The OCEAN of LOVE

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The Ocean of Love


The Anurlig Sagar of Kabir


Translated and Edited
under the direction of
Sant Ajaib Singh Ji
Sant Bani Ashram
Sanbornton, New Hampshire

_________


Kabir and Dharam Das
by Sant Ajaib Singh Ji


EVER SINCE the Almighty Lord started coming into this world
in the form of the Saints, it has always happened that during
a Saint's lifetime only a few people care to know about his life:
where the Saint was born, how he used to live, what qualities he
had, and why he came into this world. They don't care about all
these things while the Saint is alive; but when the Saints leave this
world, their incredible power and their teachings which change
the lives of many people impress the people of the world, and
only then-when the Saint is gone-do the people of the world
start thinking about them and devoting themselves to them. So
that is why, according to the understanding of the people, stories
are told about the Saints. It is very difficult to find out much
about the Mahatmas of the past-their birth, their place of birth,
their parents, their early life, etc. Whatever people have written
about the Great Masters has been written many years after their
departure from this world. That is why Kabir's life sketch has
different versions. According to most of the traditions, Kabir
Sahib was born in 1398 in Benares and he died in 15 18, living for
120 years.
There are many different stories of Kabir and of his effect on
others, some of which are told in the Introduction to this book.
Dharam Das was Kabir's gurumukh disciple and successor, who
was a very wealthy person and an idol-worshiper. It is said that
once when he was doing his worship, Kabir appeared to him and
asked, "What are these little idols? If this big idol is God, what
are these small ones?" and then disappeared, leaving Dharam
Das to think about what had happened. At that time, of course,
vii
...

Vlll THE OCEAN OF LOVE

he didn't know that it was Kabir Sahib who had appeared to him.
Second time Kabir appeared to Dharam Das was in the form of
a sadhu. Dharam Das and his wife were sitting by the fire, and
Kabir Sahib said to Dharam Das, "You are a sinner." Dharam
Das's wife could not bear this criticism so she said, "How can
you say that he is a sinner? You are a sinner!" Then Kabir Sahib
replied, "Dharam Das, look in the wood that you are burningand
you will see what you are really doing." When they looked,
they saw many insects in the wood, and Kabir said, "You are
burning so many insects alive! What is this? Are you not
sinning?" After saying this he again disappeared, and Dharam
Das realized the truth of it: "I am a great sinner."
Because he was a good soul devoted to God and he wanted the
knowledge of God, he remembered that he had met someone
before who had asked him about idols, and he realized both of them
were the same person. Now Dharam Das repented very much, and
he thought that if his wife had not got upset at Kabir Sahib, he
might have been able to get the knowledge of God. When he told
that to his wife, she said, "Well, flies come to the sugar. You have
so much money; if you perform some kind of yajna and announce
that you are going to donate things to the sadhus, many sadhus will
come. It is possible that this sadhu will also come, and you can talk
to him and get some knowledge of God from him." So Dharam
Das performed many yajnas in the town of Benares, but Kabir
Sahib never came there. Then Dharam Das went to other places and
there also he performed many yajnas, but Kabir Sahib never came.
In that way he just went on spending his money, and even after he
performed his last yajna after selling every single thing, Kabir Sahib
still didn't come.
So when Dharam Das had lost all his money and still didn't get to
see the Sadhu, he thought, "Why should I go back home when I
have lost everything? It is better to commit suicide." So he went to
the bank of the river and was about to jump in when Kabir appeared
there. And then Dharam Das touched Kabir Sahib's feet
and said, "0 Lord, If I had met You before, 1 would have given
You all the wealth which 1 had, instead of wasting it performing
the yujnus." Kabir Sahib replied, "This was the right time for
you to come to me. If you had come to me earlier, when you
had all that wealth, it is possible that you would not become
what you will become now."

KABIR AND DHARAM DAS ix

So Kabir Sahib gave him initiation and, after Kabir Sahib left
the body, Dharam Das continued the work of giving initiation into
Shabd Naam. And the book Anurag Sagar is in the form of questions
from Dharam Das and Kabir Sahib's replies to those questions.


