Bhagat Kabir Ji
"From the One Light, the entire universe welled up. So who is good, and who is bad?"
Bhagat Kabir Ji was a revolutionary
saint-poet of the Bhakti Movement.
He emphasized the equality and
fraternity of
all mankind. Once Bhagat Kabir Ji
was going to sell cloth he had
made himself. He met some Sadhus
(a renunciate
spiritual devotee) on the way whom
he gave the entire cloth free of
cost.
Saint Kabir Das (kabir, Arabic for
"great", dasa, Sanskrit
for "slave" or "servant"),
is widely acknowledged as one of
the great personality of the
Bhakti movement in North India. He
was as is widely
acknowledged born in Year 1398
A.D.(71 years before Guru Nanak).
Kabirpanthis (followers of Kabir)
say that he lived
upto the age of 120 years and give
date of his death as 1518, but
relying on the research of Hazari
Prasad Trivedi,
a British Scholar Charlotte
Vaudenville is inclined to lend
credence to these dates and has
proven that 1448 is
probably the correct date of Saint
Kabir's demise.
He is one of
the medieval Indian saints of
Bhakti and Sufi movement whose
compositions figure in
Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth
Sahib. From among all of them,
Kabir's contribution is the
largest, 227 Padas in 17
ragas and 237 shlokas. Under each
raga or musical mode marking a
section of the Holy Book, Kabir's
hymns appear at
the head of Bhagat Bani, a generic
name for the works of contributors
other than the Gurus. The presence
of a
substantial amount of Kabir's
verse in the Sikh Scripture and
chronologically he being the
predecessor of Guru
Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith,
led some Western scholars to
describe him as the forerunner of
Sikhism. Some have
even called him the preceptor of
Guru Nanak There is, however,
ample evidence to prove that Guru
Nanak and Kabir had
ever met their periods of time in
fact do not coincide. Kabir's
compositions do figure in what are
known as Goindval
Pothis, anthologies of the hymns
of the Gurus along with those of
some of the Bhaktas prepared in
the time of Guru
AmarDas, Nanak III. They were
inclucled in the Guru Granth Sahib
as well But this happened much
later when Guru
Arjan, fifth in spiritual line
from the Founder, compiled the
Holy Book Besides his own works
and those of his four
predecessors, he entered in it
hymns of some saints and mystics,
both Hindu and Muslim, Kabir was
one of them.
Kabir lived in the fifteenth Century after Christ, which was a time of great political upheaval in India. As is true of many contemporary religious teachers, very little reliable information concerning Kabir's life is available, though there is no dearth of legend gathering around him. Kabir's life was centred around Kashi, also called Banaras (Varanasi) Legend has it that he was actually the son of a Brahmin widow who abandoned him and that he was found by a Muslim weaver named Niru, who adopted the boy and taught him the weaver's trade. It is not clear whether he ever married, but tradition gives him a wife named Loi and two children. His caste was that of Julaha and from his sayings his caste's heriditary occupation of weaving. On the basis of modern research, it seems probable that Kabir belonged to a family of non-celibate yogis converted, not long before and to a considerable degree superficially to Islam. From the writings of Kabir it seems that his knowledge of Islam was slight, rather in his poetical utterances (Bani) a wealth of Hathayoga terminology and a thought structure which bears obvious resemblance to Nath Yogis. Nath Yogis in addition to the yogic conception that all truth is experimental, i.e. to be realized within the body with the aid of psycho-physical practices, concentration, control of breathing and thus making the body incorruptible and the yogis immortal.
Bhakti movement was started by hindu saints while Sufi mysticism by Muslim saints in medieval India (1200-1700). Kabir immensely contributed to the Bhakti Movement and is considered a pioneer of Bhakti along with Ravidas, Farid, and Namdev. His concept of love as a path of suffering may possibly indicate, in some measure, a debt to the Sufis. These and other elements from Nath tradition, bhakti and sufism, kabir combined with his own mystical nature and produced synthesis which is the distinctive religion of Kabir. Tradition tells us that Swami Ramanand was his Guru (a teacher).
