Read the complete biography of Kabir

THE fifteenth century, which covers the main period of Kabir’s life, was marked by disorder and great social agitation.

Mohammad bin Tuglak (1325-1351) left the Islamic Empire in India in a state of chaos. Reducing the people to a state of great poverty and misery through his maladministration and fana­tical religious intolerance, he left behind him a country in the grip of famine, plague, and rebellion.

In 1398 Timur invaded India and put to the sword thousands of innocent men, women and children, and carried away most of the wealth of the country that he could lay his hands on. The beautiful city of Delhi was reduced to ruins; Meerut was sacked and every­where in the north of India, through which the Muslim conqueror passed, there was nothing but ruin and chaos.

Hindu India was not shown the beautiful side of Islam. The great personality of the prophet of Arabia remained a sealed book to them. It can be imagined what they thought of Islam.

F. E. Keay gives the following account of India under Muslim rule, immediately before the birth of Kabir: “During the period of the Sultanate of Delhi, the Hindu religion had been ex­posed to constant danger. The more ruthless sovereigns, or governors of provinces, often carried out wholesale massacres and destroyed Hindu Shrines, while even milder rulers often used force to bring about their people’s conversion. The Jiziya, a tax on non-Mohammedans, was generally enforced. . . . Yet in spite of persecution, Hinduism flourished….”

The destruction of their temples and the outrages on their sacred traditions by the north-western invaders did not shake the faith of the Hindus in their religion. In many instances, it was a period of great religious upheavals. The bhakti or devotional school of thought acquired strength and a great wave of devotion of the heart to Vishnu or Hari swept through the land.

Shankaracharya, the supreme exponent of Hinduism, had stressed the importance of bhakti as a means to purify the heart; but his main theme was knowledge or gnosis which alone, according to the Vedic doctrines, leads to the inner enlightenment and ultimate deliverance of the soul from the bonds of nescience.

Ramanuja (A.D. 1100), a southern teacher of great erudition and a monk of pious character, developed the school of Devotion in his Commentary on the Upanishads, the Gita and the Vyas Suttras. His doctrine is called VISISH- TADVAITA, or qualified monism, accord­ing to which the universe is the body of God, and His Spirit animating the Universe is the Essence of man. Even in the final reunion with Hari, the spirit retains its individuality. Sri Krishna, the teacher of that most wonderful scripture, the Bhagvad Gita, and the cowherd of Brindavana, is regarded as the supreme incarnation of Vishnu. Ram, the ideal man and king, is also regarded as an incarnation. Man loves his personality and clings to it with tenacity. In Krishna and Ram the Hindu mind found the very ideals of perfection and wisdom that it loved.

Northern India adopted the bhakti school of thought and the bleeding soul of the Hindus of that time found conso­lation in the wisdom of compassion, benevolence and self surrender to Krishna or Ram. Men, women and children found aesthetic, moral and spiritual food in the personality of Krishna and received the spiritual up- liftmen and ecstasy which made them forget the horrors of their environment and in some cases brought real and abiding peace to their hearts. What more does the spirit of man need?

Poets of outstanding ability and of a cosmopolitan outlook on life sang of Krishna and Ram in their sweet and immortal songs in the Hindi language, the language of the masses.

Many of these spiritual singers were contemporary with Kabir, and it is certain that the child Kabir, born in 1398, heard these sweet devotional lyrics when he was rocked in the cradle by his mother.

Vidyapati, Umapati, Mirabai, and others poured forth their burning love, pure as the waters of the Ganges and the Jumna, and men of every walk of life took up these songs and sang of Radha- Krishna and Seeta-Ram.

The school of bhakti abolished the rigid caste rules, and it was commonly held that anybody who worshipped God belonged to God-irrespective of his caste and birth.

“Jat pant puche na koi

Har ko Bhaje so karka hoi.”

A shoe-maker, Rai Das, was hailed as a saint and worshipped by all on account of his self-transcending love of God.