Table of Contents
Introduction I i

I. The Life of Kabir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
11. Anurag Sagar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
I. Prologue 1 3
Invocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Manglacharan: Hymn of God's Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Signs of a Lover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Who is Mritak? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
11. The Story of Creation 1 18
1. IN THE BEGINNING

Question About the Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
What Was in the Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2. THE FALL OF KAL

The Devotion of Niranjan and His Acquisition
of Mansarovar and the Void . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
How Niranjan Got What He Needed to Create
His Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
In Mansarovar: The Swallowing of Adhya by Niranjan
After Being Attracted to Her: The Curse of Sat Purush . . 32

3. THE CREATION OF THE LOWER WORLDS . . . . . . . 36


The Churning of the Ocean: The Creation
of Fourteen Jewels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Adhya Orders Her Three Sons to Create The Universe . . . 44
The Four Kinds of Created Beings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Special Account of the World's Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62


4 . THE FOUR KINDS OF LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

62
How the Eighty-four Lakhs Are Distributed . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Recognition of the Souls from Four Kinds of Creation . . . 66
5 . KAL TRAPS THE JIVAS
Kal Creates a Snare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
111 . The Coming of Kabir / 85

1 . BEFORE THE INCARNATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85


By the Orders of Sat Purush Kabir Sahib Comes to
Awaken the Souls; on the Way He Meets Niranjan . . . . . . 85
2 . IN THE SAT YUGA: The Incarnation as Sat Sukrit . . . . . 95
The Story of King Dhondal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
The Story of Khemsari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
3 . IN THE TRETA YUGA: The Incarnation as Maninder . . 101
The Story of Vichitra Bhat in Lanka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
The Story of Mandodari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
The Story of Madhukar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
4 . IN THE DWAPAR YUGA: The Incarnation as Karunarnai 109
The Coming of Karunamai in the Third Age . . . . . . . . . . . 109
The Story of Queen Indra Mati . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Indra Mati's Amazement. After Reaching Sat Lok. to Find
Karunamai and Sat Purush as the Same Form . . . . . . . . . . 124
Indra Mati's Request to Bring Her Husband.
King Chandra Vijay. to Sat Lok . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
The Story of Supach Sudarshan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

5 . IN THE KALI YUGA: The Incarnation as Kabir . . . . . . . 133


The Story of the Establishment of Jagannath Temple . . . . 137
The Story of Establishing Four Gurus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
The Story of Dharam Das's Previous Births . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
The Description of Performing Arti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Description of the Twelve Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Dharam Das Sahib Has the Darshan of
the NOTM Essence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
The Manifestation of Chudamani . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
The Establishment of the Kingdom
of Forty-two Incarnations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
IV . The Story of the Future / 172
The Beginning of the Story of the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Niranjan's Orders to His Four Messengers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Description of Four Messengers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
The Ways of Remaining Safe from These Messengers . . . . 184
Speech About the Future-Different Subjects . . . . . . . . . . 184
The Praise of the Incarnation of Nad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
The Importance of the Guru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
The Ways of Living of the Guru and the Disciple . . . . . . . . 197

V . Epilogue / 201
The Knowledge of the Lotus


Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Sins and Virtues of the Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
The Character of Niranjan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
The Signs of the Path Which Gives Liberation . . . . . . . . . . 208
The Ways of the Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 09
The Qualities of the Detached Renunciates . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
The Qualities of the Householders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
The Importance of Arti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
The Consequences of Carelessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Precaution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Description of Parmarth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Index I 220
List of Illustrations
Kal Did the Devotion on One Foot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v


Kabir and Dharam Das . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
Sat Purush Creating Kurma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Yogjit Expels Kal from Mansarovar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Kal Falls Through the Void . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Adhya's Sons Churn the Ocean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Kal Torments the Souls; Kabir Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
KaI Meets Kabir Coming to Rescue the Souls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Ravana Attacks Kabir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 04
Indra Mati Meets Sat Purush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 22
Dharam Das Pulls Narayan to Meet Kabir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
KaI and the Four Doots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
The Disciple as Moonbird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

( to be continued - 16 )


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Introduction

I. The Life of Kabir


As Sant Ajaib Singh points out in his Foreword, the life of Kabir is lost
in the mists of legend and it is very difficult, from this point so far
removed in time from Kabir's life, to know many hard facts about it.
Still, there are certain elements of that life about which the traditions
seem to agree and about those we can be reasonably sure.