In fifteenth century, Benaras was the seat of Brahmin orthodoxy and their learning center. Brahmins had strong hold on all the spheres of life in this city. Thus Kabir belonging to a low caste of Julaha had to go through immense tough time of preaching his idealogy. Kabir and his followers would gather at one place in the city and meditate. Brahmins ridiculed him for preaching to prostitutes and other low castes. Kabir satirically denounced Brahmins and thus won hearts of people around him. There is no doubt that single most famous important person from the city of Benaras today is none other than Saint Kabir.
Kabir through his couplets not only reformed the mindset of common villagers and low caste people but give them self confidence to question Brahmins. It was 100 years after him that Tulsidas broke the hegemony of Brahmins by writing Ram Charitra Manas, a poem of Ramayana at Benaras which went against the tradition of Brahmins. Kabir was in fact first person to go against Brahmins and be so successfull. Benaras was devasted by an attack by a Muslim invader Tamur Lang or "Tamur the lame" during his time. Kabir also denounced mullahs and their rituals of bowing towards kaba five times a day. Because of open condemnation of established and popular religoins, Kabir became an object of the wrath of both Hindus and Muslims in and around Benaras. Kabir travelled in and around Benaras to preach his beliefs.
Kabir believed in sell-surrender and God's bhakti. The Kabirpanthis follow a lite of singing the praises of God, prayers and a simple and pure life of devotion. Kabir recommends ceaseless singing of God's praises. He virtually suggests withdrawal from the world. He is against al1 ritualistic and ascetic methods as means to salvation. It is true that Kabir refers to some yogic terms in describing the meditational and mystic methods of the yogis. But, there is no ground to suggest that he himself recommends the yogic path. In fact, far from recommending yoga, he is quite strong in condemning ascetic or yogic methods, and says that yogis, in their meditations, become prey to maya. The point will, however be considered further while comparing Radical bhakti with Nathism.
The moral tone is quite strong in Kabir's hymns. "Kabir deck thyself with garments of love. Love them is given honour whose body and soul speak the truth." "The ruby of goodness is greater than all thc mines of rubies, all the wealth of three worlds resides in the goodness of heart. When thc wealth of contentment is won, all other wealth is as dust." "Where there is mercy, there is strength, where there is forgivenesss there is He." "The man who is kind and practises righteousness, who remains passive in the aftairs of the world, who considers creatures of the world as his own self, he attains the immortal Being; the true God is ever with him. Kabir suggests inward worship and remembrance of God. For him, true worship is only inwards. Put on the rosary inward. By counting beads, the world will be full of light. He clearly suggests moral discrimination betwecn good and bad deeds. What can the helpless road do, when the traveller does not walk understandingly. "What can one do, if, with lamp in hand, one falls in the well." "Or goes astray with open eyes. Discern ye now between good and evil."
It is not surprising that Kabir's satire was brought to bear not simply on the vices and weaknesses of men but reached through and beyond them to the very system themselves. It was the authority of Vedas and Quran that more then the authority of Brahmin or Qazi which Kabir attacked. He rebelled against the pretension of resolving by the means of books or by way of authority, the mystery of human conditions and the problem of liberation (Moksha). He spent his last 40 days living in a place where it was believed that if you die you will born as a Donkey in next life.
Kabir is a firm advocate of ahimsa. His doctrine extends even to the nondestruction of flowers. " The life of the living you strike dead and you say your slaughter makes it dedicated. It is blood haunting you and those who taught you." "They fast all day, and at night they slaughter the cow; here murder, there devotion; how can this please God? O' Kazi, by whose order doth thou use thy knife." "When you declare the sacrifice of an animal as your religion, what else is sin. If you regard yourself a saint, whom will you call a butcher ?" "The goat eats grass and is skinned, what will happen to those who eat (goat's) meat? "Do not kill poor jiva, murder will not be forgiven even if you hear a million Puranas. Among the fifty commandments laid down for the followers of Kabir, vegetarianism is one of them. For Kabir, moral life involves adherence to ahimsa.
