Concept of Worship
And
it's Investigation in Sant Kabir's Philosophy
by: Sudha Pandit: 358, Nana Peth, Sant Kabir Chowk,"Kabir Bhavan",Pune - 411002.Maharashtra, India:
The term WORSHIP can be explained as a special choice for
the superior entity by a Devotee for his Devotion, it is a communication
between the devotee and superior entity. It typically involves rituals, some
special kind of intentional physical actions, which are not performed in front
of any other but the worshiped entity. It reveals some power which can be
expressed in numinous experiences or awe-inspiring. This experience sustains in
the devotee as long as s/he remains in communion with the superior entity. It
also involves praise which (explicitly) manifests the characteristics of the
entity. Worship is a relationship (which can be understood in the context
provided by worship). It is a strong faith in the entity. It also reveals the
internal relationship between the concept of God and the concept
worship. This relation transcends manifestations. Worship is more powerful in
congregation. Worship is not only for the welfare of an individual but for the
welfare of the society as a whole. Worship reflects on worshipper's lifestyle.
Worship is not just the performance of external rituals it is the way of life.
In the philosophy of Sant Kabir the worship is carried out
under the guidance of Guru without whom the worship cannot be understood in its
full, final and ultimate state. Guru is the path-shower for the devotee and he
is also the ideal model for a worshiper. The Guru is Shabad-Data or Naam-Data
thus he is initiator and also a companion to the pathway to God.
The choice of the superior entity and respect for the entity
are the pre-requisites and initial fundamentals for worship without which any worship
is not worship. The choice of entity plays a pivotal role in worship. 'A nation
is known by the God it worships just as a man is known by the company he
keeps.'[1] The
ultimate principle which determines the character of a religion is the entity
it worships. The character of the followers of a religion depends upon the
conception of God they are taught to adopt. For example, if your God is too
abstract, you have a natural distrust for sentiments and feelings; if your God
is too sternly just, tenderness and mercy have little influence on your
character; if your God is too tender and indulgent, your moral character and
your theology lack insight.[2] The
understanding of the idea of God is the corner-stone of a religion. The idea of
God has been called the regenerative and regulative idea of all religious
systems and religious movements.[3]
In Sant Kabir's Bani we find him using different names for
God (in this essay we are using the word 'Superior Entity') which are common or
known among people. He says, "I worship Ram, Rahim, Karim, Keso (Keshav),
Allah, Sati."[4] He said, 'Oh my mind, worship Hari!' and in
the following verses he further says 'chant Ram, Ram, He is philosopher's stone
(chintamani).[5] In Sant Kabir's philosophy the entity as a
whole is more important no matter whatever its name may be.
In the philosophy of Sant Kabir we find there are three forms
of the Superior entity:
§
The Sagun form of the Entity
§
The Nirgun form of the Entity
§
The 'Word', the 'Nam' form of the Entity
It is very clear that Sant Kabir is a Nirgun worshipper
however I think there are some Shabdas which apparently seem to refer to be the
Sagun form of the Entity in his Bani. There are many 'Shabdas' (in this essay I
use the word 'Shabda' for devotional songs) which are full with the praises of
God in its' Sagunatva. The Shabdas are of
the praises of some famous characters from Indian history, Bhaktas and some
characters from famous 18 Purans (Hindu scriptures). These Shabdas are the descriptions of God in
its personality with some special character. (Sant Kabir presupposes that the
reader or the audience knows the story). These Shabdas generate the nine 'Rasa'
of the poetry literature. They generate shrungar,
hasya, raudra, karunya, bibhasta, bhayanak, veer, adbhuta, shant ras which is
not possible without exploring the 'gun' of the described entity. Even if the 'Shabdas' are praising the
deities (as stated above Sant Kabir was not much bothered about name of the
deities in his 'Shabdas') and glorifying the personal character of the deity
but it ends with the lines which directly or indirectly gives the feeling of
the praises for formless gods. Some Shabdas are like love songs which express
unique and divine character of God.
There are also some Shabdas which indicate or inspire
worship of the Nirguna form of the entity, God. Sant Kabir says in his Bani
'devote yourself to the Absolute Bing, no one knows the impenetrable Lord.' [6] He further says that
'Ram is like the fire which is in all'[7]
and he went on to say that 'people think that God is in the temple and go to
temple to bow in front of that but actually God dwells in the heart, so you be
attached with that.[8] These types of Shabdas are more in quantity
in the total Bani.
But most important thing I want to note here is 'Nirgunatva'
has two aspects i.e. Nirgunatva which is formless God, one with no beginning
and endless entity and so on, but it has another aspect which is the 'Nam'. Nam
has both aspects of 'Sagunatva' and 'Nirgunatva'. In its initial state it has
the form of some alphabets, some worldly words but as a devotee goes deeper and
deeper he finds the limitless aspect of Nam which is without any form, with
powers in itself, which is the worshipper, the worshiped and the worship i.e.
the trinity finishes and only the state of Nam remains. Nam is the achievement
in itself. And therefore it is advocated in Sant Kabir's Bani that only Nam is
the right choice of the entity to worship and Nam is all for a devotee.[9] According
to Sant Kabir the Nam form of the entity transcends the particularity and
slowly moves towards universality. By
choosing the Nam form of entity he socially reformed and overcame the religious
and communal tensions of his time which were based on the particular entities
i.e. for instance Hindus holding on to the supremacy of Ram and Muslims of
Allah.