TIME AND PLACE

As Sant Ji said, it has been generally agreed for centuries that Kabir
lived from 1398 to 1518. There are variations on those dates: one alternative
that is proposed is 1380 to 1440, and another from 1440 to 15 18.
Neither alternative is based on tradition, however; they are speculative
reconstructions by modern scholars who apparently have difficulty
with the abnormally long life span. But while the span is long, even for
spiritual Masters, it is not unprecedented: a minority of Indian holy
men have always been long-lived. The celebrated Trailanga Swami,
who apparently lived for three hundred years in Benares in relatively
modern times in the full glare of the British Raj, is a case in point; one
of his disciples, a woman, Shankari Mai Jiew, born in 1826, was still
alive in 1946-precisely Kabir's life span.'
It was my own good fortune to meet the Maharishi Raghuvacharya,
a well-known yogi of Rishikesh who became, in his nineties, a disciple
of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji. I met Raghuvacharya on two occasions-in
1965 and 1969-when he was well over 100 years old. He died in 1970,
aged 115, in full control of his powers; when I had met him the year

I . See Paramhansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, pp. 291-295, for an interesting
account of Trailanga Swami; but his remarkable age is attested to by many
witnesses. As this book was going to press, the Boston Globe (February 9, 1982) carried
the obituary of Ike Ward, born into slavery in 1862, dead from old age (without having
been through a period of ill health) at 120.
xvii

before he had given every impression of being a vigorous 65. Yet his
long life and birth date was known to hundreds of people, as he had
lived in Rishikesh all of his life.
So while it is unusual for Kabir to have lived such a long life, it is by
no means impossible; and since tradition has fixed on those dates from
early times, and nothing else about Kabir's life is any less unusual, it
seems reasonable to accept them.
It is also reasonably certain that he was born in Benares (then called
Kashi) and lived there most of his life, dying in the nearby town of
~ a ~ a h a r .

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES


It is as certain as anything can be about Kabir that he was a Muslim by
birth and belonged to the julaha caste. Strictly speaking, Muslims are
not supposed to have any caste; but in India this idea has tended to
erode under the pressure of mass conversions of lower-caste Hindus,
who, in attempting to escape the difficulties of inferior caste, only succeeded
in bringing them with them into Islam. This would appear to be
the case with the julahas, apparently a Sudra caste that converted en
masse between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. The word julaha
means "weaver" in Persian, and the members of the caste are usually
either weavers or farmers. Their social status was and is very low, and
their conversion did not raise it, either in the eyes of Hindus or of
Muslims.
From the very beginning, Kabir has been identified as a julaha. Indeed,
he identifies himself that way. Although his songs and poetry are
not rich in autobiographical information (Anurag Sagar is particularly
disappointing in this respect) what information they do contain is
especially valuable; and the fact is that Kabir happily, perhaps gleefully,
lets the world know that he is a julaha:

I am of low community, my caste is julaha;
I have only one advantage and that is of Naam.

Since the julahas were by definition Muslims, and since Kabir is an
Islamic name (it is actually Arabic and is found in the Koran), his Islamic
faith would appear to be beyond dispute. It has been disputed, though,
on the grounds that his teaching appears to be given entirely within a
Hindu frame of reference. Anurag Sagar is a case in point: while much
of the poem is dedicated to exploding Hindu theology, it is done from
within: the ideas are stood on their head, as it were, by someone who
knows them inside out and who refutes them by showing the truth that
2. See note on page 15 below ["Kashi"].
3. Songs :sf the Macters, p. 16. This song IS from the Granth Sahib. Gujar~2


INTRODUCTION X ~ X


they are supposed to reflect. There is very little Islam in Anurag Sagar,
or in Kabir's poetry in general (although many of the songs contain brief
references to Islamic ideas).
There are various explanations for this, one of them being the obvious
one that Kabir was concerned with the here and now: most of the people
in the area of his mission were Hindus, and he wanted to reach them via
their own religious language. Another is that the concerns of the Anurag
Sugar are in areas where Hindu mythology is very rich, and the
characters and events of that mythology lent itself to Kabir's poetic
genius in ways that the comparatively barren Islamic tradition could not.
And then there is the fact that the amount of Islamic education julahas
received was very small: the caste as a whole was and is illiterate, and
does not rank high on the priority list of Muslim educators. Kabir's
guru, as we will see, was a Hindu, and Kabir is generally considered a
Hindu saint by modern Hindus: in fact, he has become a Hindu god, and
idols of him are found in Hindu temples-ironic fate for a Saint who denounced
idolatry as strongly as any Hebrew prophet. His Hindu admirers
do not deny his Muslim origins, but they either ignore or explain
them away. Nevertheless, that a Saint who was not only a Muslim but an
illiterate, low-caste Muslim should so win the hearts of Hindus and rise
to such a position of eminence among them is totally without parallel in
all history and testifies eloquently to the "incredible power" Sant Ji
mentions in his Foreword.
His parents, who figure in the Anurag Sagar, were Nima (his mother)
and Niru (his father). They were not, according to Kabir himself, his actual
physical parents, as his birth was miraculous; but he chose them, for
reasons explained in the poem, was brought up by them as their son, accepted
the limitations of their low caste, and learned the weaver's trade
from his father. There is evidence in his writings that his mother had a
very difficult time dealing with his Sainthood and all that it implied, and
also with his use of Hindu concepts in his teaching:
Kabir's mother weeps bitterly, worrying:

