Kabir (c.1398–c.1448) was an Indian mystic and poet. He is admired as an exemplar of religious toleration. Kabir’s mystical poems, stressing his rejection of caste, and advocating the oneness of God, have made him one of the most famous religious figures in India’s history.
A large body of hagiographical literature and abundant legends has developed concerning Kabir’s life story, but not much is known for sure. It is believed that his Brahmin Hindu mother abandoned him, and a Muslim weaver adopted and raised him.
Kabir preached the unity of all religions. His borrowings from both Hinduism and Islām resulted in the preaching of a new mystic path (the “Kabir Panth,”) and the founding, by one of his disciples, of the Sikh faith.
Kabir is regarded as one of the greatest poets in the Hindī tradition and is possibly the most frequently quoted. He composed his poetry in an indigenous dialect of old Hindī. His poetry was orally transmitted for at least a century before they were first written down. His mystic poetry is noteworthy for its persistent disapproval of the conspicuous practices and rituals of all religions.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Kabir
Inexpressible is the story of Love
It cannot be revealed by words
Like the dumb eating sweet-meat
Only smiles, the sweetness he cannot tell.
—Kabir
Guru the washer man, disciple is the cloth
The name of God liken to the soap
Wash the mind on foundation firm
To realize the glow of Truth.
—Kabir
With the ocean set ablaze
The smoke yet manifests not
Only the one who gets burnt
Envisions the heat of loving thought.
—Kabir
Speak such words, sans ego’s ploy Body
remains composed, giving the listener joy.
—Kabir
Blessing it is to talk with the wise Talking with stupid is waste of time Says Kabir, Half full is forever swaying The fulfilled prefers staying calm.
—Kabir
Begging is like perishing, none should go imploring It is better to die than beg, this is pure Guru’s teaching.
—Kabir
The man who is kind and practices righteousness, who remains passive in the affairs of the world, who considers creatures of the world as his own self, he attains the immortal Being; the true God is ever with him.
—Kabir
Slowly slowly O’ mind, everything in own pace happens.
Gardner may water a hundred buckets, fruit arrives only in its season.
—Kabir
Like the pupil in the eyes
The Lord resides inside
Ignorant do not know this fact
They search Him outside.
—Kabir
Give so much O God, suffice to envelop my clan I should not suffer cravings, nor the visitor goes unfed.
—Kabir
Worry is the bandit that eats into one’s heart. What the doctor can do, what remedy to impart?
—Kabir
He alone’s the Warrior, who takes on the “mind” head-on crushing the shield of the sensual five, all duality is gone.
—Kabir
When you were born in this world
Everyone laughed while you cried
Conduct not yourself in manner such
That they laugh when you are gone.
—Kabir
Neither illusion nor the mind, only bodies attained death Hope and delusion did not die, so Kabir said.
—Kabir
By my doing nothing happens
What I don’t does come to pass
If anything happens as if my doing
Then truly, it is done by someone else.
—Kabir
In anguish everyone prays to Him, in joy does none to one who prays in happiness, how sorrow can come.
—Kabir
Devotion must not be like the flood of the rainy season in which all get washed away. Devotion should be like the river that retains water even in the hottest season.
—Kabir
What harm have the hair done, you shave them hundred times. Why not shave the mind, that’s filled with poisonous thoughts.
—Kabir
Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.
—Kabir
Don’t be so proud and vain
Looking at your high mansion
Death makes one lie on bare land
And grass will grow thereon.
—Kabir
The creator is the creation And the creation in the creator,
He is everywhere… He who surrenders to him gets to know Him.
Says Kabir, my doubts are dispelled, I have seen the Pure with my own eyes.
—Kabir
Tomorrows work do today, today’s work now
if the moment is lost, the work be done how.
—Kabir
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