Kabir is supposed to have lived during 15th century. He occupies a special place in the galaxy of the devotees due to his ideology advocating universal religion. Thus his teachings through his songs were above the boundaries of religion and hence he was denounced by both Hindus and Muslims as he remonstrated against the traditions of the Islam though he was brought up by muslim parents and he criticized equally the superstitions and the blind beliefs of the Hindus.
There are many legends regarding his life and it is difficult to say which were genuine and which were not but since a saint is recognized only through his words to humanity I will highlight his devotion and philosophy dealing briefly with the incidents of his life.
Kabir was a saint, mystic, preacher and above all a compassionate human being. He lived in Benaras through out his life and spent his last days in Maghar, the reason for his doing so is itself an interesting episode.
Kabir like all saints never left any account of his life and hence unlike Meera who was a historical figure, the life of Kabir is full of controversies. The great devotees think nothing of their individual identities and never wrote about themselves. This is true from the time of Valmiki. But with some we do have a biography written by others such as their followers or disciples as in the south but in the north it is rare mainly due to the saints themselves being simple folks.
According to one legend, a disciple of Ramanand, a well known vaishnavite preceptor, saw a light descending at Banaras. When he mentioned this to his guru, Ramanand said that it indicates the birth of a great soul.
Niru , a muslim weaver who was walking along a lake found an infant floating on the water and he said to his wife Nima that they could take him and bring him up. When she hesitated, not knowing the origin of the baby, it spoke telling her that he had come to guide the people towards salvation and wished that the couple will have the honour of bringing him up.
Though it is a fact that Kabir was brought up by a muslim couple. In the naming ceremony of the child a kazi was called to give him a name and when he opened the Koran he found four names including Kabir , all meaning ‘the great,’ describing God. The kazi thought it is not appropriate and opened another page but soon found that the four names were found in all the pages. Then the child spoke and said that he was not of human birth but born out of light.
When Kabir was young, he went to the Ganges were Ramanand was taking bath and pulled his toe. Ramanand was shocked and said ‘Ram Ram.’ Kabir was delighted that he had the manthra upadesa from a guru like Ramanand and became his disciple.
From his childhood Kabir used to sing songs and would repeat the ramanama all the time. He was denounced by muslims and hindus alike. Muslims called him a kafir, an unbeliever while the hindus thought he was polluting the ramanama. But Rama is not a personalised God for Kabir but stands for the infinite whom he called Rama due to the manthra instructed to him.
Kabir had to work at the loom in his youth when his foster father expired. He worked hard to weave the cloth everyday to make living while he was a boy and he used to go to the market to sell it. But half the money he earned he would distribute to the poor and give the other half to his mother.As he was a mystic since childhood he would go into meditation at times and would sit idle for hours. This affected the financial situation of the family and made his mother complain to him with no effect.
Kabir was married and led a householder’s life. His wife was named Loi and he had a son named Kamal and a daughter named Kamali. Loi was a dedicated wife but had a difficult time looking after the family with her unworldly husband. Many sadhus would come to their house and they would have discussions on spiritual matters and the loom would be idle for hours.
Loi was very beautiful. Once many sadhus came to their house and Loi went to the local grocer to borrow some provisions on credit. But the grocer who had an eye for Loi told her that he would give the provisions free provided that the could have the company of Loi for one day. She returned home without the groceries and on being asked told Kabir the reason. Then Kabir to whom the hospitalityof the sadhus was more important than anything else. Told her to accept the condition.
After feeding the sadhus and after they all left it became dark and rain was pouring. Then Kabir to keep their word to the grocer, took Loi on his shoulders and went to see the grocer. He opened the door and was shocked to seethat Kabir himself brought his wife to him and also was urprised to see that there was no sign of rain drops on them. Then he realized the greatness of Kabir and fell at their feet and asked forgiveness.
On another occasion some of the brahmins who wanted to disgrace Kabir due to their anger over his chanting of Ramanama sent word that all sadhus are going to be fed by Kabir. Numerous sadhus arrived at the the house of Kabir. But he was not perturbed and told Loi to prepare food with the scanty provisions they had. Miraculously the small amount of food she prepared was enough for all.
