Sant Kabir

al- Kabir

Ah!  The conundrum of the mystic SANT KABIR, an  illiterate, a julaha(weaver), a tradesman, a householder in the eyes of the world. The dichotomy deepens when you read the writings of Guru Nanak and Rabindranath Tagore, who celebrated his ordinariness, hailing it as the most extraordinary thing.  The mixed legends further deepen the mystery of his birth and the essence of his philosophy. He is "at once the child of Allah and of Ram", and his teachings are a blend of the Brahmin, Sufi , Vedantic or Vaishnavite.  He stumped the pundits of his times with his simplicity of thought and action. He was all about LOVE and an all-out effort to attain the INFINITE.

Through the mundane, meditative activity of his weaving, he weaved philosophical couplets(Dohas), Shalokas and Sakhis. His path was a search for truth; and living the life of a family man with two children, he observed the ways of the world and broke out into spontaneous VANI and Songs steering his fellow townspeople into the light. A great revolutionary of his time, he held all religious dogmas at bay; ritualism, ascetism, idol worship, pilgrimages and the caste system. All are equal in the eyes of the Creator and each one of us is capable of a direct relationship with GOD.

He recited and sang songs of pure joy in dialects of Avadhi, Braj and Bhojpuri. To a modern reader, the experience would be as if reading Chaucers’ English in the Canterbury Tales. He expounded on the essence of all religions in India,, in a simplistic yet most effective style, complete with colorful imagery. Kabir is a very important figure in contemporary times. He is unusual, in that he is spiritually significant to Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims alike. He synthesized the nectar of myriad paths and proclaimed One Truth.  Kabir touches the soul, the inner core of a human being and awakens him to a life of alertness sans the veil of dualities, wherein your inner and outer balance to an even keel and you cross the ocean of life joyously.

We are all familiar with his couplets , we read and recited them in school :

 Pothi Padh Padh Jag Mua, Pandit Bhayo Na Koye

Dhai Aakhar Prem Ke, Jo Padhe So Pandit Hoye

Merely by reading books,  no one became any wiser

One who reads the word of Love, only becomes wise

Dukh Mein Simran Sab Kare, Sukh Mein Kare Na Koye

Jo Sukh Mein Simran Kare, Tau Dukh Kahe Ko Hoye

In anguish everyone prays to Him, in joy does none

If one prays in happiness, how sorrow can come?

His songs were compiled by Guru Arjun Dev of the Sikh tradition, and 500 verses are a part of bhagat vani in Guru Granth Sahib. Later,  Rabindranath Tagore enumerated them in ‘Songs of Kabir’. ‘In the collection of songs translated here, we find examples which illustrate nearly every aspect of Kabîr's thought, and all the fluctuations of the mystic's emotions: the ecstasy,

the despair, the still beatitude, the eager self-devotion, the flashes of wide illumination, the moments of intimate love.’

“mo ko kahân dhûndho re bande”

O servant, where dost thou seek Me?

Lo!  I am beside thee.

I am neither in temple nor in mosque: I am neither in Kaaba nor

  in Kailash:

Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga and

  renunciation.

If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see Me: thou shalt

  meet Me in a moment of time.

Kabîr says, "O Sadhu!  God is the breath of all breath."

“sâdho bhâî, jîval hî karo âs'â”

O friend!  hope for Him whilst you live, know whilst you live,

  understand whilst you live: for in life deliverance abides.

If your bonds be not broken whilst living, what hope of

  deliverance in death?

It is but an empty dream, that the soul shall have union with Him

  because it has passed from the body:

If He is found now, He is found then,

If not, we do but go to dwell in the City of Death.

If you have union now, you shall have it hereafter.

Bathe in the truth, know the true Guru, have faith in the true

  Name!

Kabîr says: "It is the Spirit of the quest which helps; I am the

slave of this Spirit of the quest."

Kabir’s granth “Bijak”’ tells the secret of the treasure which is hidden : the word tells of the human being: there are but few who understand it.  Bhakti is the core reason of our existence on earth. The love of GOD: all else is false. The sole way of deliverance is through love for God. The Bhagat  performs bhagati , in an abandonment of love, from whom he has been separated by Kaal and Maya. Trust in God, love for God, with no thought for anything else that is all. 

‘Anurag Sagar’(Ocean of Love)  by Kabir  is a dialogue between Kabir and his disciple Dharamdas, who is also accorded the credit of recording the oral works of Kabir. God wants to save Dharamdas (us), as he loves us, but we are caught in time( Kaal). He intervenes and reaches out to us in myriad ways and persists in his presence and love for us. But Dharamdas has many, many doubts and is completely ignorant. He asks Kabir questions and Kabir answers him, each time clearing the path to unity with the Infinite, making it a plausible journey. The exchange on the role of mind in a human being is really revelatory. The tricks that the mind plays and keeps us bound in a cycle of karma and illusion. 

I humbly and sincerely wish readers to set on a journey with Sant Kabir , by reading and reflecting on his writings. It seems the Garden of Eden really lies in wait at the end of our journey, if we live and follow the purpose of our lives! 

Kabir has many answers for us! Read on and act such that each of us becomes a harp whose music fills the world!