The Hindu saint whose influence moulded the life of Kabir was Ramanand (1400-1447). A great teacher was Swami Ramanand. His holy life was a source of inspiration to many. Among his disciples were numbered Sena, a barber, Dhanna, a peasant, and Rai Das, a leather worker.

Having travelled through Northern India teaching the doctrine of devotion, Karma, reincarnation and personal piety, Ramanand lived in the holy city of Kashi (Benares) when Kabir was a child. Hundreds flocked to him every morning to join him in his devotion.

One of the results of the contact of Hinduism and Islam was the develop­ment of the Sufi school in Islam, which was free from fanaticism and had a close resemblance to the system of Ramanuja. The Sufi singers mixed freely with the Hindu bhaktas and fraternised with men of other cults.

Sanskrit scholarship received a great reverse during the Muslim rule. The precious books of the Hindus were burned publicly, and the scholars were forced to leave their monasteries, which were committed to the flames. Now the Hindi literature grew up, in the development of which Kabir took a prominent part.

Though the India of the time of Kabir was characterised by misrule and chaos, yet there was great religious activity and literary upheaval in the vernacular.

Benares has ever been the seat of learning and religious fervour in India. Its gorgeous temples, the slow current of the Ganges, the processions of monks, the debates of scholars and the stately flights of steps..cannot but impress the mind of one who lives there as well as even the casual visitor. Kabir is said to have passed his boyhood in this city of Lord Shiv, in which Shakya Muni Buddha “turned the wheel of Law” some 1,500 years before Kabir.

Like the lives of other great religious teachers of the past-excepting Moham- med-the life of Kabir is full of legends. The following account may be taken as reasonably correct.

A.D. 1398 is the traditional date of thebirth of the Saint Kabir. According to tradition, Kabir was born in Benares itself, though the Benares Gazatteer gives Belhara, a village in the district of Azamgarh, as the place of his birth.

A Brahman virgin widow is said to have given birth to the child who was subsequently called Kabir. The birth is said to have been miraculous. All followers of Kabir admit that Kabir was brought up in the house of a Muslim named Nut Ali or Nura, a weaver, whose wife was named Nima. It is said that a Hindu monk named Ashtanand, who had knowledge of the real parentage of Kabir, took care to teach him Hindu ideas and ideals when he was a child.

Kabir was a precocious child. He was seijt to a Muslim teacher. But he was not satisfied with the teachings given and left him. From his childhood the religious quest seems to have been his favourite pursuit. The traditional accounts of the birth of Creation and other such matters did not satisfy him.

Kabir Kasauti, an old work taken as authentic by the followers of Kabir, says that in his childhood he did not identify himself definitely with either Hinduism or Islam, and gave offence to many. While playing, he often cried: “Ram, Ram” or “Hari, Hari.”The Muslims warned him and said that he was a kafir, an unbeliever. Kabir replied saying: “He who uses violence or rules others, who drinks intoxicants, or seizes the goods of others is a kafir.”

He put the tilak (the sacred mark) on his forehead; and used the Janeu (sacred thread). The Brahmans expostulated: “This is not thy religion. Thou hast made thyself a Vaishnavite and callest on Vishnu, Narayan, Hari, Govind; this is our religion.” He answered one of their leaders:

“On my tongue Vishnu, in my eyes Narayan, and in my heart Govind dwells…. My meditation is with Hari.”

When Kabir was hardly a youth, Ramanand was preaching his doctrine of absorption in God through pure devotion and benevolence. Evidently Ramanand Swami was a magnetic per­sonality. He had thousands of selfless disciples and was held in great esteem by those who knew him. Ramanand was in love with rituals and preached bhakti as the means to God-realisation.

Kabir heard him in the streets of Benares and was profoundly impressed with his teachings and personality. Knowing well that a teacher less mystic is not fitted for a life of higher devotion and contemplation, Kabir applied to Ramanand for initiation. It was after hesitation and trial that Kabir was accepted as a disciple by Ramanand.

