Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v1.c4.s19: XIX. Kabīr
Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems v1.c4.s19
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XIX. Kabīr
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§ 57. The few particulars that have come down to us about the birth and life of Kabīr are these. He was the son of a Brāhmaṇa widow who cast him away as soon as he was born, to hide her shame, near the Lahar Tank in Benares. A Mahomedan weaver of the name of Nīrū was passing by the way with his wife Nīmā, when the latter saw the child and carried it home. He was nurtured and brought up by her and her husband Nīrū, and Kabīr, when he had grown up, followed the occupation of a weaver. He showed leanings towards the Hindu faith, and the idea of making Rāmānanda his Guru, or preceptor, arose in his mind. But he conceived it not possible that that sage should receive a Mahomedan as his disciple and therefore had recourse to a contrivance. He laid himself down on the Ghāṭ, or pavement on the Ganges, at which Rāmānanda bathed very early in the morning. On the way Rāmānanda trampled on the boy and exclaimed: "Rāma, Rāma! What poor creature is it that I have trampled upon?" Kabīr rose up and received the exclamation "Rāma, Rāma" as a Mantra communicated to him by Rāmānanda, and he understood that he had thus been made a disciple. Another account is that, being trampled on, Kabīr rose up and cried aloud, when Rāmānanda told him to be quiet and go on uttering the name of "Rāma". Considering that he had thus been accepted as a pupil, Kabīr went on with his adorations of God, proclaiming that he was the disciple of Rāmānanda. Some Hindus went to the latter and asked him whether he had initiated Kabīr. Thereupon Kabīr was sent for and asked by Rāmānanda, when it was that he had been initiated. Kabīr mentioned to him the incident of his having been trampled upon on the Ghāṭ. Then Rāmānanda remembered the matter and clasped Kabīr to his breast. Since that time Kabīr regularly attended at his master's Maṭha and joined him in his disputations with the Paṇḍits. For some time Kabīr lived at Manikapur, as is mentioned in one of his Ramainīs. There he heard of the fame of Shaikh Taqqī and of twenty-one Pīrs. He heard their discourses, condemned their teachings and said: "Oh Shaikhs, of whatever name, listen to me; open your eyes and see the origin and the end of all things and their creation and dissolution". In one of the books of this sect, Shaikh Taqqī is represented as an enemy of Kabīr and a Pīr, or the religious guide, of Sikandar Lodī. At his advice the emperor persecuted Kabīr and used various methods to destroy him. But Kabīr miraculously escaped death and was eventually reconciled to Sikandar Lodī, who received him into his favour. Kabīr died at Maghar, and there was a dispute between the Hindus and the Mahomedans as to the disposal of his dead body, which was covered by a sheet of cloth. When the sheet was removed, the body had disappeared, and in its stead there was a heap of flowers. The Mahomedans took one half of the quantity and buried it at Maghar and erected a tomb over it, and the Hindus took their share to Benares, where it was burnt. Kabīr had a wife of the name of Loi, a son of the name of Kamāl, and a daughter of the name of Kamālī. But there are miraculous stories as to how Kabīr came by them.
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As to how much of this account is historical and how much legendary, it is difficult to say. But that he was a Mahomedan weaver at the beginning may be accepted as a fact. And that Shaikh Taqqī, a Mahomedan Pīr, who is mentioned in one of the Ramainīs, as stated above, was his rival and that Kabīr lived about the time of Sikandar Lodī may also be regarded as historical. As to whether Kabīr was a disciple of Rāmānanda, there is some question, as will be presently mentioned. Mr. Westcott considers it not impossible that he should have been both a Mahomedan and a Sūfi ¹), but all his writings show a complete familiarity with the names occuring in Hindu religious literature and Hindu manners and customs, so that it appears to me that there is little or nothing in Kabīr's writings calculated to show that his teachings had a Mahomedan basis. The basis appears to be purely Hindu, though Kabīr was a bold and uncompromising reformer and hurled anathemas at the Paṇḍits, the Brāhmaṇas proud of their caste, and the teachers of the existing sects of the Hindus, and thus appears to have come under the influence of Mahomedanism.
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¹ Kabir and the Kabir Panth by Rev. G. H. Westcott. Cawnpore, 1907, p. 44.
