Kabir Das Ji was an Indian saint of the 15th century. In Hindi literature, his name is taken with respect. He was a mystic poet of the Bhakti period. He is remembered as a great promoter of devotion to God. His works greatly influenced the Bhakti movement.
He believed in one supreme God. He strongly condemned many evils, rituals, superstitions and social evils spread in the society.
According to Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, he was a virtuous sage. The followers of his teachings are called Kabir Panthi.
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Life introduction
Lahartarab Prakatya Sthan
The birth place of Kabir Saheb is believed to be Kashi, nowadays Varanasi, in North India. Kabirpanthis consider Kabir Dasji to be God and call him Kabir Saheb. According to them, Kabirdas ji was not born from his parents, but in every age, he descends on earth after walking from his own abode, Satlok. His incarnation on earth is called Prakaty.
According to Kabir Panth, Kabirdas ji appeared in 1398 (Samvat 1455), on the full moon of Hindu month of Jyeshtha, on a lotus flower in the Lahartara Pond of Kashi at the time of Brahmamuhart. There, they met Neeru and Neema in the form of a child on a lotus flower. This day is celebrated as Prakaty Diwas i.e. Manifest Day.
According to Kabirpanth, God Kabir Das ji played the role of a weaver in Kashi (modern Varanasi), Uttar Pradesh, India. The creator of all creation (world), God Himself descended on the earth and addressed Himself with the word Das that means a slave.
The real form of Kabir Saheb was unknown to all except a few great persons to whom Kabir Sahib himself appeared and made them aware of his true nature. These great men include founder of Sikh religion Nanak Dev ji, respected Dharamdas ji, Dadu Saheb ji etc.
Kabir Das ji made Swami Ramanand ji his guru. Kabirdas ji himself has said-
“काशी में परगट भये , रामानंद चेताये||” “Kashi men PargatBhaye, Ramanand Chetaye||”
It means that they (The teacher) appeared in Kashi and made him aware.
Introduction with Swami Ramanand ji
There is an incidence to talk about Kabir Das Ji. One day, Swami Vivekananda, a disciple of Swami Ramanand ji, was giving a discourse at a place. Kabir Saheb ji also went there and listened carefully to his discourses. At that time, Kabir Saheb ji were 5 years old.
At that time, sage Vivekananda was narrating the story of Vishnu Purana. Swami Vivekananda ji was saying while telling the story that Lord Vishnu is Supreme God and is imperishable. He is indestructible and immortal. He does not have any birth givers, that is, they do not have parents.
Sage Vivekananda discontinued his discourse and stopped to clear the doubts. He told the audience that if anyone has any doubts, then he can get his doubts cleared without any hesitation by asking questions.
Child Kabir Saheb ji was also listening carefully to his discourse. He stood in his place and prayed with folded hands to Sage Vivekananda and said-
“O sage! You told about Lord Vishnu that he is unborn and imperishable. There are no parents who gave birth to them. One day a Brahmin Pandit was reciting Rudra Samhita Chapter 6 and 7 of ‘Shri Shiv Purana’. He was telling the audience that Vishnu and Brahma originated from Lord Shiva. The proof of which is written on page number-123 in Chapter-5, Sakand-3 of ‘Devi Bhagwat Purana’.”
After hearing the words of the child Kabir, Sage Vivekananda became very angry and told the audience that this child is telling a lie. These things are not written anywhere in the Puranas. The audience present also agreed and said-
“O sage! You are telling the truth. This child is ignorant. He does not know the mysteries of the Puranas. Don’t pay heed to this boy’s words.
Then, Sage Vivekananda went through the Puranas. All the details were mentioned in the Puranas. But Vivekananda was afraid of loss of his dignity. He stood firm on his false statement.
He said to the boy, “O child! What is your name? what is your caste? You have put on a tilak. Have you made someone your guru (the spiritual teacher)?”
Before the child Kabir could say anything, the audience began to say – “O sage! The name of this boy is Kabir. This is the son of a weaver named Neeru.
The boy Kabir said, “Holy Sage! The audience has given my true introduction. I also have a guru.
Vivekananda Ji said, “What is the name of your Gurudev, the spiritual teacher?”
Kabir ji said, “Me and your revered instructor is the same. His holy name is Swami Ramanand Ji.”
Hearing the name of Swami Ramanand ji from the weaver’s child, sage Vivekanand ji called Kabir Saheb ji very badly. He told the audience that this boy was a liar.
Returning to the ashram, Vivekanand ji narrated the whole story to Shri Ramanand ji. Swami Ramanand ji asked him to call the little Kabir the next morning.
Next morning, the child Kabir ji was brought in front of Swami Ramanand ji. On asking Swami Ramanand ji, the boy Kabir said, “O Swamiji, I am the creator of this world. This whole world is dependent on me. I reside above in the Sanatan Dham or Satlok, the eternal abode”
On hearing this, Swami Ramanand ji got angry. He asked him some more questions. To which the child Kabir answered calmly and humbly.
Then Ramanand ji started doing his daily religious practice. He used to do mental worship. He used to worship with the power of imagination while sitting in the state of meditation. He used to imagine that he himself had brought water from the river Ganges and bathed the idol of Shri Vishnu. The clothes have been changed only by imagination and making wear a garland, the crown has been put on the head of the idol as it is.