It is stated by some writers that Kabir was a sufi” and a disciple of some Muslim teacher. Professor Wilson, a great authority on the subject, does not hold this view.

Kabir served his teacher personally with devotion, and learned from him not only the theoretical side of the Hindu doctrine, but also the mystic Yoga which he seems to have practised with great patience. Kabir was not a pundit; probably he did not know Sanskrit at all. Having listened to the philosophical controversies that were held between the Benares pundits and his Guru, Kabir acquired a thorough knowledge of Vedanta and Sankhya.

In his private life Kabir continued to work as a weaver, spending a part of his earnings on charity and hospitality to the sadhus and part on Nura.

Once he mysteriously disappeared for a while, and then suddenly reappeared, full of light, peace and joy.

Kabir married a woman named Loi. Her name figures in many of his songs.

We see a reference to Kabir’s marriage in the Adi Grantha, the Sikh holy book:

“His first wife was ugly, of low caste, of ill-boding feature .. . The present wife is beautiful, intelli­gent, of auspicious features, easily child-bearing.” (Quoted by G. H. WESTCOTT.)

There are several references by Kabir in his songs to his son Kamal; some traditions credit him with two sons.

During the early days of his devotion, Kabir encountered much opposition from his family. His mother often reproached him with neglecting his work and insisted on his giving up his religious devotions and study. His outspoken criticism of the rituals, of both Hinduism and Islamism, brought on him the wrath of his fellow-citizens and caused annoy­ance to his family. After his father’s death the burden of supporting the family fell on Kabir. His mother opposed him and wanted him to mind his family affairs only.

Kabir’s household affairs undoubtedly suffered on account of his devotion to religious contemplation and the service of his teacher. In a verse he refers to this and says:

“O thou who art ever compassionate to the poor, I have put all my family into the boat which is under thy care.”

In another verse, Kabir makes the following reference to his mother: “Kabir’s mother is distressed and weepeth, saying, 0 God, how shall I support my children? Kabir hath relinquished weaving and has made God’s house his only support.”

A true seeker after God is above all dogmatism, sectarianism and fanaticism. We find Kabir in the company of a Muslim teacher, Taqi of Jhusi, near Allahabad, participating in his devotions.

Taqi gave his full spiritual blessings to Kabir and kept a friendly eye on him throughout his life they say.

Kabir’s wife, Loi, suffered for want of rice and vegetables in the household, her husband having neglected them. In fact, Kabir was passing through those mystic experiences in which the worldly objects seem to receive no attention from a mystic. She complained of the monks in whose company he passed his time. To this complaint, Kabir replied:

“These devotees are the support of the drowning,

Hear, O misguided Loi!

Kabir is under the protection of these devotees.”

Kabir obtained the full inner illumination “By the grace of my Guru Ramanand.” Now all doubts were gone and he saw one Infinite Reality within and without. He became a saint, a liberated being. He had seen God as his own spiritual Self.

Kabir lived a life of voluntary poverty and simplicity. Having seen the eternal beauties of the inner world, the spiritual life, he was in perfect peace and joy. Nothing could add to or subtract from the spiritual joy of his God-vision. He found in the life of contemplation, as Aristotle says, all he needed. The following song is noteworthy:

“Kabir says, I have neither a thatched roof nor hut, Neither have la house nor a village.

I think Hari will ask ” Who art thou?” I have neither caste nor name….

I have never been acquisitive; Thy name alone, O Hari, is enough for me.”

Kabir says, my heart is full of happi­ness. . . . Though Kabir lived in poverty he treated his uninvited guests with hospitality. Sometimes Loi bor­rowed salt and rice to feed a guest. Anybody who knocked at his door was received with joy and given hospitality.

To a certain section of the people Kabir was an impostor and they treated him with contumely.

Sometimes Kabir was called a thief, panderer and dancer. He says:

“O Ram, thou art my only refuge! I have no need to bow to any man!

