Kabir
Whenever I read and recite the poems of Kabir I feel a sensational effect on my mind & soul. He reveals innermost beauty of the creation and creator which is hidden under seven beautiful curtains. When he says –
Laali mere laal ki jit dekho tit laal
Laali dekhan main gayee main bhi ho gayi laal
(Colour of my beloved is spread all over the sight, when I tried to observe it, too get coloured in the same colour)
Listening to this, you will sink in the place where you are sitting, and you will flow to some unknown destination where you will find inexplicable and unexplored beauties. And no doubt when you’ll return back, you too have become a beautiful soul.
Kabir as some historian say was born in 1398 & some say 1440 is the actual year of his birth. The same confusions are about the day on which he left for his final abode.
Some people say it was in 1495 and some say 1518 and etceteras. He was borne in a small place called Maghar near Banaras. The legend had it that he was found in among water lilies in a small stream the person called Neeru took the child with himself . He became Kabir’s father and his wife nima became her mother. Neeru and Nima was poor weaver belonging to a modest sub caste of Muslim. They took the child to nearby mosque where a maulana gave the name – Kabir to the child which meant “the great”. Some overenthusiastic people tell other stories about the circumstances related to his birth & death but we as simple human (and nothing else) can discard all the fanatic stories about Kabir because Kabir himself discarded anything fantasy about his life, his upbringing his education, his death. He says –
Masi kagad, chhuo kalam gahi nahin haath
(I’ve never touched pen & paper)
Main kahta hoon aankhon dekhi
tu kahta hai kagad ki lekhi
(I say what I feel and observe & you say what you read in books.)
Simple, he was a purist. He was illiterate but observed, meditated got everything what other big scholars could not get.
But still people make stories about him which are not compatible with his teachings. Some people say that Kabir was a son of an unwedded brahman woman. She left him in a pond due to fear of society. Some say he was incarnation of Prahlad or any other god living in the heaven. Sadly Kabir never boasted anything divine about himself because he practiced the unity & harmony among humans which he professed too. He was a simple human being who developed himself into a beautiful soul.
Slowly and slowly he grew older with the teachings he got from his parent and guardians. He started helping in family business of weaving clothes. He was industrious person so he would get lost in his work too. In later years, he exchanged glances with his vocation too. He created verses which are reminiscent of his love with his occupation & so he says –
Jheeni jheeni beeni chadariya
So chdar nar muni odhin
Odh ke maili keeni chadariya
Das Kabir jatan se odhin
Jyon ke tyon dhar dini chadariya
(The blanket has been woven with ultra delicacy & softness. This blanket was used by sage & priest but they made it dirty. The poor Kabir also used the same blanket he kept it as it was given to him.)
One can imagine how an illiterate weaver was getting lessons of spiritualism through the threads of blanket. Kabir was reckless, insincere young man. He would roam here & there to search nothing. One day he met a sage called Ramanand. He was master of ancient Indian philosophy. He was said to be one who prophesied about vishisht adwaitwad – an off shoot of adwaitwad. He gave all his knowledge to Kabir. Kabir was a village folk brought up in an environment of traditions & cultures of north Indian village. What he leant from Rarnanad and from his environment was mixed up with spices brought by Muslim Sufis who had already spread all over north India. The delicacy Kabir prepared was not only delicious but rare too. It was easily digestible for all the men & women folks living in his vicinity. He used Sufi concept & words like – khaliq, dozakh, bahisht, Muhammad, peer, qalander, mast, sharab as well as local traditional concepts like – bhahiya, dulha, barat, shehnai, birahni, maya, sawan, barat, kailash, brahma, and gave his first and foremost message that love is the most important work & goal of life for all the human beings –
Pothi padhi padhi jab mue pandit bhaya na koi
Dhai akhar prem ka padhe so pandit hoyee
(The whole world is reading heavy books but even a single person could not become a sage. But the one who earns the small word of love become the master instantaneously.)
He professed that you acquire all the knowledge of this world or you learn the lesson of love, both the things are equal. He must have written this magnificent couplet after pondering & contemplating over the beauties of this world for many long years.
Ramanand taught him about brahman, alaukik prem, the relation between god & his creator. Kabir learnt tasawwuf & ideas of ishq from Sufis, the only difference was that in Sufism the god the beloved is a beautiful woman who attract humans with her various naaz – adea while in kabir’s philosophy of love – god is lover and human soul is the woman who is weeping and writhing in agony of separation.