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The dates given by various writers for the birth and death of Kabīr are conflicting. Mr. Westcott makes him live for 78 years, from 1440 to 1518 A. D. ²), and according to Mr. Macauliffe he was born in Saṁvat 1455, corresponding to A. D. 1398³), and he died in A. D. 1518⁴), having lived for 119 years, five months and twenty-seven days. In a footnote he quotes from an original work the date Śaka 1370, corresponding to 1448 A. D., as the date of his death. Sikandar Lodi was on the throne of Delhi from 1488 to 1517 A. D. The last of the three dates does not harmonise with this, and so it must be given up. Rāmānanda, we have seen, is spoken of as having been born in 1298 A. D. and died in 1411 A. D. If Mr. Westcott's date for Kabīr's birth is true, Kabīr cannot have been a disciple of Rāmānanda. If that of Mr. Macauliffe is accepted, it is just possible that he should have so become, for at the time of Rāmānanda's death Kabīr must have been thirteen years of age, and he is represented in one of the legends to have been but a boy when he was accepted as a disciple by the old sage. The date 1518 A. D. given by both the writers for his death may be accepted as correct. But, if that of his birth given by Mr. Macauliffe is also accepted, we shall have to suppose that Kabīr lived for 119 years; Rāmānanda also according to the dates given in the last section lived for 113 years. Whether both of them lived such long lives might well be questioned. But, until we have more evidence, the dates for Rāmānanda already noticed and for Kabīr as given by Mr. Macauliffe may be provisionally accepted, and thus Kabīr might be considered to have really been a disciple of Rāmānanda, though, of course, being a boy of thirteen, he could not have taken part in his master's disputations with Paṇḍits. In Kabīr's works, however, so far as I have seen them, Rāmānanda's name does not occur, though the name Rāma as that of the Supreme Being and also the relation of the individual soul with Rāma as well as his refutation of the doctrine of God's being Videha or Nirguṇa, i. e. without attributes, must have been borrowed from Rāmānanda's doctrines, which again are based on Rāmānuja's system.
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² *Ibid.* Chronological Table, p. VII.
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³ The Sikh Religion, Vol. VI, p. 122.
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⁴ *Ibid.* pp. 139—40.
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§ 58. We now give a translation of a few passages illustrative of the teachings of Kabīr⁵).
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⁵ The edition consulted is that published with a commentary under the orders of Raghurajasimha, Maharaja of Rewah, in Saṁvat 1924.
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First Ramainī¹).
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¹ Ramainī is a piece of composition consisting of several Caupāīs (Sk. Catuṣpadī), which are stanzas consisting of four lines with the ends of the first two and of the last two rhyming with each other, and a Sākhī (which is another species of metre) at the end.
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1. There was in the inside a substance called Jīva, or individual soul, the Internal Light illuminated [it]. 2. And then followed a woman of the name of 'desire'; and she was called Gāyatrī. 3. That woman gave birth to three sons, Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśa. 4. Then Brahmā asked the woman who was her husband and whose wife she was. 5. (She replied:) "Thou and I, I and thou, and there is no third. Thou art my husband and I am thy wife." 6. The father and son had a common wife; and one mother has a two-fold character; there is no son who is a good son and who will endeavour to recognise his father.
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Second Ramainī.
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1. In the light there was sound, which was a woman. 2. And of the woman were Hari, Brahmā and the enemy of the three cities (Śiva). 3. Then Brahmā created an egg and divided it into fourteen regions. 4—6. Then Hari, Hara and Brahmā settled in three regions, and then they arranged the whole Brahmāṇḍa and the six philosophies and ninety-six heresies. Nobody then taught the Veda for his sustenance; and Turuk did not come for making circumcision. 7. The woman brought forth from her womb children. They became distinct individuals and followed different courses of action. 8. Therefore I and thou are of one blood and are one life. Distinctness arises from ignorance. 9. From one woman all sprang, and what knowledge is it that brought about distinctness between them? 13 (Sākhī). Kabīr proclaims: All this ordinary world is destructible; without knowing the name of Rāma all individuals are drowned in the ocean of existence.
