- Al-Kabir ("the Great") is also one of the 99 names of God in Islam. For a
complete disambiguation page, see Kabir
Kabīr (also
Kabīra) (Hindi: कबीर,
Punjabi: ਕਬੀਰ, Urdu: کبير (1440—1518) was a mystic composer and saint of India, whose
literature has greatly influenced the Bhakti movement of India
.
Early life and background
The story is told that on one particular day of the year, anyone
can become a disciple by having a master speak the name of God over
him. It is common for those who live near the Ganges to take their
morning bath there in the sacred waters. The bhakti saint Ramananda
took his bath as he did every day, by arising before dawn. On this
special day, Ramananda awoke before dawn and found his customary
way down to the steps of the Ganges. As he was walking down the
steps to the waters, a little hand reached out in the predawn
morning and grabbed the saint's big toe. Ramananda was taken by
surprise and he expressed his shock by calling out the name of God.
Looking down he saw in the early morning light the hand of the
young Kabir. After his bath in the early light he noticed that on
the back of the little one's hand was written in Arabic the name
Kabir.� He adopted him as son and disciple and brought him back to
his ashrama, much to the disturbance of his Hindu students, some of
whom left in righteous protest.
It is said that what really made this meeting the most special is
that in this case it, was only after Kabir's enlightenment that
Ramananda, his teacher, became enlightened.
Not much is known about what sort of spiritual training Kabir may
have received. He did not become a sadhu or rununciate. Kabir never
abandoned worldly life, choosing instead to live the balanced life
of a householder and mystic, tradesman and contemplative.
Philosophies
Kabir was influenced by prevailing religious mood such as old
Brahmanic Hinduism, Hindu and Buddhist Tantrism, teachings of Nath
yogis and the personal devotionalism from South India mixed with
imageless God of Islam. The influence of these various doctrines is
clearly evident in Kabir's verses. Eminent Historians like
R.C.Mazumbar, P.N. Chopra, B.N.Puri and M.N. Das, etc have held
that Kabir is the first Indian Saint to have harmonised Hinduism
and Islam by preaching a universal path which both Hindus and
Muslims could tread together. But there are a few critics who
contest such claims.
The basic religious principles he espoused are simple. According to
Kabir, all life is an interplay of two spiritual principles. One is
the personal soul (
Jivatma) and the other is God
(
Paramatma). It is Kabir's view that salvation is the
process of bringing into union these two divine principles. The
social and practical manifestation of Kabir's philosophy has rung
through the ages.. Despite legend that claims Kabir met with
Guru Nanak, their lifespans do not
overlap in time. The presence of much of his verse in Sikh
scripture and the fact that Kabir was a predecessor of Nanak has
led some western scholars to mistakenly describe him as a
forerunner of Sikhism.
His greatest work is the
Bijak (the
"Seedling"), an idea of the fundamental one. This collection of
poems demonstrates Kabir's own universal view of spirituality. His
vocabulary is replete with ideas regarding
Brahman and Hindu ideas of
karma and
reincarnation.
His
Hindi was a
vernacular, straightforward kind, much like his
philosophies. He often advocated leaving aside the
Qur'an and
Vedas and to simply
follow
Sahaja path, or the Simple/Natural Way
to oneness in God. He believed in the
Vedantic concept of
atman, but unlike earlier orthodox
Vedantins, he followed this philosophy to its logical end by
spurning the Hindu societal
caste system and
worship of
murti, showing clear belief in both
bhakti and
sufi ideas. The major part
of Kabir's work as a
bhagat
was collected by the fifth
Sikh guru,
Guru Arjan Dev, and
forms a part of the Sikh
scripture
Guru Granth Sahib.
While many ideas reign as to who his living influences were, the
only Guru of whom he ever spoke was
Satguru. Kabir never made a mention of any
human guru in his life or verses, the only reference found in his
verses is of God as
Satguru.
Poetry career
"The poetry of
mysticism might be defined
on the one hand as a temperamental reaction to the vision of
Reality: on the other, as a form of prophecy. As it is the special
vocation of the mystical consciousness to mediate between two
orders, going out in loving adoration towards God and coming home
to tell the secrets of Eternity to other men; so the artistic
self-expression of this consciousness has also a double character.
It is love-poetry, but love-poetry which is often written with a
missionary intention. Kabîr's songs are of this kind: out-births at
once of rapture and of charity. Written in the popular Hindi, not
in the literary tongue, they were deliberately addressed—like the
vernacular poetry of
Jacopone da
Todì and
Richard Rolle—to the
people rather than to the professionally religious class; and all
must be struck by the constant employment in them of imagery drawn
from the common life, the universal experience. It is by the
simplest metaphors, by constant appeals to needs, passions,
relations which all men understand—the bridegroom and bride, the
guru and disciple, the pilgrim, the farmer, the migrant bird—that
he drives home his intense conviction of the reality of the soul's
intercourse with the Transcendent. There are in his universe no
fences between the "natural" and "supernatural" worlds; everything
is a part of the creative Play of God, and therefore—even in its
humblest details—capable of revealing the Player's mind."
His poems resonate with praise for the true guru who reveals the
divine through direct experience, and denounced more usual ways of
attempting god-union such as chanting, austerities etc. His verses,
which being illiterate he never expressed in writing and were
spoken in vernacular Hindi, often began with some strongly worded
insult to get the attention of passers-by. Kabir has enjoyed a
revival of popularity over the past half century as arguably the
most acceptable and understandable of the Indian saints, with an
especial influence over spiritual traditions such as that of
Sant Mat and
Garib
Das,
Radha Soami.