I am free from fellowship or partner­ship with any one. Honour or dishonour are just the same to me.

Kabir says, the honour of Hari is real.

O gives up all, and praise only Ram.”

Tradition says that Kabir travelled far into Central Asia and met many Muslim teachers there. But there is no historical evidence to establish this. In the following song we find a reference to his intended visit to Mecca:

“I was going on a pilgrimage to the Ka ‘abah, on the road the Lord went with me. The Lord began to quarrel with me: ‘By whom has this pilgrimage ever been ordered?”

Kabir travelled extensively in India. Many followed him, a few became his disciples. When he was in Gujrat, a Raja, called Solankhi, went with his Rani to do honour to the Saint and beg the blessing of a son. Kabir replied in the hymn:

“The world is so mad that no one cares for devotion to God. One comes and begs for a son: My Master, grant me this boon. Another is ill, and asks relief from it. Some come and want the boon of a beauteous bride. Not one comes to buy the Truth. All the world believes a lie. Kabir says, Hear, O Sadhus, what can one make of ‘the blind?”

Among the disciples of Kabir, his wife Loi, his son Kamal, and one Dharmadas are prominently mentioned. One Surat Gopal Sahib is also mentioned as one of his chief disciples.

Kabir was summoned by Sikandar Lodi, the reigning sovereign of Delhi, to answer to the charges of infidelity preferred against him both by Hindus and Muslims. The Muslims complained that the weaver outraged the ears of the faithful Muslims with his cries of “Ram, Ram,” in the streets. The Hindus complained that he unlawfully used the tilak and Janeu (sacred thread).

When brought before the king, Kabir refused to make obeisance.

After a short conversation the king was convinced of the innocence of Kabir and let him go. But his enemies re­mained unsatisfied. They approached Taqi, who had influence over the Court, and Taqi pronounced Kabir a political danger, hated both by Hindus and Muslims. Charges of moral turpitude were also made against the saint. It was said that he associated daily with low caste reprobates and women of bad character.

Kabir was again brought before the king and it is said that a few of his close associates were among, his accusers. Kabir was fearless and without any bitterness towards them. Death or life is the same to one who has known God. Kabir’s answer to the charge of immorality is as follows in his own words:

“That I know all to be one, what cause of grief is that to others?

If I am dishonoured, I have lost my own honour: others need pay no heed.

Mean I am, with the mean I would be numbered.. ..

For honour and dishonour I care not; he whose eyes are opened, he will understand.

Kabir says, honour is based on this: renounce all else, sing only Ram….” (Quoted by ADM AD SHAH.)

The doctors of Islamic law (Qazi) demanded that Kabir should live as a true Muslim and threatened death if he did otherwise. Kabir was not to be daunted. He had overcome all fear of death. He answered: “Know only One Lord animating the hearts of both Hindus and Muslims. He is not the monopoly of either of them. I worship Him in any form I see Him.”

They asked him why he called himself Kabir which, in Islam, is one of the names of God. Kabir answered:

“My name is Kabir; all the world knows this.

In the three worlds is my name, and happiness is my abode.

Water, air, the seasons, thus I created the world.

The unstuck wave thunders in Heaven, and Soham keeps time.

I made manifest the seed of Brahma … God, men and rishis (sages) do not find my end. Kabir’s saints alone can find it.. . . Hear, O Sikandar, I am a Pir of both religions.”

Kabir was condemned as a heretic and having been bound with chains was thrown into the river. The tradi­tion says that “the bonds could not hold him nor the water drown. “He was thrown, bound in chains, before infuriated elephants. But the elephants did not hurt him as Kabir “was pro­tected by the power of the name of Hari.”

Kabir lived to the age of 120, and voluntarily gave up his body in a town near the holy city of Benares. “Ram is in Benares and also in every other place,” said Kabir when his disciples asked him to go to Benares to die.