Sawani chot birah ki sab tan jar jar hoi
Maranhara janihai ki jinhi laagi soi
(The ofseperation is so severe that whole body gets dilapidated two persons only can understand the intensity of the agony the one who has got the pain and the one who has delivered the pain)
The day when she will meet with her beloved, all the impurity of soul will be wiped out in the freshness of meeting—
Daag sab chhutihai jab saaheb milihi jayen.
(All the blots will be removed when my beloved will meet me)
This sounds something which has a sense of finality also. When you have suffered a lot in your life as you suffer in love, you will be honoured to get peace while all of your sufferings are exchanged with supreme happiness as it happens when you meet with your beloved. This is the final stage after that nothing is needed even sense of need disappears. The demarcation between life & death, sleep & awakening, sorrow and merry fades out.
He believed in no shape &description of god. He felt sensitivity and asked others to sense it. He did not prophecies about god’s immense power and criticized all the rites & rituals which dilute the relation between god & his creation. His remarkable criticisms were like hammers on the religious bigotry of his time and are still haunting and reminding us with full measure in our time. He says—
Sadhu dekho jag baurana
Sanchi kaho to maran dhawe
Jhoote jag patiyana
Bahute dekhi nemi dharmi
Praat kare asnana
Atam chari pashan puje
Thotha unka gyana.
Bahute dekhe peer auliya
Parhe kitab kurana.
Kare mureed batlawe kabar
Unhun khuda na jaana.
Kahe Kabir sun bhai sadhu,
Dono mein kou na dewana.
(O gentleman, see the world has got mad, I say truth but they run to beat me and believe the fake. I have seen a lot of religious people who follow the strict routine, bath early in the morning but leaving their soul worship a stone.
I have seen a lot of Muslim leaders who read Quran & preach to worship the grave.
O gentleman none of them is true lover of god)
This kind of poetry drew downtrodden people in masses towards Kabir. But he also invited problems for himself from the side of rulers of the time. He was beaten, defamed, thrown out of sight but he remained calm & cool. By the passing of time his teaching spread all over the north India and it became virtually impossible for the establishment to stop people to visit Kabir. He raised serious philosophical questions among his people.
Kabira khara bazaar mein, liye lakuti haath
Jo ghar jaare aapne chale mere saath
(Kabir is ready to start his journey and calls people to come with him but only those people will come who have already burnt their houses)
He asked truth seekers to come and fellow the path of truth. But before that you have to burn all the knowledge you have acquired, become truth will be very ruthless in piercing your knowledge bank.
The basic idea is that you have to reform yourself; you have to pick & throw out your inner sins like ego, sexual aberrations, greed, emotional weakness etc. then only a pure love erupts & resides inside you. He says –
Prem na kheto upje, prem na haat bikay
Raja parja jehi ruche, sir ko de so le jaye
(Love is not produced in field, nor is it sold in market whether he is king or common, one who gives his head can take love with him)
Or,
Tera jaan, ek Aandh hai koi
kaam krodh aru lobh vivarjit, haripad chinhai soi.
(The person who sheds down, anger, greed, lust, will walk on the path of god)
And Kabir became more & more popular became his poetry do not asked people to practice hard & fast rules of religion but to make yourself pure and simple thus achieve the goal of life. The cleansing of inner impurity is more important than offering prayers in mosque & pilgrimage to kailash or ka’ba. He says—
Mala pherat jag bhega phira na manka pher
Karka manka dari de manka manka pher
(Counting the beads of rosary do not wipes impurity in mind, leave the rosary of hand and take the rosary of mind)
On other occasion, he says -
Whenever I read and recite the poems of Kabir I feel a sensational effect on my mind & soul. He reveals innermost beauty of the creation and creator which is hidden under seven beautiful curtains. When he says –
Laali mere laal ki jit dekho tit laal
Laali dekhan main gayee main bhi ho gayi laal
(Colour of my beloved is spread all over the sight, when I tried to observe it, too get coloured in the same colour)
Listening to this, you will sink in the place where you are sitting, and you will flow to some unknown destination where you will find inexplicable and unexplored beauties. And no doubt when you’ll return back, you too have become a beautiful soul.
Kabir as some historian say was born in 1398 & some say 1440 is the actual year of his birth. The same confusions are about the day on which he left for his final abode.