"How is this child going to live, 0 God?". . .
Kabir says, "Listen, mother,
God is the only giver for all of us."

[Kabir's mother asks:]

"Who in our family has ever invoked Ram?"

When he grew up, he married Loi, who was also his disciple, had two
children-a son Kamal and a daughter Kamali-and earned his living as
4. Ibid.
5. Granth Sahib, Bilaval4

a weaver. Loi and Kamali are not mentioned in Anurag Sagar, but
Kamal is, in a context that makes it clear that he was Kabir's physical
son. Thus it is very unlikely that he was not married, as some of his Hindu
followers (who find the concept of a married holy man difficult to accept)
maintain. In the Sant Mat tradition it is not unusual for a Master to
be married, and as Kabir was the founder of that tradition there is no
reason why he should not have been. Those who object to this maintain
that Loi and the children were all disciples only; but as the traditions
clearly depict all three in an intimate relationship with Kabir on a daily
domestic basis, it is extremely unlikely that they were not his physical
family.

KABIR AND RAMANANDA


The Anurag Sagar maintains, and Sant Mat tradition affirms, that Kabir
is the proto-Master or original Saint, who has descended directly from
God four different times, once in each yuga or time-cycle, founding a
line of Masters each time, and that his incarnation in the present timecycle
or Kali Yuga-that is, the life of the historical Kabir-is thus only
a fraction of his totality. In the Anurag Sagar Kabir goes into greater or
lesser detail on each of these four incarnations, as well as his preincarnate
activity, and his account is accepted by the Masters of Sant
Mat as a straightforward accurate approximation of actions and events
which are ultimately too tremendous to fit easily into our verbal and conceptual
framework. His description of his various incarnations, like
many other parts of the poem, is as true as it can be, given the limits of
the medium it is conveyed in, and forms a basic and important part of
the body of ideas and stories that constitute the verbal tradition of Sant
Mat; and the Masters who have come after him have accepted Kabir as
the founder of the various lines of Masters.
Nevertheless, tradition affirms, and Kabir's writings bear it out, that
Kabir took initiation from a Guru, and the Guru was Ramananda. This
may seem contradictory; but it is a basic pillar of Sant Mat that everyone
needs to sit at the feet of a Master. As Jesus said to John the Baptist,
when the latter in amazement asked him why he had come to him, "Thus
it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness."6] The situation is exactly
analogous; and just as John's question implies that he should be coming
to Jesus, rather than the other way around, so the tradition affirms that
ultimately Kabir liberated Ramananda. But still Kabir outwardly sat at
Ramananda's feet and humbled himself before him in the eyes of the
world. Sant Kirpal Singh Ji has written:

All born Saints, though very few, come into the world with esoteric knowledge right from their birth but have for form's sake to adopt
a Master. ["Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness."]
Kabir Sahib, for instance, had to accept Shri Ramananda as his
Master

___

_ 6. Matthew

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"All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop."

