Kabir: One of India's Greatest Poet-Mystics and Spiritual Masters, by James Bean

Kabir: One of India's Greatest Poet-Mystics and Spiritual Masters, by James Bean

Guru Kabir lived in Banaras, India during the fifteenth century. He was fond of the impassioned poetry and deep philosophy of the Persian mystics like Jalaludin Rumi. He is, as he says in his hymns, “the child of Allah and of Ram.” He achieved a synthesis of Hindu and Muslim belief and freely used symbols from both religions. He was a weaver, a simple and unlettered man, who earned his living at the loom. It is out of the heart of the common life that he sings his rapturous lyrics of divine love.

“Kabir” is an Islamic name popular in the Muslim world -- it’s one of the “Ninety-Nine Names of Allah” found in the Quran, meaning, “The Greatest.” Kabir was indeed a great soul, a kind of “Christ of northern India,” believed by some to be one of the most advanced souls to ever incarnate into the world. Today, Kabir has over twenty-five million devotees in various Kabir Panth lineages and is universally loved by Sikhs, Jains, Hindus and Muslims alike. Kabir’s hymns are still sung in the spiritual gatherings (satsangs) of various spiritual paths all over India and the world.
Kabir is Everyone’s Universal Saint.


He was:

• A Master of Inner Light and Sound Meditation (Shabd and Sahaj Yoga);

• A vegetarian who taught kindness, compassion, and non-violence (ahimsa);

• A musician and poet of Nirguna Bhakti (love and devotion for the One Formless God);

• A great teacher of eastern mysticism and gnosticism;

• A peace maker between Hindus and Muslims;

• A social reformer in India who denounced the caste system;

considered by many in Islam to be a Sufi Master or Murshid;

considered by Hindus to be one of the greatest poet-mystics and Vaishnava devotees in the history of India;

considered a Bhagat by the Sikhs -- many of his hymns are included in the Adi Granth (Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scriptures);

was greatly influenced by Goraknath and the Nath Yogis, and the Nath Yogis of northern India were, in turn,
influenced by Tantric Buddhism.

And some Christian missionaries at first thought Kabir might have been a Christian mystic due to his use of the mystic term “Word” or Anhad Shabda (Celestial Music), which reminded them of the Gospel of John, chapter one: “In the beginning was the Word......”

Kabir freely used both Hindu and Islamic names for God. He attempted to make peace between Hindus and Muslims by pointing out that there is not a separate God for the East and West, but one universal Spirit Supreme

“The Hindu says Ram is supreme the Muslim, Rahim both die fighting each other neither knowing the Truth.


“The south is Hari’s abode; Allah’s camp is in the west. Look inside your own heart -- inside your heart of hearts -- there is His abode, His camp.

“If Hari is merciful He will place love in your heart, and you shall obtain the fruit of His name.

“Allah-Ram, I live by Your name. Be merciful.”

Kabir views humanity as being caught up in illusion, searching for Ultimate Reality in all the wrong places, always seeking It outside of ourselves in various rituals, temples, forests and mountaintops, not realizing That for which we seek is already hidden within us.

“Your God dwells within you like fragrance in the flower. Musk lies within the Musk-deer yet seeks it afar.”

For Kabir, God, called “Allah” in the west and “Hari” in the east, can be experienced directly in a rapturous meditative state of Love, Bliss, visions of Light, Heavenly Sound -- a total oneness of soul and over-soul in the Timeless Ocean of Love.
Kabir’s spirituality was a blend of Prem-Bhakti: love and devotion for the Beloved Lord of Love, the One God, and spiritual experiences of a visionary and auditory nature.

This is my all-time favorite poem of Kabir, and it illustrates Kabir’s approach to God as both that of an other-worldly mystic as well as that of a lover for the Beloved.

“How could the love between Thee and me sever?

As the leaf of the water abides on the water:

so Thou art my Lord, and I am Thy servant.

As the night-bird Chakor gazes all night at the moon:

so Thou art my Lord and I am Thy servant.

From the beginning until the ending of time,

there is love between Thee and me;

and how shall such love be extinguished?

Kabir says: ‘As the river enters into the ocean,

so my heart touches Thee.’”

That’s from the book, Songs of Kabir, by Rabindrath Tagore. From that same translation, here are verses where Kabir described some of his own inner mystical experiences.

“What a wonderful lotus it is, that blooms at the heart of the spinning wheel of the universe! Only a few pure souls know of its true delight.

Music is all around it, and there the heart partakes of the joy of the Infinite Sea.

"Rapture wells forth, and all space is radiant with Light. There the Unstruck Music is Sounded; It is the Music of the three worlds.

“There the whole sky is filled with Sound, and there that Music is made without fingers and without strings.

“The effulgence of the Supreme Being is beyond the imagination: Ineffable is His beauty, to see it is the only proof.”

'James Bean explores the world of spirituality, comparative religion, the vegan diet, education for a more peaceful planet, and meditation via Spiritual Awakening Radio at

www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com

www.spiritualawakeningradio.com