Tradition says that a dispute arose as to the disposal of Kabir’s body, between the two rivals-Hindus and Muslims. An appeal to arms seemed imminent. A passing holy man appeared and bade the rivals to raise the sheet that covered | the saint Kabir’s body. They did so, and to their great surprise, found beneath a heap of fresh and fragrant flowers.

Kabir wrote in Hindi, an off shoot of Sanskrit. Evi­dently he was not versed in Sanskrit-which was, long, long before Kabir, a highly- developed language. Kabir’s Hindi is pimple and his style is attractive. He invented many new metres and wrote verse in so graceful and flowing a language that we can call him one of the fathers of Hindi poetry. The great Hindi poets, Keshav Das, Sur Das, Tulsi Das, and Behari Das, who com­pare favourably with Dante and Shakespeare, were in­debted to Kabir.

Most of the verses of Kabir are hymns of devotion, mysticism and discipline. He seldom uses flowery language. Like the great Chinese poets of the Tang and Sung periods Kabir is a poet without making efforts to be one. In his simple, natural way poetry flows from him like water from a fountain. Kabir rises to great heights when he tries to describe the indescribable spiritual experiences.

“On this tree is a bird: it dances in the joy of life.

No one knows whence it is: nor what the burden of its music may be?

Where the branches throw a deep shade, there does it have its nest; and it comes in the evening and flies away in the morning and says

Not a word of that which it knows.

No one can tell me of this bird that sings within me…………….

It dwells within the unattainable, the infinite and the Eternal, and no one marks when it comes and goes.

Kabir says: ‘O brother Sadhu! Deep is the mystery. Let wise men seek to know where rests the bird.”

(Translated by TAGORE.)

An oft-quoted verse of Kabir which shows the profundity of his vision is: “That body in which Love does not dwell is a crematorium; that heart

Which is without Love is as the blacksmith’s bellows, breathing but lifeless.”

In some of his songs he is rugged like Walt Whitman, and very unconven­tional

“If union with God can be obtained by going about naked

All the beasts of the forests would be saints!

If God is not seen within, it matters not whether we walk clad in goat skin or nude.

If spiritual release can be obtained by shaving, then all sheep should be taken as saved.

If continence leads to God-vision, then all eunuchs are saints.

Kabir says, Hearken, O Sadhus,

There is no release without Ram’s name.”

Kabir was a great singer. Dressed as a poor wandering devotee, drunk with the love of God, he used to go about with a hand-drum, pouring forth his heart in his songs. He composed thousands of songs, many of which are orally known, but not yet included in any anthology.

Many of the songs attributed to Kabir are not his. Some Punjabi songs are credited to him, but it is very doubtful whether Kabir wrote in that dialect. The songs contained in the Bijak of Kabir are his own composition. Kabir Kasauti is taken as one of the genuine works of Kabir. Most, if not all, of the Sakhes or rhyming couplets, con­veying the inner realisation of the saint, are his own. The couplets are of un­surpassed beauty. A few of them are given below:

“A Guru should be as a knife grinder, removing the rust of a lifetime in an instant.”

“My Lord is a great trader, in mer­chandise he deals; neither weights nor scales he needs, but in his own hands this great world he weighs and feels.”

“He who sows for you thorns, for him you should sow flowers; you will have blossoms at the time of Spring; he will regret to find thorns.”

“He may drink the cup of love who gives his head to God; the covetous cannot give all, but only take the name of love.”

“The tree does not keep its fruits for its own use, nor the river its water; for the benefit of others has the Sadhu incarnated as man.”

“The gardener comes to the garden and seeing him, the buds cry out, ‘The full-blown flowers are culled to-day, to-morrow our turn will come.”

(Translated by REV. WESTCOTT.)