Kabir had a son and a daughter who were also his disciples along with his wife Loi. Thus it was a devoted family. Once Kamali, daughter of Kabir, was drawing water at a well and a young Brahmin asked her for water to drink. She gave him the water and he drank it. After that he asked her who she was and knowing that she was a daughter of a poor muslim weaver he got angry and scolded her for not having disclosed her caste before giving water and thus polluting his caste. She , not knowing what to do, took him to her father.
Kabir patiently heard the complaint of the Brahmin and said that the water in the well is not contaminated by the frogs and the fish and how could it be contaminated by the touch of a human being. Then he said that God has created all beings with the same five elements and the flesh and blood are made of same constituents. One reads the Vedas and becomes a pundit and another studies Koran and becomes a moulana. They are all like the different forms of the same clay differing only in name and form.
Thus the illiterate muslim weaver has spoken the profoundest upanishadic truth, namely‘yaThaa ekena mrthpindena sarvam mrnmayam vijnaatham syaath, vaachaarmbhaNam vikaaraH mrtthikethyeva sathyam,’ (Chand. Up. 6.1) meaning, just as all the things made of clay are different only in name and form but in reality it is mud only, so also the whole universe of sentient and insentient beings are different only in name and form and the only reality is Brahman.
This is the greatness of devotion, as Krishna says in the Gita, theshaam sathatahyukthaanaam bhajathaam preethpoorvakam dhadhaami budDhiyogam tham yena maam upayaanthithe (BG.10.10), meaning , “To those who worship Me with mind engrossed in Me with love, I give the intellectual comprehension by which they attain Me.” The Upanishad says, naayam aathmaa pravachanena labhyaH na meDhayaana bahunaa Sruthena; yam eva esha vrNuthe thena labhyaH thasya esha aathmaa vivrNthe tahnum svaam. The supreme reality is not known through discourse or by intellect or by the study of Vedas. To the one who longs
for it with all his heart the Self reveals itself. This we see in many saints who lacked formal education or the study of sastras.
It is said that the Brahmin youth was much impressed by the talk of Kabir and started frequenting his house and ended up by marrying Kamali, who was also a poet and wrote many poems with the signature, “thus says Kamali, daughter of Kabir.
But as with all the saints Kabir had to undergo his share of trials and tribulations. Sikkandar Lodi was ruling in Delhi at that time and he forcibly converted non-muslims to Muslim faith and many embraced Islam to avoid the heavy tax called Jisya which non-muslims had to pay. Lodi also destroyed many temples and in spite of all that Hinduism flourished, says the historians.
Those who were against Kabir complained to Lodi that he had flouted both the Hindu and Muslim rituals and spoke against the holy pilgrimage to Mecca and the fasting on Ramzan. Sikandhar Lodi believed them and summoned Kabir to his court. Even there, Kabir laughed at the holy men who stood before the ruler saying that those who stood before the mortal king instead of the court of King of kings, made him laugh. Sikandar Lodi was enraged, and accused Kabir of being an infidel but Kabir refused to apologise as he thought that it was not a sin to preach devotion to God who is one to all.
The king ordered him to be drowned in the river and he was bound by chains and thrown into the river. But after a while the chains broke loose and he was seen floating on the river. Then he was tied and placed on the path of an elephant which was goaded by its mahout to tread upon him. But the elephant refused to move. Kabir said that the Lord is present inside the elephant as well as in himself. Then he was put on fire but emerged without a blemish. This reminds one of the story of Prahlada and that wherever they are the saint devotees are protected by the Lord.
Then Lodi was ashamed to perceive that he had been persecuting a divine person and asked forgiveness. Kabir had no rancour towards him, saying that all are the leela of the Lord. Then the king offered him land and wealth which Kabir refused.
Though Kabir was living in Banares most of the time he seemed to have traveled extensively as is known by his poems. But his last days he spent in Magahar which was believed to be unholy because the one dying there would be born again as a donkey while if one dies in Banaras he is not born again. Kabir said that a hardened sinner even if he dies in Banaras will not be able to escape the result of his sins but a saint even if he dies in Magahar will attain mukthi.
Magahar was a cursed town and was sadly neglected. There was no water in the river Ami there which was dry always. But as soon as Kabir entered there, the river became full with water and by the manner of his death the town became free of its bad reputation.
