Kabir And The Divine Thought Analysis

Kabir and the Divine Thought

Kabir is recognized as one of the most influential saint poets of India. He belongs to the first generation Hindi poets of India who composed couplets and songs in the vernacular for the masses. Born in Benares in the 15th century, he was profoundly influenced by the Muslims who dominated India from 11th century until the advent of British. In the 15th century, the Muslim influence was predominantly in the form of Sufism and various Persian Mystics through their poetry and philosophy inspired Kabir. Kabir had acquired a strong distaste for the static formalism. Rituals like pilgrimages, idol worship and asceticism were abhorred by him. He was greatly influenced by Ramananda who had brought
In line with Bhakti was the Sufi movement also. While Bhakti liberalized Hinduism, Sufism liberalized Islam and Kabir was the meeting ground for both the schools of thought. In him, the two blended. Both these movements were seen as heretical. Both taught that the soul found enlightenment in union with the Supreme Being and both used similar figures of speech to describe the union. Love was the basic emotion and the ecstasy of religious experience was like the intoxication by wine. As far as the thoughts of love were concerned, the Bhaktas bluntly opposed the traditional Hindu principles and instead laid emphasis on the fullest satisfaction of senses. Dasgupta opines that a Bhakta was required to possess the “fullest satisfaction of his sense and inclinations” (p.43). Kabir’s songs represented all these features and influences as far as the philosophy and the manner of expression were concerned (Stahl, 1954). Bhakti was, in essence, faith, love and adoration of a personal god generally manifested in an anthropomorphic form like that of an avatar or descent. A Bhakta was supposed to worship the god with utter humility, love and trust. The Bhakta would give himself into the hands of the devoted and attain salvation by grace. The
He is hailed as the father of Hindi poetry and it was he who brought to masses, the ethos of the vernacular. Before Kabir, Sanskrit was the norm and it was a language confined to scholars and priests and people at large didn’t understand it. However, Kabir used the common language which was understood by all. Kabir initiated the Sant Mat, the practise of spending time in the company of saintly people. He directed people to shun their egos and seek the companionship of saintly people. Another practise that was initiated by Kabir was that of Sahaj Yoga or Swat Shabd Yoga. It was the path of natural union with God through meditation on the Word. The natural or the easy union with God leads to the conscious realization of one’s unity with God. Upon achieving this union one sees God everywhere through his quality of omnipresence. Kabir founded the Nirguna Bhakti, the practise of loving devotion to the formless Divine. He opposed to the phenomenon of resting God in some physical form or shape. To him, God was beyond the physical attributes or features. So, the Saguna tradition of Bhakti was challenged by Kabir. In addition to this, there were many other traditions of beliefs that Kabir strongly condemned and challenged. He laid emphasis on Vegetarianism so that none would inflict pain on other living creatures. Kabir was a fearless teacher. He spoke candidly