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Kabīr's account of creation seems to be this. In the light of Rāma there existed a substance which was the subtle element, the sum total of all individual souls. And then that substance was illuminated by that light. Then followed a desire in the shape of a woman, which was at the same time called Gāyatrī and sound (Śabda), and from her the creation took its rise. His idea thus seems to be that individual souls came into being, or were developed out of a substance which was their subtle form, at the will of the Supreme Soul, which (will) was uttered in the form of a sound. That is to say, the Supreme Soul was not the material cause of the world, but a distinct subtle entity. What, in the language of the Upaniṣads, became many was this entity and not the Supreme Soul himself. Kabīr's philosophy is thus not a monism, but dualism. All individuals sprang into existence from the same cause, there was one blood and one life, and consequently the distinction of castes and races was a later fiction. Kabīr thus appears to be an opponent of this distinction.
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Fifth Ramainī.
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The substance of the first five Caupāīs seems to be that Hari, Hara and Brahmā, taking the two letters (Rāma), laid the foundation of all learning, and gradually the Vedas and Kitābs (books) came to be composed. 6—8. In all the four ages the devotees devised systems, but were not aware that the bundle they had tied up was torn. Men ran in all directions for salvation, being afraid. Abandoning their lord they ran towards hell.
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Eighth Ramainī.
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1. The precept "Tat tvam asi" (that thou art) is the message of the Upaniṣads. 2. They lay great stress upon it, and those who are qualified explain it (at great length). 3. Sanaka and Nārada became happy by regarding the highest principle to be distinct from themselves. 4. The colloquy between Janaka and Yājñavalkya comes to the same effect, and that same sweet sentiment was tasted by Dattātreya. 5. Vasiṣṭha and Rāma sang together the same thing, and that same thing was explained to Uddhava. 6. That same thing was substantiated by Janaka and, though he had a body, he was called bodiless (Videha). 7 (Sākhī). No mortal becomes immortal without abandoning the pride of birth. That which one cannot see by experience is to be considered as "unseen" or "unperceived".
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In this Ramainī Kabīr shows acquaintance with the Upaniṣads and other branches of Hindu sacred literature, so that he cannot have been a mere "Sūfī and Mahomedan". He rejects the theory of the identity between the Supreme and the individual souls, which is regarded as being laid down in the expression "That thou art" of the Chāndogya-Upaniṣad. The commentator says that by "that" is to be understood the subtle body of sixteen parts and the expression means "Thou art that subtle body". Kabīr takes all the individuals he has named in this Ramainī to have preached duality.
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In the fourteenth Ramainī there is a condemnation of the several systems of religion, that contained in the Purāṇas, that of Brahmā, Haṃsa, Gopāla, Śambhu, ghosts and goblins and various forms of worship up to the Nevāja of the Mahomedan.
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Thirty-fourth Ramainī.
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1. The Paṇḍits were misled by the study of the Vedas which are based on the Guṇas, or qualities, and did not know their own nature and their true friend (God). 2. They practise Saṃdhyā, Tarpaṇa, the six rites and various other such ceremonies. 3. In all the four Yugas Gāyatrī has been taught; ask who obtained salvation (Mukti) by its means. 4. When you are touched by other people, you bathe; tell me who is more degraded than yourselves. 5. You are very proud of your virtues. Too much pride is not good. 6. How can he whose name destroys all pride bear this proud behaviour? 7 (Sākhī). Giving up the traditional mode of worship of the family, they seek the place of Nirvāṇa; having destroyed the seed and sprout, they became an entity without attributes (Videha or Nirguṇa).
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Kabīr here condemns the rites, ceremonies and other practices of the Brāhmaṇas, the pride that is generated in them by these, the contempt in which they hold people of other castes, and also their search of Nirvāṇa, or a condition without any attributes, i. e. the Advaita, or a-dualistic, system which they follow.
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Fortieth Ramainī.
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1. The sea, which is a collection of waters, is a ditch, and in it are the sun, the moon, and thirty-three crores of brothers. 2. In the whirlpools (of such a universe) they (men and gods) have seated themselves and desire happiness, but have not shunned the touch of misery. 3. Nobody knows the secret of misery, and the world has become mad in a variety of ways. 4. Everybody is a fool or a sage in himself and nobody knows Rāma who dwells in the heart. 5 (Sākhī). They themselves are Hari (God), they themselves are lords, they themselves are the slaves of Hari. When there is no guarantee, the lady (Mukti, or salvation) goes away disappointed.
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Here again there is a condemnation of various systems and of the self-confidence which has given rise to them and the neglect of God dwelling in the heart.
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Sākhīs.
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I.