Kabir had four chief disciples and eight more to whom he imparted his inner teachings. Each of them has com­posed songs, attributing them to Kabir. It is, therefore, not easy to say which of the songs credited to Kabir are by him. Sukh Ni Dhan (Treasure of Happiness), Guru Mahatmya (Greatness of the Guru), and Amarmul (Root of Immor­tality) contain the spiritual teachings of Kabir, but they are not his compositions. Dharma-Das, a disciple of Kabir, is perhaps the author of one of them. The dialogue between Kabir and the great Hath Yogi teacher, Gorakhnath, contain­ing many deep spiritual truths, is not Kabir’s composition as the language is more modem and the style not so simple as that of Kabir.

The basis of Kabir’s teachings is the strict monotheism of the Upanishads. He places the Lord of the Universe in the heart of man as his higher Self, where alone the soul can discover Him. The following quotations from Bijak establish Kabir’s monotheism:

“He is one; there is no second.

Ram, Khuda, Shakti, Shiv are one.

By the One name I holdfast: Kabir proclaims this aloud.”

In the Adigranth of Mahatma Nanak, probably a disciple of Kabir, Kabir is reported to have said:

“The one Name, like the tree of life, saveth mankind.

That One living God is everywhere present, and there is no second.”

Kabir is a follower of the pure Advaita School of Vedic thought as interpreted by the greatest of the Indian philosophers, Shankaracharya. Kabir worshipped the self-conditioned aspect of the attributeless God, through His own power called Maya. He held that the worship of the self-conditioned leads to the contemplation and realisation of the Absolute. Kabir describes Him as compassionate, most lovable, omniscient and the saviour, with whom man can hold intercourse in his being.

Kabir says:

“He Himself is the tree, the seed, and the form.

He Himself is the flower, the fruit and the shade. . . .

He is the breath, the word, and the meaning.”

Kabir admits Maya, the principle of limitation which, though unreal, yet is the root cause of the false knowledge of duality.

Kabir finds Love or bhakti the easiest way to realise the Infinite within one’s own Self. He is positive that God can be seen only in the being of man and that then the whole Universe becomes a mirror reflecting the bliss and beauty of God.

Many of the most beautiful hymns of Kabir are the expressions of his heart’s devotion to the Lord immanent and yet transcendent. The name of God dearest to Kabir is Ram. He some­times calls Him Hari and when he speaks of His mystic names uses the sacred word Om. The repetition of -the name of Ram, according to the Saint, removes all the sins of man and makes him fit to see God in his heart. Kabir says in his Bijak:

“Hardly a friend have I at all:

What more shall I say, O brother….

Sitting in the air, studying Yoga, Vedas, rites and astrology, they are demented.

. . . Kabir says the hope of the Yogi and the jangam is withered.

If they repeat, like the bird Chatrik, the name of Ram, their abode in bhakti is sure.”

Kabir called compassion the greatest virtue, and non-attachment to sense- objects the key to inner tranquillity in which Ram is mirrored as our soul. Mind, free of all earthly desires, devoted to the service of the guru, rises to the divine state, through love of Ram.

“Without the guru there is no release.”

Kabir loved his guru Ramanand as God and he recommends this practice to his disciples.

Meditation on the transitoriness of the world and the incertitude of life are the favourite themes of Kabir. Unless one recognises this axiomatic truth, one is not fitted for the life of Yoga. Kabir is a great moralist and bases the fabric of his ethics on the two above-mentioned principles. As long as one loves the world of duality, one cannot overcome sin.

Kabir describes the six Chakras (centres of consciousness) in the human body minutely, and advises a Yogi to meditate on the name of Ram in the Chakras. Peace, and celestial vision, music of the devas, rambles in the inner gardens of beauty supreme, are some of the experiences resulting from the medi­tation on the Chakras. The following song expresses Kabir’s experiences of the inner world of the Chakras:

“Where Spring holds sway the twelve months through, few have conceived the perfection there.

Where light as rain pours down in ceaseless streams, where the forest grows green in all its eighteen regions-

Where unrestrained the waters well up within, and the cleansing air bears away all. Foulness-

No trees are there, yet heaven is bright with blossoms.

Shiv and Brahma desire to drink its perfume.”

