KABIR
Kabir was born in 1440 A.D. The probable date of his death is 1519 A.D. as mentioned in Kabir Ka Santi. Kabir died at Maghar near Gorakhpur. He was found lying as a child in the take called Lahar Talao near Kashi on a leaf of lotus. Here he was found by niru, a childless Mohammedan weaver who was going with his wife Nima to attend a function in a neighboring village. They took compassion on the forsaken baby. They took him to their home and there they brought him up as their own child. A Kazi was called in to give the child a name. The Kazi told Niru that the child was a demon and should be killed immediately. A miracle happened. The knife was plunged into the heart of the child. No drop of blood came out. Kabir uttered a verse, which made them understand that he was not ordinary flesh and blood. Then the name ‘Kabir’ was given to the child. The word ‘Kabir’ means ‘great’ in the Arabic language.
Kabir seems to have been of Hindu parentage, though adopted and brought up as a Mohammedan. It is said that he was born of a Brahmin girl-widow, who, to hide her shame, left the child in the lake. But in a stanza, Kabir denies his own conception in a womb. He says that he was not born nor did he dwell in a womb (vide page 122, Vol. VI, of Macauliff’s Sikh Religion). Kabir grew up without food. His adopted parents became very anxious about him. Then he began to drink the milk of a calf that yielded milk daily in a miraculous manner.
The life of Kabir is shrouded in mystery. We know nothing of his early training and career. What has been discovered in the way of his biographical details is very little Beyond the facts that he was a weaver, born of poverty-stricken parents, that he lived at Kashi during the reign of Sikander Lodi, that he was a disciple of the great religious reformer Ramananda, and that he himself was the Guru of a number of distinguished disciples, we know positively nothing about Kabir.
From his early boyhood, Kabir was very much religiously inclined. He was of a reflective disposition. He had very often his mystic moods. Even in his childhood he engaged himself in discussions about god with Sadhus. He received and served Sadhus and Sannyasins with intense devotion and faith. Though his foster-father got him married, Kabir was not attached to home and family. He used to roam about the holy city of Kashi. He earned his livelihood from the loom.
He was loved by Hindus and Muslims alike. He was not of one religion or of one nation. He was the prophet of universal brotherhood. He did not observe the rules of caste. He recognized the higher harmony of Hinduism and Islam. He realized the truth that religion, spirituality, love, devotion, faith and divine life were the monopoly of no one religion, but were common to all religions. Kabir’s religion was a religion of simplicity. His motto was love. His means of salvation was devotion to God and God alone. Kabir’s home was the universe, his brother was mankind and his great father was the Father in Heaven. Kabir did not renounce the world in order to devote himself to the practice of severe austerities and meditation. He was a dynamic Yogi. He worked at the loom, and at the same time, his mind was ever fixed on God.
Kabir was an exponent of Nirguna Bhakti. He had supreme love for all. He was exceedingly kind and compassionate. He was fearless. He never asked anybody to follow him. He roamed about the country singing his songs. He condemned all formalities and ritualism. He made a vehement criticism of conventions. He was a social revolutionary. He also endeavored strenuously for the social, moral and spiritual uplift of the people. That is the reason why he still lives in the heart of all people.
Kabir was a great propagandist in his own way. He tried his level best to bring about concord and harmony among the diversity existing around him. His poetry was full of criticism of the Mullahs and the priests. Kabir not only preached, but lived the life of unity of men and creeds. He used his songs as weapons against the Mullahs and the priests. He did not spare words in the wars he waged against Muslim and Hindu orthodoxy. Kabir was a powerful saint with Self-realization that lent him the authority to live and preach the Truth without fear or restraint.
Kabir, the poet-saint of Kashi, is one of the most interesting personalities in the history of Indian mysticism. He was an illustrious philosopher-poet. He was a skilled musician and a poet as well. He was a prophet. His songs are wonderful. They are the spontaneous expressions of his spiritual experience and his love. Kabir used homely metaphors in his songs. He sang his religion in popular verse. His verses are repeated, even today, in almost every household in Uttar pradesh and Punjab. Kabir’s doctrines are soul stirring and magnanimous. Some of Kabir’s poems are very mystic.
Kabir’s works are mostly collections of songs composed in the various meters of old Hindi. There are seventy-two works. The most important and famous works are: the KabirBijak, the Suknidhan, Sabdas, Sakhis, Rekhtas, Mangal, Vasant and holi Agams The Kabir Bijak is the great authority on all religious matters and doctrines of the Kabir-panthis.
Kabir’s language is very simple. His style is beautiful His expression of ideas is very bold. His poetic composition is most natural. Each couplet is pregnant with deep significance. The similies and metaphors are most appropriate. Other characteristic features are depth of feeling and directness of speech. The expressions have emanated straight from Kabir’s heart. Kabir’s skill in compressing a world of sense in a simple couplet is marvelous and unrivalled. His sayings are unparalleled. His poems are soul-stirring and inspiring. There is depth of thought and penetrative insight.
Saying of Kabir (excerpts)