Sant Kabir Das

In News

President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated Sant Kabir Academy and Research Centre at Sant Kabir Nagar in Uttar Pradesh .

About

He was a 15th-century Indian mystic, social reformer, poet and saint who had a significant role among the people in India.
- He was one of the most influential saints.
He was brought up in a family of Muslim julahas orweavers settled in or near the city of Benares (Varanasi).
He was best known for his two-line couplets, known as ‘Kabir Ke Dohe’.
He is a widely revered poet whose works had a tremendous influence on the Bhakti movement.
Kabir’s legacy is still going on through a sect known as Panth of Kabir, a religious community that considers him as the founder.
He is an ideal example of communal solidarity.
He believed that God resides within us and took the charge of social emancipation and led his family life as a saint.

Teaching

His teaching had shaken the conscience of the fragmented society.
- Teachings were based on a complete, indeed vehement, rejection of the major religious traditions.
His teachings openly ridiculed all forms of external worship of both Brahmanical Hinduism and Islam,the pre-eminence of the priestly classes and the caste system.
- Kabir believed in a formless Supreme God and preached that the only path to salvation was through bhakti or devotion.
- He drew his followers from among both Hindus and Muslims
According to him every life has a relationship with two spiritual principles (Jivatma and Paramatma).
- His view about the moksha is that it is the process of uniting these two divine principles.
He spread the message of love, devotion and harmony in the tumultuous times when India faced the wrath of foreign invaders.
He communicated directly to the masses in their local dialect and it was necessary to awaken the society which was divided on the lines of caste and creed.
He took the initiative to remove the evils, ostentation and discrimination and also lived the household life like a saint.

Writings/Works

Kabir Das’ writings had a great influence on the Bhakti movement and includes titles like Kabir Granthawali, Anurag Sagar, Bijak, and Sakhi Granth,Panch Vani
- The major part of his work was collected by the fifth Sikh guru–Guru Arjan Dev.
He fought against social evils and taught the lesson of humanity and love to the world.

Bhakti Movement

An important landmark in the cultural history of mediaeval India was the silent revolution in society brought about by socio-religious reformers, a revolution known as the Bhakti Movement.
This movement was responsible for many rites and rituals associated with the worship of God by Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs of the Indian subcontinent.
- For example, Kirtan at a Hindu Temple, Qawwali at a Dargah (by Muslims), and singing of Gurbani at a Gurdwara are all derived from the Bhakti movement of mediaeval India (800-1700).
The leader of this Hindu revivalist movement was Shankaracharya, a great thinker and a distinguished philosopher.
- This movement was propounded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Namadeva, Tukaram, Jayadeva.
The movement’s major achievement was its abolition of idol worship.
The leader of the bhakti movement focusing on the Lord as Rama was Ramananda.

Followers of the Bhakti movement in the 12th and 13th Century included saints such as Bhagat Namdev, and Saint Kabir Das, who insisted on the devotional singing of praises of lord through their own compositions.
Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru and founder of Sikhism, too was a Nirguna Bhakti Saint and social reformer.
- He was opposed to all distinctions of caste as well as the religious rivalries and rituals. He preached the unity of God and condemned formalism and ritualism of both Islam and Hinduism. Guru Nanak’s gospel was for all men. He proclaimed their equality in all respects.

Source:PIB

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