Kabir. How cool his name sounds even today! He also said some super cool stuff, few hundred years ago. For me, he was a cool dude, a true rockstar!
Not because of his name, which by the way, comes from Arabic, but because of what he said and how he lived his life around that. He challenged the established religious beliefs and social practices of his time, which were full of ignorance and we're being followed blindly, generations after generations, without being questioned. And he left none; took both the Hindus and Muslims equally to task. He made fun of the religious leaders who were taking the ignorant masses for ride. Well, if you think about it, this is not a mean achievement even today.
But the more important reason for him being a rockstar is that Kabir knew the truth. He knew his Ram and he knew that despite being so near, how far He actually was from the temple and mosque visiting people. Kabir was great because he knew the truth and he had the courage to call a spade a spade. At the same time, he also showed the right way and encouraged people to follow that.
He was so cool that people have still not been able to figure out if he was of a Hindu or Muslim faith. But he is so popular that both endear him equally.
If someone is able to know Kabir well, he will also come to know Ram. And the only way to know him is to study what he said. Depending on one's own consciousness, different people will identify and interpret Ram differently. Some may find Ram a person, the king, while some may realize that he is inside all of us and everywhere. Some will say that Ram is the cosmic energy (the shakti) which is manifested in every thing in the universe, while some may not find words to describe Kabir's Ram, which is the supreme being, the all-pervading cosmic consciousness (shiv).
Kabir was a mystic. He has painted and presented the form-formless puzzle very beautifully in his poetry through "had-anhad". He said that everyone is lost in had (form) and no one goes beyond (behad, the formless). At another place, he said that for only a faqir like him, traversing between the two worlds (had and anhad) is a child's play.
Kabir was a poet. A sufi. A yogi (he learnt Kriya Yoga from Mahavar Babaji, reference: the book Autobiography of a Yogi).
Not because of his name, which by the way, comes from Arabic, but because of what he said and how he lived his life around that. He challenged the established religious beliefs and social practices of his time, which were full of ignorance and we're being followed blindly, generations after generations, without being questioned. And he left none; took both the Hindus and Muslims equally to task. He made fun of the religious leaders who were taking the ignorant masses for ride. Well, if you think about it, this is not a mean achievement even today.
But the more important reason for him being a rockstar is that Kabir knew the truth. He knew his Ram and he knew that despite being so near, how far He actually was from the temple and mosque visiting people. Kabir was great because he knew the truth and he had the courage to call a spade a spade. At the same time, he also showed the right way and encouraged people to follow that.
He was so cool that people have still not been able to figure out if he was of a Hindu or Muslim faith. But he is so popular that both endear him equally.
If someone is able to know Kabir well, he will also come to know Ram. And the only way to know him is to study what he said. Depending on one's own consciousness, different people will identify and interpret Ram differently. Some may find Ram a person, the king, while some may realize that he is inside all of us and everywhere. Some will say that Ram is the cosmic energy (the shakti) which is manifested in every thing in the universe, while some may not find words to describe Kabir's Ram, which is the supreme being, the all-pervading cosmic consciousness (shiv).
Kabir was a mystic. He has painted and presented the form-formless puzzle very beautifully in his poetry through "had-anhad". He said that everyone is lost in had (form) and no one goes beyond (behad, the formless). At another place, he said that for only a faqir like him, traversing between the two worlds (had and anhad) is a child's play.
Kabir was a poet. A sufi. A yogi (he learnt Kriya Yoga from Mahavar Babaji, reference: the book Autobiography of a Yogi).
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