Some people say it was in 1495 and some say 1518 and etceteras. He was borne in a small place called Maghar near Banaras. The legend had it that he was found in among water lilies in a small stream the person called Neeru took the child with himself . He became Kabir’s father and his wife nima became her mother. Neeru and Nima was poor weaver belonging to a modest sub caste of Muslim. They took the child to nearby mosque where a maulana gave the name – Kabir to the child which meant “the great”. Some overenthusiastic people tell other stories about the circumstances related to his birth & death but we as simple human (and nothing else) can discard all the fanatic stories about Kabir because Kabir himself discarded anything fantasy about his life, his upbringing his education, his death. He says –
Masi kagad, chhuo kalam gahi nahin haath
(I’ve never touched pen & paper)
Main kahta hoon aankhon dekhi
tu kahta hai kagad ki lekhi
(I say what I feel and observe & you say what you read in books.)
Simple, he was a purist. He was illiterate but observed, meditated got everything what other big scholars could not get.
But still people make stories about him which are not compatible with his teachings. Some people say that Kabir was a son of an unwedded brahman woman. She left him in a pond due to fear of society. Some say he was incarnation of Prahlad or any other god living in the heaven. Sadly Kabir never boasted anything divine about himself because he practiced the unity & harmony among humans which he professed too. He was a simple human being who developed himself into a beautiful soul.
Slowly and slowly he grew older with the teachings he got from his parent and guardians. He started helping in family business of weaving clothes. He was industrious person so he would get lost in his work too. In later years, he exchanged glances with his vocation too. He created verses which are reminiscent of his love with his occupation & so he says –
Jheeni jheeni beeni chadariya
So chdar nar muni odhin
Odh ke maili keeni chadariya
Das Kabir jatan se odhin
Jyon ke tyon dhar dini chadariya
(The blanket has been woven with ultra delicacy & softness. This blanket was used by sage & priest but they made it dirty. The poor Kabir also used the same blanket he kept it as it was given to him.)
One can imagine how an illiterate weaver was getting lessons of spiritualism through the threads of blanket. Kabir was reckless, insincere young man. He would roam here & there to search nothing. One day he met a sage called Ramanand. He was master of ancient Indian philosophy. He was said to be one who prophesied about vishisht adwaitwad – an off shoot of adwaitwad. He gave all his knowledge to Kabir. Kabir was a village folk brought up in an environment of traditions & cultures of north Indian village. What he leant from Rarnanad and from his environment was mixed up with spices brought by Muslim Sufis who had already spread all over north India. The delicacy Kabir prepared was not only delicious but rare too. It was easily digestible for all the men & women folks living in his vicinity. He used Sufi concept & words like – khaliq, dozakh, bahisht, Muhammad, peer, qalander, mast, sharab as well as local traditional concepts like – bhahiya, dulha, barat, shehnai, birahni, maya, sawan, barat, kailash, brahma, and gave his first and foremost message that love is the most important work & goal of life for all the human beings –
Pothi padhi padhi jab mue pandit bhaya na koi
Dhai akhar prem ka padhe so pandit hoyee
(The whole world is reading heavy books but even a single person could not become a sage. But the one who earns the small word of love become the master instantaneously.)
He professed that you acquire all the knowledge of this world or you learn the lesson of love, both the things are equal. He must have written this magnificent couplet after pondering & contemplating over the beauties of this world for many long years.
Ramanand taught him about brahman, alaukik prem, the relation between god & his creator. Kabir learnt tasawwuf & ideas of ishq from Sufis, the only difference was that in Sufism the god the beloved is a beautiful woman who attract humans with her various naaz – adea while in kabir’s philosophy of love – god is lover and human soul is the woman who is weeping and writhing in agony of separation.
Sawani chot birah ki sab tan jar jar hoi
Maranhara janihai ki jinhi laagi soi
(The ofseperation is so severe that whole body gets dilapidated two persons only can understand the intensity of the agony the one who has got the pain and the one who has delivered the pain)
The day when she will meet with her beloved, all the impurity of soul will be wiped out in the freshness of meeting—
Daag sab chhutihai jab saaheb milihi jayen.
(All the blots will be removed when my beloved will meet me)
This sounds something which has a sense of finality also. When you have suffered a lot in your life as you suffer in love, you will be honoured to get peace while all of your sufferings are exchanged with supreme happiness as it happens when you meet with your beloved. This is the final stage after that nothing is needed even sense of need disappears. The demarcation between life & death, sleep & awakening, sorrow and merry fades out.
He believed in no shape &description of god. He felt sensitivity and asked others to sense it. He did not prophecies about god’s immense power and criticized all the rites & rituals which dilute the relation between god & his creation. His remarkable criticisms were like hammers on the religious bigotry of his time and are still haunting and reminding us with full measure in our time. He says—
Sadhu dekho jag baurana
Sanchi kaho to maran dhawe
Jhoote jag patiyana
Bahute dekhi nemi dharmi
Praat kare asnana
Atam chari pashan puje
Thotha unka gyana.