One morning Kabir told his disciples not to disturb him and went inside his hut. Since he never came out even by midday, the disciples went inside only to see Kabir lying on the floor covered with white sheet with no sign of life. The desolated disciples wanted to do the last rites but there was a dispute as to whether he should be cremated in the manner of Hindus or buried by the Muslim custom. The two kings, one a hindu and the other a muslim, who were his disciples, entered into argument and when they opened the sheet that covered Kabir, there was no body inside but only a heap of flowers. Thus Kabir flouted the traditions even at his death.
.The philosophy of Kabir
Even though Ramananda was generally considered as the guru of Kabir, He never conformed to the traditional beliefs of his guru. Kabir was more of a philosopher than a devotee. He was against all superstitious beliefs of both Islam and Hinduism.
Kabir once related a story to show how people are made to believe anything. Once there was a washerman in a village who had a donkey which used to neigh whenever the conch sounded from the nearby temple. The washer man was convinced that the donkey must have been a saint in its previous birth. He named it Shankeshvar , meaning, the Lord of the conch.
After some time the donkey died. He went in to deep mourning and told every one who asked the reason that Shankesvarasvami had died. All people in the village started mourning , thinking that Shankesvarasvami was some great saint. The news reached the king and he also went into mourning, shaving his beard and moustache like the others. The queen did not like it and sent the chief minister to find out who Shankesvarasvami was. He came to the village and found out that it was a donkey. Kabir cited this as an example how people are prepared to believe any nonsense but when it comes to finding the truth through spirituality they reject the path not believing that it will lead them to eternal joy.
Kabir was an illiterate but the profound truths of his words contained all the teachings of the Vedas and sastras. He was a saint by birth and the knowledge came to him of its own accord. His language is that of a common man and contained frank and even harsh words to turn the attention of common man. His philosophy reflects the idea of Brahman of the Upanishads and also devotion to the Divine Master whom he called Ram but it is not the Hindu god. It is the qualified Brahman, may be equivalent to Naryana of Visishtadvaia becaseu in his poems he mentions the names Govinda , Vishnu and Narayana, all of which mean only the Ultimate reality.
Kabir had a great reverence to the role of a guru and he says that if all the land were turned into paper and all the seas in to ink and all the forests into pen even then the glory of a guru will be left unsaid. And further he said that if God and Guru were to appear in front one should only touch the feet of guru first since he alone showed God to us.
When he says ‘ kahatha kabiraa jo mukh raam naheen vo much Dhool bharee,’ he does not mean the deity Rama so also in the words bajorebhaiyaa raamgovindahari. These are the names of the one Absolute God. Nama itself is the nami for him. But at the same time mere chanting of the name is not what he meant. He says that if by mere repetition of ramanam the soul can be saved then by the mere utterance of the word sugar the mouth can be sweetened. He sang the ramanama because he was instructed by his guru of the name but the word stands for the Supreme self beyond the comprehension of mind and senses.
Thus he was the worshipper of sabdabrahman. To him the sabd or sound is the power of Supreme being and by going deep into it through devotion and contemplation one attains mukthi. He says ‘hari bolo hari bolo hari bolo bhai’ by which one can attain the Supreme is expressed as ‘kahatha kabira hariguna gaana gaavtha naachatha vaikunta jaanaa.’ But this is not the vaikunta northe name Hari denotes a particular form of God but vaikunta is in the real meaning of the term, the place where there is no impediment of any sort for the experience of absolute happiness, the bliss of Brahman. By saying ‘hari bolo,’ and ‘gaavatha naachatha,’ meaning ‘ say Hari and sing His name and dance has a deeper implication. It means getting aborbed in the name itself and forget oneself ewhich is expressed by singing and dancing. This is the way for salvation as easy as one proceeds on a path singing and dancing being thus unaware of the hardships of travel. Some say Kabir is a vaishnavite and he is one if that signifies the vaishnava described by Narsi Mehtha in his song ‘vaishnava jan tho thene kahiye,’ as one who is endowed with mercy, humility, non violence and all the virtues mentioned as being the best flowers to worship the Lord. Others say he is a mystic and he is one as he believed in the union of the spirit with the Absolute and possessed mystic powers as he was a saint by birth, and his actions or words are not understood by the world. He was a great bhaktha in as much as he advocates love as the means of attaining the Lord. Thus Kabir became a seer adored by all.
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