Kabir was raised by childless Muslim weavers named Niru and Nimma, who found him near Lahara Tara lake, adjacent to the holy city of Varanasi. But his birth is surrounded by legends. The most popular belief is that being the supreme power, he appeared in form of a baby. He was never "born" as such.

He was a Bhakti saint, who sang the ideals of seeing all of humanity as one, his name, Kabir, is often interpreted as Guru's Grace. He kept himself away from the fundamentalism of all the religions and explained the root philosophies of spirituality.

A weaver by profession, Kabir ranks among the world's greatest poets. In India, 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, a Bhagat, in high reverence.

Kabir openly criticized all sects and gave a new direction to 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.

He is also considered one of the early northern India Sants. One source for modern adaptations of Kabir's poetry is Robert Bly's The Kabir Book: Forty-Four of the Ecstatic Poems of Kabir. bv

Kabir is associated with the Sant Mat, a loosely related group of teachers (Sanskrit: Guru) that assumed prominence in the northern part of the Indian sub-continent from about the 13th century. Their teachings are distinguished theologically by inward loving devotion to a divine principle, and socially by an egalitarianism opposed to the qualitative distinctions of the Hindu caste hierarchy and to the religious differences between Hindu and Muslim.

The sants were not homogeneous, consisting mostly of these sants' presentation of socio-religious attitudes based on bhakti (devotion) as described earlier in the Bhagavad Gita. Sharing as few conventions with each other as with the followers of the traditions they challenged, the sants appear more as a diverse collection of spiritual personalities than a specific religious tradition, although they acknowledged a common spiritual root.

The first generation of north Indian sants, (which included Kabir), appeared in the region of Benares in the mid 15th century. Preceding them were two notable 13th and 14th century figures, Namdev and Ramananda. The latter, a Vaishnava ascetic, initiated Kabir, Ravidas, and other sants, according to tradition. Ramananda's story is told differently by his lineage of "Ramanandi" monks, by other Sants preceding him, and later by the Guru Nanak and subsequent Sikh Gurus. What is known is that Ramananda accepted students of all castes, a fact that was contested by the orthodox Hindus of that time, and that his students formed the first generation of Sants.

Kabir (1440 – 1518) was an Indian poet, mystic and philosopher, and one of the Nothern India Sants.

Contents

• 1 Sourced
  • 1.1 Bijak
  • 1.2 Songs of Kabîr (1915)
  • 1.3 Azfar Hussain translations
• 2 Quotes about Kabir
• 3 External links

Sourced

Bijak

Quotes from various translations of the Bijak [Seedling], an early compilation of Kabir's poetry.

• I've burned my own house down, the torch is in my hand. Now I'll burn down the house of anyone who wants to follow me.
  • The Bijak of Kabir (1983;2002) as translated by Linda Hess and Shukdeo Singh.

• Admire the diamond that can bear the hits of a hammer. Many deceptive preachers, when critically examined, turn out to be false.
  • Sakhi, 168; translation by Yashwant K. Malaiya based on that of Puran Sahib.

• Don't open your diamonds in a vegetable market. Tie them in bundle and keep them in your heart, and go your own way.
  • Sakhi, 170; translation by Yashwant K. Malaiya based on that of Puran Sahib.

• A diamond was laying in the street covered with dirt. Many fools passed by. Someone who knew diamonds picked it up.
  • Sakhi, 171; translation by Yashwant K. Malaiya based on that of Puran Sahib.