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