Akka Mahadevi was a devotee of Shiva.

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Akka Mahadevi was a devotee of Shiva. Right from childhood she had completely given herself to Shiva and she looked upon him as her husband. A king saw her one day and she was so beautiful that he married her. But in her mind and consciousness, she was already married to Shiva. After a few years of frustration, the king became so exasperated that he brought her to court and accused her of adultery. Mahadevi said, “You fool! I am not your wife. You think so because of a social event, but that is not so. Everything in me is already given.” The king lost his cool and said, “Everything that you have is mine. The jewels, the clothes – everything. So how are you talking about your life being somebody else’s!” So, in the full assembly of the court, Akka Mahadevi – a young woman of 18 years – just dropped all her clothes and left. She walked naked from that day on; naked – not only of clothing – but naked of ego and shame, naked even of herself. She produced the most fabulous poetry that you can think of; her devotion and her love found expression in such fierce ways. Her devotion was such that every day she begged him,

“Shiva let no food come my way. Let my body also express the longing and anguish that I am going through to become part of you. If I eat, my body will be satisfied. My body will not know what I am feeling. So let no food come towards me. If food does come into my hands, let it fall down in the mud before I put it into my mouth. If it falls in the mud, the fool that I am, before I pick it up, let a dog come and take it away.”

This was her daily prayer.

This is how devotees of ancient india were.They wanted nothing but God.They were extremely intense in this process.This quality is hard to be found these days...Today people go to the temple and demand God to fulfil their materialistic wishes.

Adapted from Isha foundation.