Twilight of the Sultanate c18.s1.23

c18.s1.23

Kabīr thinks that God and soul are identical and there is thus no distinction between the Absolute and the devotee. He often compares the relationship between them as that of the sea and the waves¹⁶ or the ice and water.¹⁷ The destiny of the individual is the merging of the part (soul) with the whole (God) or the realisation of union with Him. The path of this spiritual endeavour is long and difficult, but not so difficult as to frighten the devotee. Thus while love directed towards the Nirguna takes a mystic form,¹⁸ it is also direct and warm, like the wife’s passionate love for her husband, the longing of the bride for the bridegroom and the devotion of a faithful servant for his master.¹⁹ In his characterisation of this love Kabīr combines the Vaishnava concept of Bhakti with the Sūfī devotion to Allāh.