Sant Kabir

Poet Sant Kabir. (1440-1518)

Kabir Jayanti falls on 7th June.


“Why bathe in Ganges stream, or Kaveri?
Why go to Comorin in Congo land?
Why seek the waters of the surrounding sea?
When release is here and here alone? My friend!

Why chant the Vedas and hear the shastra’s lore?
Why daily teach the books of righteousness?
When release is here and here alone?
Why call the name of God every now and then?

Why roam the jungles, wander cities through?
Why plague life with penance very hard?
Why eat no flesh and gaze into the blue?
When release is here and here, why cry?

Why fast and starve, why suffer pains austere?
Why climb the mountains doing penance very hard?
Why go bathe in waters far and near?
When release is here and here?




Kabira, Jab Ham Paidaa Huve,
Jag Hanse, Hum Roye,
Aisee Karnee Kara Karo,
Ham Hanse, Jag Roye,
Chundariya Jhini re Jhini,
He Ram Nam Ras Bhini.

Six hundred years ago Kabir was born in 1440 AD. He lived for 80 years and is said to have relinquished his body in 1518. This period is also said to be the beginning of Bhakti Movement in India. He was born and brought up in a pious weaver family. He was influenced
by Vaishnava devotion and Sufi mysticism. Kabir ji composed numerous couplets through
which he preached the message of religious harmony and tolerance.

A weaver by profession, Kabir ranks among the world's greatest poets. He is perhaps the most quoted author. The Holy Guru Granth Sahib contains over 500 verses by Kabir. The Sikh community in particular and others, who follow the Holy Granth, hold Kabir in the same reverence as the other ten Gurus. He was Muslim by birth though he early abandoned the
Muslim faith, he retained strict monotheism of Islam and his strong aversion to caste system.



He usually calls God as Rama despite the fact that he had strong dislike for the Hindu polytheism.
In spirit he was far more Hindu than Muslim and this fact led him to reject the rigid dogmatism of Islam. Religion for him was a personal affair, something between a man, his God and his Guru.

“Thou should not ride on thy reflection, thou put thy foot in the tranquility of the Mind.”
“Those are good riders who keep aloof from Veda and the Koran.”

Kabir openly criticized all sects and gave a new direction to the Indian philosophy. This is due to his straight forward approach that has a universal appeal. It is for this reason that Kabir is held in high esteem all over the world. To call Kabir a universal Guru is not an exaggeration, the very name Kabir means Guru's Grace.

His devotees were very deeply influenced by reading Kabir. Why Kabir? Because he denounced the hollowness of the purely mechanical recitals of religious scriptures without following them.


The hall mark of Kabir's poetry is that he conveys in his two line poems, what others may not be able to do in many pages.

Another beauty of Kabir's poetry is that he picks up situations that surround our daily lives. Thus, even today, Kabir's poetry is relevant and helpful in guiding and regulating our lives, in both social and spiritual context.

The following example is an apt illustration:
Looking at the grinding stones, Kabir laments,
In the duel of the wheels, nothing remains intact.