— Kabir

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Sant Ajaib Singh Ji has commented on the relationship of Kabir and
Ramananda in detail as follows:
Kabir Sahib was all-powerful and even if he had not taken anyone
as Guru, still it would not matter much. But still he didn't break the
limits and traditions and that's why he took Ramananda as his
Master. But the fact was that Ramananda was liberated by Kabir
Sahib. Ramananda was an idol worshiper and didn't have any
knowledge of spirituality. But the Hindu people were taking him as
a very great holy man, and they were also criticizing Kabir Sahib
because he didn't have any Master or guru, saying that to take initiation
or to take a mantra from him is a sin. Kabir Sahib was a very
clever Mahatma, and he thought that if he took any small Mahatma
as his Master, then these people would not believe. So he should
take somebody who is well-known among all these people as his
Master. But since Ramananda was not happy in even seeing any
Muslim, and because Kabir was born in a Muslim family, there was
no question of taking initiation from Ramananda. It was impossible
for him.
Ramananda used to go, every morning, to the River Ganges. So,
because Kabir Sahib wanted to take him as his Master, Kabir
changed his form into a small child. He lay down on the steps on
which Ramananda was coming back. It was very dark, and accidentally
Ramananda stepped on that child. And Kabir, who was
that child, started weeping. Who knows whether Ramananda really
stepped on Kabir Sahib or not? But still Kabir wanted some excuse
to weep, so he started weeping. Ramananda was very much afraid
and he said, "0 man of God, repeat 'God.' 0 man of God, repeat
'God' "--like that. But Kabir Sahib went on weeping. And he
again said this thing, "0 man of God, repeat 'God.' " And
Ramananda came back home and Kabir disappeared from that
place.
After that Kabir Sahib started saying to people, "Ramananda is
my Master. I have got initiation from Him." So the Hindu people
were very upset with Ramananda, and they came to him, saying,
"You have got thousands of Hindu disciples but you are still
hungry for more. Why did you make this Muslim your disciple?"
In those days, people were believing very much in caste. So Rama-
7. Kirpal Singh, Godman, p. 62.
nanda said, "Who said he is my disciple? I do not know any Kabir
and I have not given initiation to any Kabir." So all the Hindu people
came to Kabir Sahib and told him, "You come with us to Ramananda.
You are saying that he is your Master but he doesn't believe
that. You come with us." So Kabir went to Ramananda's home.
And at that time Ramananda was worshiping an idol of Lord
Vishnu. Because he was never happy to see the faces of Muslim people,
he had a curtain and Kabir Sahib was sitting on the other side of
the curtain. Ramananda was playing with the idol and at the end he
put the crown on the head of the idol, but he forgot to put the chain
on the neck. So he was very confused at what to do then, because if
he removed the crown from the head that meant disrespect and
there was no other way to put the chain on the neck. So Kabir
Sahib, who was all-conscious, said, "Master, Guru Ji, why are you
so confused? Just unhook the chain and then again hook it and
then you will be able to put the chain around the neck." When he
saw Kabir Sahib was sitting there on the other side of the curtain
and couldn't even see him, he thought, "How did he know I had
this problem? And he has solved my problem!" He was very surprised.
So he talked with him and said, "When did I initiate you?"
Kabir Sahib reminded him of the incident and he told him, "You
stepped on me and you told me to repeat this thing, so I am
repeating that, and you are my Master."
So Ramananda said, "That was a child; but you are Kabir." He
said, "If you want me to become a child, I can show you. Now also
I can change myself into a child and I can show you that I am the
same thing." So when Ramananda came to know all this he said,
"If you are all-conscious, then why is there this curtain between you
and me? Remove that curtain." So after that Kabir Sahib liberated
Ramananda.
Even though Ramananda had received a lot from Kabir, still he
was involved in all the practices he was doing, rites and rituals and
idol-worshiping. Once Ramananda was performing the ceremony
in which they make many good foods and they give it to the people,
saying, "This is going to our fathers and forefathers, those who
have died and who are residing in the heavens." For that ceremony
Ramananda sent all his disciples including Kabir Sahib into the
village to get some milk to make rice pudding and other things. So
Kabir also went and there he saw that there was one dead cow, and
by force he started putting some food in the mouth of that dead
cow. Because she was dead, she couldn't eat by herself. But by
using a stick, he was forcing the food in her mouth. He started
milking her. But she was dead; how could she give milk? So the
INTRODUCTION xxiii
other disciples, when they saw Kabir doing this thing, they came to
Ramananda and reported it. Ramananda called Kabir and rebuked
him and said, "Oh man, the dead cow cannot eat food and she cannot
give milk." So Kabir Sahib said, "Guru Ji, are you sure that the
dead cow cannot eat anything or give any fruit?'' So he said, "Yes,
that is definitely true." So he said, "Well, how are you sure that the
food that you are giving to other people, saying, 'This is going to go
to your fathers, those who are residing in the heavens?' will really
give you fruit?" Ramananda didn't have any reply to that. And
Kabir Sahib only did this to teach him a lesson because Kabir Sahib
had made up his mind to liberate Ramananda.:Angel2: 23