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31. The crowds went by the path traversed by the Paṇḍits. Lofty is the ascent to Rāma. Kabīr has climbed it. 135. The whole world has gone astray by partiality for one's own system. He who, becoming free from partiality, adores Hari, is a wise sage. 138. The great ones are lost in their own greatness; pride peers out through every pore; when they are not familiar with a wise preceptor, all the orders of men are of the Camār caste, i. e. the degraded caste of curriers. 182. The Kali is a wicked age; the world is blind and nobody believes in the true word. He to whom a salutary advice is given, becomes an enemy. 211. Three things went to a holy place (the body, the fickle heart, and the mind which is a thief). They did not destroy a single sin, but on the contrary the mind contracted ten others. 260. The Kabīrs (men in general) polluted the path of Bhakti, or faith, by washing pebbles and stones. Keeping poison within, they have thrown out the nectar. 358. "I am the author of the whole creation, there is no other who is superior to me." (This is what some people think.) Kabīr says that, when one does not know what one is oneself, one thinks everything to be contained in oneself. 365. In this world all have passed away considering themselves to be Rāma, but no one actually became Rāma. Kabīr says that those who know Rāma as he truly is, attain all their objects. 366. This world has become mad and has conceived a love for something which can be no matter of experience; and denying all authoritativeness to actual experience, they attach themselves to a soul without attributes (Videha). 372. Seeing a void, men were misled and went about searching in all quarters till they died, but did not find a form without attributes.
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II.
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91. The bee loiters in the garden, being enticed by the innumerable flowers in it. In the same manner the individual soul loiters among the objects of sense and at the end goes away disappointed. 95. The soul is to the mind as a monkey is to a showman. Making it dance in a variety of ways, it (mind) finally retains it in its own hands.
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96. The mind is fickle, a thief and perfect swindler. The gods and the sages fell off in consequence of the mind, and mind finds a hundred thousand openings. 136. If a man gives up his belongings, it does not mean much. Egotism, or self-pride, cannot be given up. Self-pride, which led astray the great Munis, devours all. Running after gold and women, men are burnt by the passion generated by an illusion. Kabīr says, how can they be saved, being like cotton which has come in contact with fire? 147. All became subject to the power of illusion: Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśa, and the four, Nārada, Śārada, Sanaka, and Gaṇeśa, the son of Gaurī. 209. Do not kill a poor living creature; the life of all is the same. You will not be free from (the sin of) killing, even if you hear crores of Purāṇas.
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III.
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122. He to attain whom the great sages (Munis) go through austerities and whose virtues the Vedas sing, himself gives instruction, but nobody believes. 208. One single poor soul is bound up by many fetters. If the father (God) will not liberate him, what power has the soul himself to do so? 243. I (God) instruct him; but he does not understand and sells himself into the hands of others. I pull him towards myself; but he runs away to the city of death (Yama). 282. If you endeavour to acquire one thing (God), every other thing will come to you; but if you endeavour to acquire every other thing, that one thing will be lost. If you water the root of a tree, you will obtain a sufficiency of flowers and fruits. 310. If you want me (God), give up your desire for every other thing and become mine, and then everything will be yours. 336. He has entered into every body and remains there fully watchful. When one wants a certain accomplishment, he inspires him with the corresponding thoughts (calculated to enable him to achieve success).
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Here the first group contains a condemnation of the current religious doctrines; the second gives a specimen of Kabīr's moral teachings; and the third explains the way in which God's grace operates towards the deliverance of man. Kabīr, therefore, was as much a constructive reformer as destructive. In Sākhī 260 of the first group Kabīr, it will be seen, condemns the worship of idols. The religion which he promulgated, therefore, was a pure spiritual theism. The mode of worship used by his followers up to the present day consists of prayers and praises only. Kabīr founded a Pantha, or a sect, and the Maṭhas, or establishments, of that sect exist in several parts of India. The principal one is at Benares, with a branch at Maghar in the Gorakhpur district, where he died. This last is said to be in the charge of a Mahomedan Mahant, or superior. The second was established by Dharmadās, his chief disciple, in the Chattisgarh district of the Central Provinces¹). The followers of Kabīr's sect are to be found principally among the lower castes, but the sage is highly venerated by all Vaiṣṇavas of whatever caste or class.
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¹ For details see Rev. G. H. Westcott's volume on Kabīr referred to above.
Cites (3)
- Chāndogyopaniṣad — Sanskrit
- Purāṇa — Sanskrit
- Sākhī — Kabīr, Hindi