According to Kabir the human body is the Universe in miniature and the trained mind can see in it the regions of saints, celestial beings and other spheres of unsurpassed beauty and divine music. Kabir locates the Supreme Being, Ram, in the Chakra situated in the crown of the head which he calls Sat-Loka. It may be stated that all this is described in the pre-Buddhist mysticism of India.

Unlike other Hindu saints, Kabir con­demns idol-worship and sees no meaning in rituals and pilgrimages. He has little patience with asceticism either. No wonder he incurred the hostility of the orthodox by his sharp condemna­tion of the outer practices of Hinduism. He did not favour the Muslims either and condemned their Namaz and recita­tion of the Quran:

“Qazi, what is the book you discourse on?

Are you not jangling and wrangling always; nothing of wisdom do you know,

Leave these distractions, meditate on Ram, O foolish mind.”

(REV. KEAY.)

Kabir condemns the caste system of the Hindus. To him a Brahman who reads the Vedas and a cultivator who tills the ground are equal. All mankind is one family and God is the supreme head of it.

“If birth from a Brahman mother makes you a Brahman, Why did not you come by any other way…?

Saith Kabir, renounce family, caste, lineage; become an ant and thou canst pick up and eat the sugar.”

The doctrines of Karma and transmi­gration, the basic Hindu teachings, are upheld by Kabir:

“The soul assumes many forms, accord­ing to its merits.

After birth and death it again comes to a body.”

Kabir believes in man’s ability to see God, in this very life. We can see from his words that he claims to have seen God, the fountain-head of all Joy, Truth and Beauty. Here is the personal testimony of Kabir as translated by Tagore:

“I have known in my body the Sport of the Universe

I have escaped from the error of this world.

The inward and the outward are become as one sky; the Infinite and the finite are united; I am drunk with the sight of all!”

In another song quoted in the Adi- granth o/Nanak, Kabir says:

“I have met God who dwelleth in the heart.

When a stream is lost in the Ganges, It becomes the Ganges itself. Kabir is similarly lost in God by in­voking Him; I have become the true One and need not go elsewhere.” Kabir advocates recourse to a Guru and fellowship of holy men. The time passed in the society of fellow-disciples and holy men is best spent. It is essential that we should avoid the society of the worldly-minded and cultivate fellowship with the spiritually-minded.

The goal of the soul, according to Kabir, is reabsorption into God and to become the soul of the Universe. It was not a theoretical doctrine to the saint; he had realised it in his life and he proclaimed it to all who came to hear him. Kabir does not desire wealth, fame or honour as these are all unreal.

“I shall not die like the rest of the world.

I have now met Him who remaineth.

The soul is not born, though men think it is; it is free from birth and death.

When the idea of birth and death departeth from man’s mind, he shall forever be absorbed in God….

As my attention is fixed on God, I no longer expect to suffer transmigra­tion;

Even in life I am absorbed in the Infinite.”

Students of the Hindu Upanishads will see that Kabir speaks the language of the rishis of the Himalayas.

Kabir is one of the rare Hindu saints who speak the language of the Quran and he quotes, approvingly, many of its teachings. His acquaintance with Islam is not superficial. He often mentions Adam and Eve and his references to the Islamic customs are significant. He disapproves of the rite of circumcision and discourages pilgrimage to Mecca.

“They fast all day, at night they slaughter the cow.

Here murder, there devotion; how can this please God?

O Qazi, thy One God is in thee, thou beholdest Him not by thought and reflection.

Thou gainest nothing by reading and study, O madman, since thou regard’ st Him not in thy heart… .

If thou prayest with deception in thy heart,

What availeth thee thy pilgrimage to Mecca?”

Whether Kabir founded the Order called Kabir Panth is open to doubt. He was most anxious to see the unrighteous and the ignorant restored to the path of devotion and compassion, and he often said that the chief duty of a holy man is to help others to the path of virtue and unity with God. Kabir was indifferent to wealth and loved simplicity. The order called Kabir Panth is rich and the life of its Chief is far from being simple.

