By Sri Anish
Whenever there is a growing conflict in the world or especially in the spiritual understanding of people, a saint comes who put the entire conflict to rest through his direct & unique teachings. Something similar happened around 900 years ago.
A great being took birth in the city of Kashi (Varanasi), there are so many stories about his birth that historians are not able to say with authority whether he was born in Kashi or not, though he spent most of his life in Kashi. The world came to know him by the name of Sant Kabir Das.
Kabir Ji’s family was from a weaving community, which was considered a low-end community in the social order of those days. As a child, Kabir Ji didn’t go to school, he was a very different child, always aloof and contemplative, in his own thoughts. So, he remained illiterate throughout his life. Despite being illiterate, he gave some of the most profound poems & couplets which the world is singing even today.
There is a very interesting story about Kabir Ji’s Deeksha (initiation into a spiritual tradition & practice) by his guru. Since childhood, there was a mystical stream in Kabir Ji, and quite early in his life, he realized that in order to proceed on the spiritual path, one needs a guru. But because of his upbringing in a weaver’s household, it wasn’t easy for him to take Deeksha from a guru and that too in the city of Kashi which at that time was quite divided over one’s religious background and Jati (social order) in which one was born.
In those days, there was a very famous saint Swami Ramanand who had his ashram in Kashi. Kabir Ji wanted to take Deeksha from him, so he went to Swami Ramanand Ji’s ashram to have his darshan (visual blessings) and receive initiation from him. But Kabir Ji was refused entry into that ashram because of his Jati.
Kabir Ji knew that Swami Ramanand Ji goes to take a bath in the Ganga River every morning before sunrise. So, one day, he went to Ganga Ghat and slept on the path from where Ramanand Ji would pass for his bath. Now, in the darkness, when Ramanand Ji was climbing down the stairs to the river, his foot hit the sleeping Kabir Ji. A shocked Ramanand Ji in his usual style said, ‘Ram Ram Ram Ram’. This was the perfect moment Kabir Ji was waiting for. He got the darshan of his desired guru, got the Deeksha of Ram Naam from him and also got the touch of his feet.
From that day onwards, Kabir Ji started chanting ‘Ram Naam’ and also started singing & dancing in praise of his guru Swami Ramanand Ji. Months passed and slowly the whole town got to know about Kabir Ji’s Ram Naam chant and kirtans. Seeing this, the local priests started getting jealous about his growing popularity, and they confronted him saying, “Who gave you Deeksha of Ram Naam and the authority to sing these kirtans? Why are you desecrating this sacred mantra”? To this, Kabir Ji said, “Swami Ramanand Ji himself has given me Deeksha and he is my guru”. This was quite unbelievable for the local priests. So, the matter went to Ramanand Ji, and he summoned Kabir Ji and asked him, “Who gave you Deeksha”, Kabir Ji said, “Sir, you gave me Deeksha”, this enraged swami Ji and he scolded him and asked, “Where did I give you Deeksha you liar?” and Kabir Ji said, “At the Ganga Ghat”. Hearing this, swami Ji became furious, he uttered Ram Ram and took out his wooden sandal and threw it on Kabir Ji’s head. After this, Kabir Ji smilingly said, “Guru Ji, though I was not lying earlier also, but now everyone has seen, you gave me the mantra Deeksha right now by uttering Ram Ram and you allowed your Charan Paduka (foot sandal) also to touch my head, thereby making me your disciple. These words melted the heart of Swami Ramanand Ji, he regained his composure, saw the real bhakti (devotion & resolve) of Kabir Ji and said to the whole crowd that, “actually Kabir is a true devotee and from today I accept him as my disciple”.
Slowly Kabir Ji’s popularity grew far and wide, he had now become Sant Kabir Das. He used to chant the name of ‘Ram’ all the time, Ram Naam became his life. Though, illiterate but he uttered some of the most profound couplets. In some there was a deep devotion, in others, there was a direct jolt to superstitions or hollow religious rituals. Many of his poems also targeted people who used to spread hatred and divide in the name of religion or Jati. Here is one of Kabir das Ji’s beautiful poems:
raam bulaava bheJiya, diya kabira roy,
jo sukh saadhoo sang mem, so baikunt n hoy.
He says, when ram’s messengers come as death, seeing them Kabir cries a lot, because the joy that one gets in the company of saints and sages, that joy is not available even in Vaikunth (abode of God Vishnu Ji).
So, in this, Kabir Ji is suggesting that people should spend as much time as possible in the company of holy beings or awakened ones because their virtues tend to rub on us and the joy one gets from such company is unparalleled.
It is also significant to observe that his name ends with ‘Das’ which means, ‘servant’. Kabir Ji considered himself a servant of Ram. No ego self, no tantrums, no desire to become a popular guru or anything like that, just a pure servant, who does what the master tells him to do. This is the ultimate surrender on the spiritual path, becoming a servant, a tool, and a medium for god’s work. And when one achieves this ‘das-hood’ (servant-ship), one experiences a great liberation. This is the pinnacle of bhakti (devotion) and samarpan (surrender), and this is where the true Ananda (joy) resides. This is one of the greatest teachings of Kabir das Ji, that by becoming ‘the servant’ first, one truly becomes ‘the master’.
(Sri Anish is an ex-corporate CEO & a successful entrepreneur. In 2006, he moved to the Himalayas & spent over a decade for his deeper spiritual quest. After this sadhana period, he was guided to move back into public life to bring spiritual awakening to the world through his talks, writings, retreats, programs and works of seva.)