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“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” – (Matthew 22:36-40)


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KABIR AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES


Kabir's impact on his contemporaries was profound. Many stories are
told which illustrate his power, insight, and various aspects of his extraordinary
personality-including his honesty, unforced humility, total
dependence on God, compassion and bluntness. Baba Sawan Singh,
after being praised by many for having performed a miracle, told this
story which emphasizes the human-ness of this most transcendent of
Saints without diminishing his glory:
The people attribute this incident to my miraculous powers. It is just
as it once happened with Kabir Sahib. The pundits, the pseudo-
Saints and the well-read people were jealous of Kabir Sahib.
Accordingly they proclaimed throughout the town that on a certain
day there would be a Bhandara (a religious gathering and feast) at
Kabir Sahib's place. Kabir Sahib came to know about this trick the
evening before. How could He feed thousands of men? [He was of
course very poor.] He left the place in the evening and hid Himself
in the jungle, remaining there until the next day. From His place of
hiding He could see the people returning from His home the next
day, and all of them were remarking, "Well done, Kabir! What
delicious food you provided for the Sadhus!"
Kabir Sahib did not know what this meant.. . . He returned home
and His family told Him, "Well, you were here all the time and you
yourself fed all the people." Kabir Sahib at once understood that it
was all the mercy and blessing of the Supreme Father. [He is
reported to have exclaimed: "Kabir did not do it, could not do it,
would not do it; it is God Who has done it, and the credit has gone
to Kabir! "1 The same is the case in this incident. The Saints always
remain within the Will of God
8. Ajaib Singh, Streams in the Desert, p. 381.
9. Quoted by Rai Sahib Munshi Ram, With the Three Masters, Vol. 2, pp. 184-85.
Sant Kirpal Singh used to tell a marvelous story which demonstrates
Kabir's power as well as his humor and wisdom:
At the time of Kabir Sahib there was a certain pundit or religious
teacher. His story is written in the scriptures, and it tells of how he
studied the holy and other books extensively and became the most
learned man for many miles around, so he called himself Sarbajeet,
meaning one who has won above all others. On completion of his
studies, he returned to his mother's house. She was a follower of
Kabir Sahib, and he said to her, "Mother, I have become Sarbarjeet;
you should call me that from now on." She replied, "I
will, if you can beat Kabir Sahib in knowledge." Worldly
knowledge often encourages pride, and carelessly picking up his
books he said, "Oh, that is nothing," and went off to Kabir Sahib's
humble dwelling.
Kabir Sahib said to the young man, "Well, Punditji, what has
brought you here?" The proud pundit replied, "I am Sarbajeet,
and I have come to beat you in knowledge." Kabir Sahib smiled at
him and saad, "I do not want to argue over this, so you just write
down that Sarbajeet has won and Kabir has lost; and I will sign it."
The pundit was very pleased that Kabir had given in so easily; he
quickly wrote the words and got Kabir to sign it. He went home,
and flourishing the paper at his mother, he said, "Now you will
have to call me Sarbajeet, for Kabir Sahib has acknowledged it."
She took the paper and read aloud, "Sarbajeet has lost and Kabir
has won." Unbelieving, he read it for himself, and said, "How is
this possible? There must be some mistake-1 will go back to Kabir
Sahib." On arriving at the Saint's house, he blurted out, "Maharaj,
I made a slight mistake, so I want to rewrite the paper." Kabir
Sahib amiably agreed, and signed the new declaration. When the
pundit reached home, his mother read the paper and said, "But it is
still written, 'Sarbajeet has lost and Kabir has won."' In frustration
he shouted, "I will go again to Kabir!" and hurried off. It is a rule
with all great Masters that they never belittle a person, but with love
they make the people understand. If one does not listen even then,
they will go to the extent of operating, like a doctor who will do his
very best to cure a tumor, even if it means resorting to surgery. So,
with great kindness, Kabir Sahib pointed out to the pundit, "How
can your mind and mine become one? I say what I have seen, and
you say what you have read from printed matter.'"'
Sant Ajaib Singh tells a brief story which is very revealing:
10. Kirpal Singh, "The Jewel of Infinite Value," SatSandesh, Vol. 3, No. 10, pp. 4-5.