'WORSHIP' can be broadly divided
into three categories:
General Conception of Worship
Communal Conception of Worship
Social and Ethical Conception of Worship
General
Conception of the Worship:
In the General Conception of Worship we can discuss the
following points.
§
The Superior Entity reveals Powers and Grace
§
Power Sustains
§
Power expressed in Numinous experiences or
Awe-inspiring.
§
Worship is an Analogical and Metaphorical term
§
Worship is Communication
§
Worship is Relationship
§
The Relation Transcends Manifestations
§
Worship is a very strong Faith in the Entity
§
Worship is internal relationship between the
Concept of God and Concept of Worship
First and foremost one must accept a superior entity for
worship which has powers. The entity reveals its powers and grace to the
devotee. It is believe in Sant Kabir's philosophy that only God can grant the
grace on His Will. It is by the Will or the
grace of God or Ram, one feels to worship or get the right path of
devotion. The entity is full of power to
fulfil any whish of the devotee whatever he may think of however all this
depend upon the grace of Ram, God. It also has the power to make a devotee free
from the sufferings of the worldly life, all pains and psycho-socio imbalances.[10]
God, in the philosophy of Sant Kabir,
has the power to turn a mustard seed into a mountain and a mountain into a
mustard seed.[11] The grace of God remains
with the devotee as long as he is united with God. Association with thieves and
disobeying God a devotee procure punishment from God. On this line Sant Kabir
says, 'you are disobeying the master and making friendship with the thieves, as
a consequence you will be punished by God and then you will realize your
mistake.'[12]
The
power of God is expressed in numinous experiences or awe-inspiring. Sant Kabir
in his Bani says, 'Light of Parbrahm, God is so much that one cannot describe
in words it can be known only by seeing it.' And in the following verses he
says, 'I have perceived sight of God full of glory and luminous energy and
which is like paras-mani that remained in my eyes forever'[13]
The
term Worship implies not only the literal terminology rather it is more
analogical and metaphorical. When a person says 'I worship God', the statement
is an aggregation of love, respect, pious feeling, devotion, and intention
towards the superior entity which is not same as respecting elders, boss,
authoritative powers or towards some mundane things though apparently it may
seem to be.
Coming
to the next part of General Conception of Worship, that is Communication
between God and devotee. The communication of the devotees with God is common
but God communicates only with selected devotees. They are special or selected
ones who are able to understand the language of God. In all cases the Bani or
Shabdas are revealed to special devotees who are also mediators and the
interpreters of God's commands for the ordinary people. These selected ones are
prophets, or the messengers of God. These messengers are born only for this
purpose.
Above
mentioned reciprocal communication between God and devotee is in symbolic form.
The worshiper understands the language of God in the form of symbols and
worships Him in the symbolic manner.
This does not mean that the devotee does not use the human language but
mostly he communicates in symbolic way i.e. by offering flowers or gifts, by
doing 'Seva' the service to needy, by doing fasting or by imparting the 10th
share of the total income.
The communication can be expressed by comprehensive
reasonable symbols. Offering of flowers are symbols of love of a devotee to the
entity. These symbols are very special and sacred which cannot be replaced with
any other material having same kind of properties. For instance 'Ghee' cannot
be replaced by kerosene.
With communication and symbolic expressions a devotee forms
a personal bond of relationship with the entity. The degree of relationship may
differ with context, time, feelings and character of the devotee. The
worshipper has to pass through all the stages of the relation, which may start
with 'Dasatva' (in Sant Kabir's philosophy) and may end in 'Ahm Brahmasmi' (I
am That). Throughout all the phases of the relationship, the feeling of the
superiority of the entity does not decrease from the mind of the devotee. The
duration of the phases depend upon the urge of the devotee. In this way there is a unique relationship
between the devotee and the entity which is devotee's own personal experience.
There are some Shabdas in the Bani of Sant Kabir which are
like folk songs in which he tries to establish various relations with God. He
is talking about the ideal relations between husband and wife, mother and
child, master and slave, deity and the devotee etc. The relations are described
as they were in his time. In Sant Kabir's Bani the relations are full of
feelings of desire-less love and devotion which is not found in the worldly
relations. Thus the relationship transcends
its usual meaning. He says about the relationship between husband and wife in
Bijak "Hari is my husband and I am Rama's beloved. My Rama is the greatest
of all and I am a very small person.'[14]
and about mother and child relationship in Padavali, 'O Hari you are my mother
and I am your child, why don't you forgive my mistakes' [15]
and he says about master and slave's relationship, 'O my master I am your servant
and you can sell me. All my body, mind and wealth is yours, Ram'.[16]
Basically relationship of a person depends upon the
religion, society and culture. At the time of Sant Kabir the society was
divided on the basis of religion, caste, creed and gender. However, in the
philosophy of Sant Kabir we find that all human, animal including nature is the
creation of God, how can anyone divide the creation of God? In his view no one
is greater than other. All are equal.