Bahute dekhe peer auliya
Parhe kitab kurana.
Kare mureed batlawe kabar
Unhun khuda na jaana.
Kahe Kabir sun bhai sadhu,
Dono mein kou na dewana.
(O gentleman, see the world has got mad, I say truth but they run to beat me and believe the fake. I have seen a lot of religious people who follow the strict routine, bath early in the morning but leaving their soul worship a stone.
I have seen a lot of Muslim leaders who read Quran & preach to worship the grave.
O gentleman none of them is true lover of god)
This kind of poetry drew downtrodden people in masses towards Kabir. But he also invited problems for himself from the side of rulers of the time. He was beaten, defamed, thrown out of sight but he remained calm & cool. By the passing of time his teaching spread all over the north India and it became virtually impossible for the establishment to stop people to visit Kabir. He raised serious philosophical questions among his people.
Kabira khara bazaar mein, liye lakuti haath
Jo ghar jaare aapne chale mere saath
(Kabir is ready to start his journey and calls people to come with him but only those people will come who have already burnt their houses)
He asked truth seekers to come and fellow the path of truth. But before that you have to burn all the knowledge you have acquired, become truth will be very ruthless in piercing your knowledge bank.
The basic idea is that you have to reform yourself; you have to pick & throw out your inner sins like ego, sexual aberrations, greed, emotional weakness etc. then only a pure love erupts & resides inside you. He says –
Prem na kheto upje, prem na haat bikay
Raja parja jehi ruche, sir ko de so le jaye
(Love is not produced in field, nor is it sold in market whether he is king or common, one who gives his head can take love with him)
Or,
Tera jaan, ek Aandh hai koi
kaam krodh aru lobh vivarjit, haripad chinhai soi.
(The person who sheds down, anger, greed, lust, will walk on the path of god)
And Kabir became more & more popular became his poetry do not asked people to practice hard & fast rules of religion but to make yourself pure and simple thus achieve the goal of life. The cleansing of inner impurity is more important than offering prayers in mosque & pilgrimage to kailash or ka’ba. He says—
Mala pherat jag bhega phira na manka pher
Karka manka dari de manka manka pher
(Counting the beads of rosary do not wipes impurity in mind, leave the rosary of hand and take the rosary of mind)
On other occasion, he says -
Na main dewal na main Masjid
na main ka’be kailas mein
dhoondhi hauin to turthi mili haun
palbhar ki talas mein
(I do not reside in temples nor in mosque, neither I live in ka’aba nor in kailash. if you have will to search will you get me in seconds)
His popularity was not only wide but deep too. The parameter of depth is that even today village folks in north India sing his couplets with sweet voice. You’ll ask them what you are singing they will say its nirgun or chaupai. They know what are sabad sakhi, ramaini but perhaps they do not know who had composed them because these poems are travelling for seven hundred years only through heart to heart communication. Kabir’s poetry has become poetry of masses. Another parameter can be sighted that Kabir is the poet whose poem you’ll find in the Hindi syllabi of Std One to M.A.; he has said something which is understandable to everybody. A child can learn & recite –
Aisi bani boliye man ka appa khoye
Auron ko seetal kare aaphoon seetal hoye
(Talk such language which wipes disappointment from heart. Others get peace & you too get peace)
Scholars can read & discuss –
Kheh bhaya to kya bhaaya, udi udi lago ang
Harijan aisa chahiye jyun pani sabrang
(Even if you become so modest like dirt of a road, it files & makes people’s cloth dirty so a noble man should become like water which has no colour of its own)
Kabir died in 1495 (no definite) in Maghar. He lived whole of his life in Banaras but when his last time came he migrated again to his birth place – maghar; only to show his people that dying in kashi is no divine. If you have done good in life you’ll get moksha anyhow whether you die on bed of roses or on bed of spears. Even after his death people started quarreling with each other for the last rituals of Kabir.
His life is also a teaching which at the same time talks about melancholy tone and merry carols both. He for whole of his life by setting examples taught people about noble life. It pained him when he saw society is not listening to his words and therefore he says –
Sukhiya sab sansar hai khaye aur soye
Dhukhiya das Kabir hai jaage aur roye
It seemed to me that he is asking the God to give him all the pains which are due to those ignorant people whom he was showing light. Anybody like me can’t forget Kabir once he meet him in a moonlit night.
MILIND
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