That day, Swami Ramanand ji forgot to change the garland around the neck of the idol. He tried to take the garland off the crown but the garland got stuck.
Swami Ramanand ji was surprised. He said to himself, “I have never made such a mistake in my entire life. I don’t know what happened today?”
Then the boy Kabir said, “Swamiji! You should untie the knot of the rosary. You will not have to take off the crown.”
Ramanand ji thought, “I was just imagining in my mind. How did this kid know what I was doing mentally?”
He hugged the boy, Kabir. Ramanand ji understood that He is God Himself in the form of a child. Lord Kabir Sahib ji showed Satlok [the eternal abode of God] to Swami Ramanand ji and explained the real spiritual knowledge.
Kabir Saheb Ji made Ramanand ji his guru from worldly point of view so that the coming generation does not say that Kabir Saheb Ji did not make anyone a guru.
Teachings of Kabir Das Ji-
The teachings of Kabir Das Ji are very important for human welfare. Kabir Das Ji has emphasized the devotion of God in his teachings. He says-
“Human birth is rare. There is no repetition of the body. Just as the leaves fallen from the tree. As soon as the leaves fall from the tree, they do not stick on the branch again. In the same way the soul does not return to the body after leaving the body.
Following are the main points of the teachings of Kabir Das Ji-
- Devotion to God
- Non-violence
- Discipline
- Prohibition of non-vegetarian food
- Importance of Guru
- Prohibition of adultery
- Prohibition of Untouchability
Departure of Kabir Das Ji to Magahar
About 600 years ago, in Kashi (now Varanasi) in Uttar Pradesh, India a new ghat was built by the religious leaders at a secluded place on the banks of the river Ganges to attain salvation. A belief was spread among the public that the one who dies in Kashi city will go straight to heaven. On the other hand, the one who dies in Magahar Nagar (present-day Sant Kabir Nagar) near Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, will go to hell or get the body of a donkey.
Hindus started leaving their parents at the end of their age by taking a house on rent in the city of Kashi (Varanasi). The old man troubled by his life also wanted to come to Kashi and die.
Kabir Das wanted to prove this misconception wrong. He wanted to tell the people that the place of death has nothing to do with it because even living in Mathura did not liberate Krishna. There have also been kings like Kansa on the same earth.
Kabir Das ji remained in Kashi till the age of 120 years. But, in the end, Kabir ji left for Magahar with his followers from Kashi. Even at the age of 120, he completed the journey from Kashi to Magahar in 3 days.
Salvation of Kabir Das Ji
At that time, King Bir Singh Baghel and Nawab Bijli Khan Pathan were dear disciples of Kabir Saheb Ji. Bir Singh Baghel was the Hindu king of Kashi and Bijli Khan Pathan was the Muslim Nawab of Magahar princely state.
Meat-eating was already prohibited in Kashi. Bijli Khan Pathan had also banned eating meat etc. in his state.
When Kabir Das ji left for Magahar from Kashi, Raja Bir Singh Baghel also accompanied him with his army. He decided that after the salvation of Kabir Das ji, he will bring his body to Kashi and perform his last rites in Hindu manner. If he has to fight for this, he will do it.
On the other hand, Nawab Bijli Khan Pathan had also made complete arrangements for the war.
Kabir Das ji saw that these two would kill each other and after that a civil war of Hindu Muslim would break out. Kabir Das ji tried a lot to convince both of them. At last, he ordered them that after His leaving for heaven, whatever thing is found between the two sheets, both of them should be divided half-and-half.
A sheet was spread on the ground and some flowers were also spread on it. Kabir Das ji lay down on the sheet. He took another sheet above Himself and in 1518, Kabir Das ji went to Satlok physically.
Shortly after that incident, there was an Akash Vani– “Take up the curtain, there is no dead in it”
When they picked up the sheet, the body of Kabir Das ji was not found there, but fragrant flowers were found there. The two kings divided these flowers half-and-half between themselves.
Compositions of Kabir Das ji-
Following are the major six texts composed by Kabir Das Ji: –
- Kabir’s Sakhi- In this book, Kabir Das ji used to explain divine knowledge to Surta (soul) through Sakhis.
- Kabir’s Bijak- In 1464, Dharam Das, a disciple of Kabir Das, collected the speech of Kabir under the book named Bijak. Bijak mainly consists of verse part. Bijak has been divided into three parts – Ramani, Sabad and Sakhi.
- Kabir’s Sabadawali– In this book, Kabir Das ji mainly has told the soul about God through his precious words.
- Kabir’’s Dohawali: This book mainly contains couplets of Kabir Das ji.
- Kabir’s Granthavali: This book contains the verses and couplets of Kabir Sahib.
- Kabir Sagar: This is a subtle Veda which contains detailed information about God.
Language of Kabir Das Ji
The language of Kabir Das ji is Sadhukkadi and Panchmail slang language. His literature includes words from all dialects of Hindi language like Rajasthani, Haryanvi, Punjabi, Khari Boli, Awadhi, Brajbhasha etc.
Braj Bhasha is predominant in Ramani and Sabad and in Sakhi, Rajasthani and Punjabi are found in abundance.
Note:- Facts have been taken from many texts of Hindi Literature, folktales and Wikipedia.
