KABIR

born 1440, Varanasi, Jaunpur, India died 1518, Maghar Indian mystic and poet who attempted to bridge or unite Hindu and Muslim thought and preached the essential unity of all religions and the essential equality of all men. He was a forerunner of Sikhism, established by his disciple Nanak. The birth of Kabir (Arabic: Great) remains to this day shrouded in mystery and legend. Authorities disagree on both when and to whom he was born. One legend proclaims a divine virginal birth. His mother was reputed to have been of the Brahman caste and to have become pregnant after a visit to a Hindu shrine. Because she was unwed, she abandoned Kabir, who was found and adopted by a Muslim weaver. That his early life began as a Muslim there is no doubt, although he later became influenced by a Hindu ascetic, Ramananda. Kabir, instead of choosing the Hindu religion or Islam, took what seemed to him to be the best tenets of both and preached his own religion, called sahaja-yoga (simple union). He thus became the forerunner of a number of cults, of which Kabirpanth is the most important, as well as of a separate religion, Sikhism. From Hinduism he accepted the ideas of reincarnation, or transmigration, and the law of karma, but he rejected idolatry, asceticism, and the caste system. From Islam he accepted the idea of one God and the equality of man before God. The ideas of the Muslim mystics, called Sufis, also influenced Kabir greatly. In the Kabirpanth and several other cults, as well as in Sikhism, the following elements predominate: one God is venerated; all religious writing is in the vernacular; the position of the guru (religious teacher) is central to the faith and greatly esteemed; and caste is completely rejected. Kabir's verses in the Hindi language, with no thought to grammar or elegance, struck a responsive chord in the heart of the common man. His aim was communication. Some of his poetry was incorporated into the Adi Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs. A book called Bijak (Account Book), composed of his verses and observations, was completed by a disciple about 1570. The Kabir Book, with versions by Robert Bly of 44 poems by Kabir, was published in 1977.