24


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In the time of Kabir Sahib, once on the banks of the River Ganga a
person of low caste was bathing and a pundit was passing by. And it
happened that one drop of water from the body of that low-caste
man touched the body of the pundit, and he became very upset
because he considered himself polluted; but Kabir Sahib told him
very lovingly, "Oh Brahmin, you were also born of a woman; how
can you be called brahmin when we shudras came into the world
from the same place and we were born in the same manner? How
can you say that we and you are different? You have blood and we
also have the same blood!" So Kabir Sahib lovingly explained to
him that all men are the same.' '
Revolutionary sentiments like this have endeared Kabir to such modern
Indian visionaries as Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore, but
had the opposite effect in his own time. A caste-conscious Hindu society
and an orthodox Muslim establishment both viewed the presumptuous
julaha with horror, and he was persecuted a number of times, primarily
by the Emperor Sikander Lodi. He was drowned in the Ganges chained
in a boat full of stones, but either was miraculously saved at the last
minute or resurrected from the dead; he was buried alive, but survived
that also; he was bound and thrown in front of an elephant, but the
elephant refused to touch him. These stories are part of the tradition, but
of course are not verifiable; nevertheless, that Kabir's teaching and actions
brought him into conflict with authority and eventually persecution
is overwhelmingly probable; to survive such persecution either
through divine intervention or resurrection is not without precedent; and
in any case, Kabir's survival is well attested, as is his death in Magahar at
an advanced age.
The earliest written reference to Kabir outside of the Sant Mat tradition
is in the Bhakta Mala, a poem on the lives of various Saints, written
by Nabha Das about 1600 (eighty years after Kabir's death). It is a very
interesting and accurate brief summing-up of his career as seen from
outside:
Kabir refused to acknowledge caste distinctions, or to recognize the
authority of the six Hindu schools of philosophy;. . .He held that
religion without bhakti [loving devotion for God] was no religion at
all, and that asceticism, fasting and almsgiving had no value if
unaccompanied by bhajan [meditation]. By means of ramainis,
shabdas and sakhis [different types of songs] he imparted religious
instruction to Hindus and Mohammedans alike. He had no preference
for either religion, but gave teaching that was appreciated by

11. Ajaib Singh, Streams in the Desert, p. 174.


the followers of both. He spoke out his mind fearlessly, and never
made it his object merely to please his hearers.


KABIR'S SUCCESSORS

As the seminal figure in the modern history of Sant Mat, Kabir had a
number of disciples who became Masters and gave initiation after his
passing: some of them are known only from his writings, but many are
famous in their own right. Ravidas and Dadu Sahib are two well-known
Saints who derived directly or indirectly from Kabir, and there are many
others. The two that are of concern to us here are Dharam Das, who was
his gurumukh successor and who is honored today especially by the
members of the Kabir-panth, a religious sect in northern India (it has
Hindu and Muslim sections) which claims to have been founded by
Kabir, and Baba Nanak, the first guru of the Sikhs, who is honored
today especially by the followers of the Sikh religion.
It is one of the ironies of history that the line continuing through
Dharam Das, whose special relationship with Kabir is vividly described
by Sant Ji in his Foreword, should have decayed and become eventually
one of ceremonial religious leadership, while the line continuing through
Nanak, who only met Kabir twice and who was himself a swateh sant,
"born free,"12 should be the line through which Kabir's power and impulse
continue in their fulness in the modern world.' But it is true: the
Kabir-panth today has no knowledge of the inner teachings, and has
reduced its initiation to one of ritual only. While the same is true of the
Sikh religion, that line went underground after the death of the tenth
Sikh Guru and has continued unabated down to the present.


KARIR'S PASSING

When Kabir was ready to leave, it is said that his Hindu and Muslim
disciples were prepared to fight over whether his body should be
cremated or buried. After rebuking them sternly for forgetting his
teachings so soon, he lay down, covered himself with sheets, and told
everyone 1 o leave. When they came back into the room, his body was
gone; where it had been was a heap of flowers. His Muslim followers
took half of the flowers and buried them, and his Hindu disciples took
the other half and burned them. Thus in death as in life, Kabir demonstrated
the universality of the Masters.
It is also said that Kabir made a number of resurrection appearances
after his death, including at least one to Dharam Das in which he gave
him further instruction along the lines of the Anurag Sagar. (P#26)

12. Kirpal Singh, Godman, p. 20.
13. See Streams in the Desert, p. I I , for a complete list of the Masters descending from
Kabir through Nanak down to the present.


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"All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop."

� Kabir

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