There are two main sections of the Order: One has its headquarters at Kabir Chaura at Benares, and the other at Chattisgarh, in the Central Provinces of India.

The immediate successor to Kabir, at Benares, was Surat Gopal Das, one of the favourite disciples of the saint, who is said to be the real founder of the Order. The last head of the Order, at Benares, was Ram Bilas. The head of the Order is elected, and the qualifications he is supposed to have are piety, learning and ability to teach the doctrine of Kabir.

There are two shrines to Kabir in the Benares headquarters; one is in the custody of the Hindus and the other is in the hands of Muslims. There is a shrine dedicated to Kamal also. The ritual consists of singing the hymns of Kabir, silent meditation, arti and distri­bution of prasad. There are many centres of the Order in the various parts of Northern and Central India and the Province of Bombay. Some of the centres are wealthy. The monks attached to the Order travel about sing­ing the songs of their first Guru. They are supported by the Centre and in the rainy season they return to their monastery for study, meditation and instructions by the Mahant (abbot).

The Order of Kabir is above the caste system of the Hindus and he who joins the fraternity gives up all caste prejudices. The Shudras, or the untouchables of India, are welcome to the Order and the Order has done much to elevate the lot of these unfortunate followers of the Hindu Dharma.

The followers of Kabir are strict vegetarians and abstain from the use of alcohol.

The influence of Kabir is noticeable in many sects of India. The Sikhs of the Punjab, the noble followers of the Guru Nanak, perhaps one of the disciples of Kabir himself, acknowledge Kabir as one of the great Mahat- mas and sing his hymns daily. The Vairagis, the Udasees and others are all lovers of Kabir and read his literature. Kabir is quoted by the Muslim Sufis freely. In the mystic circles of the Yogis he is regarded with reverence and his exposition of the Chakras is used by them.

In the Himalayan regions, the home of the Upanishadic learning and the abode of the high Sanyasins, Kabir is not mentioned at all. There is no known centre of the Kabir Panth in these sacred places. Perhaps the reason is that Kabir’s hymns are in Hindi, and the Himalayan Sanyasins study the Vedantic doctrine in Sanskrit. Kabir was not a dialectician, whereas the Hindu monks love logic and metaphysics.

Kabir was an avadhut. Having realised God as his Self he lived in ecstasy and like Sur Das his songs welled forth from his being, without any conscious effort on his part. Men like Kabir are not in favour of Orders and are alive to the future contradictions and inconstancies that such Orders are likely to create.

There are fifty articles of the Kabir Panthi doctrine, a few of which are quoted below:

1. One must devote oneself to the contemplation of the one all-pervading, attributeless Brahman, called Sat Purush. Brahman is known only by means of the Sat Guru.

2. Brahman and Kabir are one. If anyone thinks that Kabir and Brahman -Guru and God-are not one, he will not find God.

3. One ought to serve one’s Guru with body, mind and wealth, place reliance on his word and obey him. He who thinks there is any difference between Guru and God will find that all his devotion and meditation will be in vain.

4. One ought to love and serve one’s fellow Sat-sangees. All devotees of God are worthy of great respect.

5. One ought to count all living creatures as one’s own body and treat them with kindness. One ought to refrain from giving any pain, at any place or any time, to any living creature.

6. All intoxicating drinks are for­bidden.

7. The only way to salvation is the Essence of the Word (Sar Sabda).

8. Without true love, devotion is fruitless.

9: Without liberality no one can attain salvation.

10. Do not curse any one, nor speak evil, nor think unkindly of any one.

11. So long as one thinks much of one’s body, and nourishes it, as if it were real, one cannot give full obedience to one’s Guru.

Let me conclude this short article on Kabir with the following Sakhis:

“My song is new: none understands the strain.

Whoever has perceived this word; he is a King of Kings.”

“O Kabir, deck Thyself in the gar­ments of love, and dance. To him is given honour, whose body and soul live Truth.”