Kabir composed no systematic treatise, rather his work consists of many short didactic poems, often expressed in terse vigorous language in the form of Padas, Dohas, and Ramainis (forms of poetry in Indian languages). Besides his work recorded in 1604 A.D. in Guru Granth Sahib by Guru Arjan Dev, Nanak V, and preserved inviolate since, two other collections exist - Kabir Granthavali, and Bijak. In his poems, he was quick to tell the illustrations of moral and spiritual truth in the incidents of everyday life , and many of his similes and metaphors are very striking.
Bhagat
Kabir ji is ranked 5th as regards
the volume of Bani contributed to
SGGS ji, and from the 15 bhagats,
he contributed
the maximum number of hymns. His
total contribution is 541 hymns
set to 18 different musical
measures (Ragas). Kabir
has been accepted as the most
revolutionary of all the saints of
the Bhagati movement. He was the
prominent disciple
of Ramanand, and din't hesitate to
strike blows at futile religious
observances & formalism.
Ramanand once
advised him to get up early in the
morning & remember the Lord.
This advice impressed him so much
that he
propogated this throughout is
life, awakening masses from their
daily slumber of ignorance and
uniting them with the
Lord.
The Brahmin lobby claim Kabir was
born in Banaras to a Brahmin &
was later brought up by a weaver
couple-Ali
Neeru and Neema- of Uttar Pradesh,
who found the baby abandoned on
the bank of Lahar Talan in the
forest. This story
seems to have been conocted by
Pandits who often generally claim
that scholars are born in their
so-called high
caste only. SGGS ji does not
support these claims. SGGS ji on
Panna 67, 328, 970 and 1364 amply
clarify and leave no
doubt whatsoever whom Kabir was.
As he came of age, he was married to a God-fearing maiden named Loi. She was the daughter of Neti, a noble-hearted weaver. Kabir and Loi had one son; Kamala and one daughter; Kamali. Kabir was attracted to Hinduism in his younger days. His couplets and slokas impress upon man to become a good human being and treat all other as his equal. They are very effective in leading a person on the path of righteousness. According to Kabir, all human beings are Divine in essence. Thus, they are all equal. None of them is either good or bad. The same Divine spirit is manifested in all of them, and all that happens here is under His will.
Whoever dies, let him die such a
death, that he does not have to
die again. ||1||
Besides loving devotion which is
the main and dominant theme of
Kabir's Bani as included in SGGS
ji, his aim was to
free a man from the evil
tendencies of ego, deceit, etc.
based as they are on superstitions
and futility. He
criticises casteism, idolatary and
empty ritualism. He had an undying
urge to transform a person into a
being who is
noble and pious spiritually,
socially and morally. To achieve
his mission, Kabir openly
denounced the false
superstitions, rituals and
practtices, in all religions, that
had no relevance with the
upliftment of human soul
with the help of convincing
examples. In a hymn included at
Aang 324 of SGGS ji, he ridicules
the idea that mundan
(ritual shaving off a Hindu
child's hair) can lead to
God-realisation. He says that had
it been so, the sheep would
have attained liberation several
times in its life, since it
undergoes the same ritual so
often. Similiarly, he
counteracts the Brahmin's boast of
high caste.
If you are indeed a
Brahmin, by thy birth from a
Brahmin mother,
then why didn't you come by
some other way? ||2||
With the help of another
example, he refused to accept
the superior status of
Brahmins:
How is it that you are a
Brahmin, and I am of a low
social status?