Prem Rawat ('Maharaji') also refers frequently to
Kabir's songs and poems as the embodiment of deep wisdom.
(1)
kabīrā jab ham paidā hue
jaga hańse ham roye
aisī karanī kara calo
pachey hansi na hoye
( above phrase indicates towards the great analogy & deep
thinking of the sant Kabir. It says "Kabir when you were born
everyone was laughing only you were crying so always live in such a
way so that nobody will laugh on your deeds even after your death
in fact they remember them & regard you, how ever a few people
confuse it with kabīrā jab ham paidā huejaga hańse ham royeaisī
karanī kara caloham hańse jaga roye)
chadariyā jhinī re jhinī
he rāma nāma rasa bhinī
(2)
aṣṭa kamalā ka carkhā banāyā
pañca tattva kī pūnī
nava dasa māsa bunana ko lāge
mūrakha mailī kinhī
(3)
jaba morī chādara bana ghara āyā
rańga reja ko dinhī
aisā rańga rańgā rańgare ne
lālo lāla kar dinhī
(4)
cādara oḍha śańka mat kariyo
yeh do dina tumko dinhī
mūrakha loga bheda nahi jāne
din din mailī kinhī
(5)
dhruva prahlāda sudāmā ne oḍhi
śukadeva ne nirmala kinhī
dāsa kabīra ne aisī odhī
jyoń kī tyoń dhara dinhī
TRANSLATION
1) Poet Kabir Das says, “When I was born, the world smiled and I
cried. However, I will do such deeds that when I leave, I will be
the one smiling and the world will be the one crying.” This life is
like a very thin transparent shawl which should be drenched in the
holy name of Lord Rama, the Reservoir of Pleasure.
2) The eight lotuses is the spinning wheel using the five earthly
elements to make the chadar (the body). In nine or ten months, the
chadar is completed; however, the fools will destroy it.
3) When the chadar is completed, it is sent to the dyer -rang
rej-(the spiritual master) to color it. The dyer (the spiritual
master) colored it as such that it is all red (the color of
self-realization).
4) Do not have doubts or fears while wearing this chadar. It is
only given to you for two days and it is temporary too. The foolish
people do not understand the temporariness of this chadar, and they
day by day destroy it.
5) Great devotees such as Dhruva Maharaja, Prahlad Maharaja,
Sudama, and
Śuka have worn this chadar as
well as purified their chadars as well other chadars (souls). The
servant, Kabir Dasa, is attempting to wear this chadar as given to
him originally by his guru.
---Oha Param Purakh Devadidev, Bhagat Het Narasinh Bhev"The Eternal
Lord incarnated as Narasimha for the sake of the Devotee
(Prahlad)"
Religious
The story is told that on one particlar day of the year, anyone can
become a disciple by having a master speak the name of God over
him. It is common for those who live near the Ganges to take their
morning bath there in the sacred waters. The bhakti saint Ramananda
took his bath as he did every day, by arising before dawn. On this
special day, Ramananda awoke before dawn and found his customary
way down to the steps of the Ganges. As he was walking down the
steps to the waters, a little hand reached out in the predawn
morning and grabbed the saint's big toe.Ramananda taken by surprise
and he expressed his shock by calling out the name of God. Looking
down he saw in the early morning light the hand of the young Kabir.
After his bath in the early light he noticed that on the back of
the little one's hand was written in Arabic the name Kabir. He
adopted him as son and disciple and brought him back to his
ashrama, much to the disturbance of his Hindu students, some of
whom left in righteous protest.
It is said that what really made this meeting the most special is
that in this case it,was only after Kabir's enlightenment that
Ramananda, his teacher, became enlightened.
Not much is known about what sort of spiritual training Kabir may
have received. He did not become a sadhu or rununciate. Kabir never
abandoned worldly life, choosing instead to live a balanced life of
householder and mystic, tradesman and contemplative. Kabir was
married, had children, and lived the simple life of a weaver.
See also
References
- "http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/kabir.html,
http://literaryindia.com/Biographies/Biographic-Note/kabir.html,
http://www.sikhlionz.com/bhagatkabir.htm,
http://www.wisdomportal.com/Peace/Kabir-Peace.html
- Kabir, Linda Hess, Linda Beth Hess, Shukdev Singh, Śukadeva
Siṃha, The Bijak of Kabir (2002), Oxford University Press. pp.5
ISBN 0195148762
- A Social, Cultural and Economic History of India, Volume
II,(1974)Macmillan, page 90
Further reading
- An Introduction to Sri Guru Granth Sahib by Sarup Singh
Alag.Distributed Free.
- Songs of Kabir, tr. by Rabindranath
Tagore, 1985 ed., Forgotten Books. ISBN 1605066435.
- Songs of Kabir from the Adi Granth, tr. by Nirmal
Dass. SUNY Press, 1991. ISBN 0791405605.
- A Weaver Named Kabir: Selected Verses with a Detailed
Biographical and Historical Introduction, new ed., by
Charlotte Vaudeville, New York, 1998, Oxford U. Press. ISBN
0195639332.
- The Bijak of Kabir, by Linda Hess, Shukdeo Singh,
Sukadev Sinha, Oxford University Press, US, 2002. ISBN
0195148762.
- Kabir: Ecstatic Poems, by tr. by Robert Bly. Beacon
Press, 2004. ISBN 0807063843.
- Kabir: The Weaver's Songs, tr. by Vinay Dharwadker.
Penguin Books, 2005. ISBN 014302968.
- Kabir ke dohey all of Kabir's dohas -
document created by Anant Upadhyayula
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