The
Communal Conception of Worship:
The Communal or Religious Conception of Worship involves all
the rites and ritual activities which may differ from religion to religion or
community to community. Rituals are action base. They need to be performed in
an accurate order. The physical actions (postures), which may be bending on
knees, joining hands in certain pose or may be simply sitting silently in
meditation, are part of rites and rituals. Sacred mantras, scriptures, word, holy
place, holy materials, directions (Hindus face towards East or North, Muslims
face towards West) and some special activities such as performing penance have
an important role in rites and rituals.
The communal worship may be of two types:-
1)
Personal worship:- This worship is performed without any priest. A person
alone can perform it. This includes all day to day worship at home or sandhya-tarpan (in case of Hinduism),
daily prayers at certain fixed times (3 times in Hinduism and 5 times in
Muslims), some kind of fast, meditation etc.
2)
Community Worship:- These are
performed with community. The communal
rituals include special life events of the founders of the religion or may be
some special events of the history of that religion, some feasts or festivals
in the memory of saints of the religion.
Above stated all rituals have meaning only when it is a
proper combination of pious intention and feeling of love for the performance
and towards the entity. Sant Kabir asks, 'what are rituals? It is whatever
Vedas or books (Kuran) says.'[17]
He has never spoken about the performance of the rituals but he showed the
correct way to perform rituals. For
instance he says, 'do obey and serve your parents while they are alive, what is
the use of doing shradha and pind-dan, or charity in the name of the
deceased parents'[18]
He says that without the inner thirst (of devotional love) all the rituals in
form of worship, like chanting, penance, pilgrimage or hopeful faiths on
different deities are only result into the dejection.[19]
Sant Kabir does not believe in the pilgrimage other than the pure body and pure
mind however he says that your mind is Mathura,
(birth place of Lord Krishna) heart is Dwarika
(the place where Lord Krishan lived) and the body is Kashi (the great pilgrimage of Hindus). God dwells in your body in the tenth gate i.e.
Brahmarandhra and this is the place
of God and also it is the way of Divine Light.[20]
Thus with all his criticism on ritual conception of worship he wanted to say
that without purity of heart and mind, if you perform rituals only with the
body and without any rational reasons the rituals are not true rituals but only
the physical exercise.
The rituals can also be interpreted as the medium of
communication with the entity. The communication may involve praise which may
be in any language (sometimes it is un-graspable by the worshipper) with
intention of fulfilment of desires, for getting knowledge, for getting peace,
or to purify the devotee. Sometimes praise expressed the personal character of
the deity. However, at times the power to understand the language of God is
given only to the selected ones as stated above. These beloved ones are beyond
all the rites and rituals so much so that the day, the time, the place, the
words and the way of the receiving the message becomes ritual for the followers
of that messenger.
Rituals are action base and therefore they are attached with
the concepts of merits and demerits. Sant Kabir has reformative opinion on the
concept of merits and demerits, he says the worldly actions will definitely
give the result with some merits and demerits but I have stopped weaving the
vertical and horizontal threads i.e. doing actions in sack of getting some
desire results, even if one is very much aware and prepared with the tools like
yama, niyam or sayam but the worldly desires come and destroy the life of the
person (and attach the person), so I have started weaving a new Divine cloth
with some past bad deeds and some new good deeds thus the my good deeds reduced
my bad deeds and I am now in an equal level and saved from the cycle of the
actions resulted into merits and demerits.[21]
Social
and Ethical Conception of Worship
The Social and Ethical form of worship can be carried out
more explicitly by doing social services. When the intention behind worship
turns into social form of worship then the outcome of this is the welfare of
the society as a whole. Worship is more powerful in the congregation and with
family. Worship in its broad sense does
not just remain for the benefit of a worshipper or individual liberation but it
becomes liberty, freedom, fraternity, equality, harmony. Not only this but it
is Divine cosmic order in nature (Rut).
The worship is the way of life for the worshipper in its ethical sense.
A true worshipper believes in the unity in diversity. Worship leads us to live
an ethical life.
Ø
Guru
plays an important role in worship
Guru leads the devotee towards God. Without Guru it is not
possible for a worshiper to reach to God. The word GURU means who leads us from
darkness to the light. Guru dispels the darkness and shows the way to Divine
world.
[1] Dr. Mohan
Singh, A History of Punjabi Literature.
[2] John Fische,
Idea of God, Introduction
[3] God in
Sikhism, by Rajindrer Kaur, p. 11
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