How is it that I am formed of
blood, and you are made of
milk? ||3||
Says Kabeer, one who
contemplates God,
is said to be a Brahmin among
us. ||4||7||
From this simple, but vital
example, we learn that
God-realisation requires 3
constituents:
· Guru
· Discarding of egotistical
beastlty temperament of an
elephant
· Inculcating the humility of
an ant
Bhagat Kabir has been equally straightforward while criticising some rtuals of the Muslims. In a hymn he states; If a Muslim becomes deserving of heaven because of the sunnat (circumcision): what about their women folk?
According to a reference in S.L. Sondhi's book, Sant Kabir, Kabir relates an anecdote to make us aware of the purity of the water of the Ganges. Considering the Brahmin's claim that the water of the Ganga washes off all sins, Kabir hands over a bowl of such water to the Brahmins, but they refuse on the excuse that the bowl had become impure through the touch of a low caste man like Kabir. On this, Kabir satirises the Brahmins and says that if the water of the Ganga fails to keep the bowl pure, how can it purify our souls from all evils? The Brahmins have no answer to it.
Kabir ji was a dauntless mouthpiece of truth. His straight forwardness and truthful frankness resulted in both the Hindu Pandits & Muslim Quazis (priests of both religions) holding grudges against him. Consequently at the time when Sikander Lodhi arrived in his town, Kabir had to suffer many a humliation at his hands because of the instigations given to him against Kabir, by the heads of both sects. But Kabir did not waiver, and bore all tortures and humiliations with calmness, accepting all these as His will. However, Kabir remained firm in his views. He has referred to this incident in his hymn included in the Scripture under Gaund measure.
Many attempts were made to torture Kabir to the point of submisson, but Kabir ji was headstrong and took these tortures as His will. Ultimately, Sikander Lodhi was impressed by his personality, and out of respect to his wisdom and old age, acquitted him. Referring to Kabir's love for the Divine, deep faith and reverence for Him, Bhai Gurdas had said: "Brother! There is no difference between Lord Rama & Kabir (who has a oneness with Him, though his bodily vesture gives him a separate entity)".
The followers of Kabir have come to be known as Kabir panthis. They have their principle centre at Kashi. Two of his disciples, Dharam Das and Surat Gopal have completed his compositions under the title 'Kabir Bijak'. However, 541 slokas of Kabir that find a place in SGGS ji are considered important because of their genuineness. Since the entire text of the Scripture has ever been inviolable, the text of Kabir's hymns therein has also remained intact and unaltered.
Kabir ever strived to cultivate in mankind the feelings of love, compassion and co-operation with others. Like many other great beings, he stressed the importance of a householder's life because this teaches mankind to live together and unites man intimately. Therefore, he has no hesitation in submitting to the Lord the 'memorandum of demands' for a happy household life. i
Your humble servant shall perform
Your devotional worship service
with love. ||3||
He then goes on to say that he
doesn't ask for these out of
greed, rather these are the bare
essentials of his life
and none can do without them.
Through this hymn, Kabir ji has
beautifully shown us the precept
of 'hand on job and
heart in God'.
Giani Gian Singh, Sikh chronicler, writes that Kabir ji & Guru Nanak Dev ji met in 1506AD in village Pusa; this may have occurred during the latter years of his life, but there is no apparent proof for this.
The hymns composed by
Kabir ji, even during the last
years of his life when he was well
over 100 years
old, reflect his revolutionary
spirit. According to him, the
place where God's name is recited
is pious, and there
is no other basis of piety. Before
discarding his bodily vesture,
Kabir ji shifted his residence to
Maghar. At the
time, people believed that he who
dies at Maghar suffer hell, and
those that die in Kashi, enter
heaven. Kabir ji
braved this revolutionary and
courageous deed to prove he
futility of such notions. Guru
Amar Das ji has strongly
supported Kabir ji's stand in a
hymn on Aang 491 of SGGS ji,
making it clear that visiting
pilgrimages or breathing
our last in any certain place
carries no meaning as God resides
in the mind.