“BHAKTI”

The bhakti of Rām is hard to obtain;
          it is not for cowards.
Sever your head with your own hands,
          and then invoke rām-nām.(1)
From the top of the pyre the satī(2) calls; Listen, friend Masan,(3)
The people, mere wayfareres, have gone way, only you and I remain at the end.(4)
The hero(5) taking spear in hand, donning the (ochre) robe of sahaja(6)
Mounting the elephant of (supreme) knowledge, he is ready to die on the battlefield.(7)

For Kabīr, the way that leads to salvation is not, as most Vaiṣnava(s) believe, an easy way. It is rather, an abrupt, rugged path which few can find and even fewer can follow. Real bhakti is conceived of a heroic⁸ path, open only to those who have renounced the comforts and pleasures of this life, who have put behind themselves all desire or hope for bodily satisfaction and fulfillment and who strive stubbornly for the summit at the risk of their lives. For Kabīr, as for many Sūfī(s), the true lover, the seeker has a tryst with death. The soul striving for salvation is compared with the satī, the faithful wife who fearlessly leaves her home to climb the pyre⁹ and be reunited in death with her beloved Spouse, or the Rājput sūr, who comes down to the battlefield in order to fulfil his pledge of fighting to the death. Indeed, Kabīr's imagination appears haunted by these two heroic figures, the satī and the sūr, who in the Hindu tradition embody the highest ideal of perfect love and [undaunted loyalty and who by their prior death gain release from the bonds of time and so cheat Death, personified as Yama.¹⁰ Rām, or the mysterious sahaja state, which the tāntrics conceive of as mahāsukha, the supreme or perfect bliss, for Kabīr is only to be had at the cost of one's life. Indeed, he who wishes to be a jīvanmukta,¹¹ “one liberated while living”, must of necessity be jīvanmrta,¹² “one dead while alive”. But this “death” is in reality, the condition for the true “life” of the jīvanmukta.¹³

The world is continually dying, but no one knows how to die;
Kabīr, so die that you will not have to die again.(14)
If I burn the house, it is saved; if I preserve the house it is lost.(15)
I have seen an astonishing thing: a dead man has swallowed Death.(16)

The love symbolism of the bhakti tradition is common in Kabīr's poetry, but it is significant that the pleasurable aspect of human love is not considered an adequate symbol for the union of the soul with the ultimate Reality. Rather, it is the painful aspect, the pangs of separation, known in the bhakti tradition as virah, which suggest to the julāhā the painful longing of the soul who has not yet obtained the beatific vision of the divine Beloved.¹⁷

There is no solace during the night or during the day, no solace even dreams;
Kabīr, he who is separated from Rām finds no relief in sunshine or shade.(18)
The eyes bring forth a torrent (of tears), the water wheel works day and night;(19)
Like a papihā bird, I cry piu, piu(20) O Rām when will you come to me?(21)
The guru lit the fire and the disciple was burnt, consumed in the fire of virah;
The poor little blade of grass was saved by embracing the truss of hay.(22)

In the secular realm, virah is a favourite theme of poetry, especially of folk-ballads and folk-songs. The virah-gīt(s), sung by village women, mostly describe the painful longings and pitiful laments of a young wife waiting in vain for the return of her beloved spouse at beginning of the rainy season. Such songs are full of “messages” sent by the languishing wife to the oblivious husband, of sorrowful confidence to the heroine's girl friend, the sakhī, of tearful entreaties, with frequent allusions to the celebrated water birds whose pathetic cries over rivers and ponds at night are believed to the lovers' calls and which increases the torments of the virahinī.

Kabīr has evidently made use of these village songs: the pathetic virahinī of the folk-song becomes the symbol of the human soul wounded by “the arrow of the śabd”,²³ and pining for the vision of her divine Spouse, Rām. The situation of the young girl married in infancy, who reaches adolescence without having ever met her Lord—a tragic situation, typically Hindu—is one of Kabīr's favourite symbols to suggest the situation of the jīva who, though already belonging to God and totally pervaded by his presence, has not yet been able to “meet” him: she longs for the meeting or Vision which would consummate the union and make her at last a suhāginī, a happy wife.²⁴ But, here, it is no longer distance or the husband's forgetfulness that is the real obstacle—is in the real virah-gīt(s)—since the divine Spouse is always present within. The fault lies with the wife-soul herself since it is the impurity of her love that makes her spiritually blind. Only through enduring patiently the tormenting but purifying “fire”²⁵ of virah and ultimately giving up her life in that inextinguishable fire can the wife-soul obtain that total union of herself in her true Husband, Rām.

Kabīr's devotion, then, differs from that of Vaiṣnava bhakti not only in its objects, but also in its character. It does not consist only of the sentiments of tenderness, trust and abandon, of which the entire bhakti literature provides so many examples. It is also, and all, an ardent quest, a heroic adventure in which the bhakta is completely involved at the peril of his life. Indeed, Kabīr's conception of divine love seems to be an original synthesis of the yoga and Sūfī traditions, the former exalting human effort, and the latter making of the yearnings, of the torments suffered by the exiled soul in its mortal condition, the necessary sine qua non of every spiritual ascension. For Kabir, then, bhakti is no longer the “easy path”, but the path of suffering, vigils and tears. Nor is there any other. This suffering has its source in the separation, at least apparent, of the soul its Beloved. However, the suffering itself is mystery, hidden from profane eyes. Nothing of it appears externally;²⁶ rather, he who loves “bleeds silently in the depths of his soul, as the insect devours the wood”. Only God can understand the mysterious nature of the disease of virah.

O Vaid,(27) return home; your cure is useless.
He who created the body; he alone will cure it.(28)

In addition to the basic bhakti emphasis, we find in Kabīr's works the more important of its corollaries. There must be fear of God,²⁹—though perhaps the word “awe” expresses this attitude more accurately—a recognition of His infinite immensity and of His absolute authority.

Without fear(30) (of God) emotion(31) does not arise;
          without emotion there is no love;(32)
When there is fear in the heart characteristic good sentiments pervade.(33)
Fear (of God) is heavy and hard to bear; the wayward man, with its unrestrained expressions, is weak.
He who carries the fear (of God) on his head(34) by the guru's grace can bear its weight.
Without such fear no one crosses (the ocean of existence),(35) but if one dwells in fear, to it is added love.(36)

The same sentiment of overpowering awe is the cause of Kabīr's humility in the presence of divine greatness.

In myself, there is nothing of mine, all there is Thine;
Whatever I offer to Thee is thine already, how can the gift be mine?(37)

There must also be complete surrender to God, an unconditioned submission in faith.

If a woman, said to belong to her beloved, keeps company with another,
If she keeps a paramour in her heart how can she find pleasure with her Lord?(38)
Without purity(39) how can a woman be a satī, O Panḍit understand and ponder this in your heart.
Without love how can the relationship(40) remain steadfast; where there is selfish passion, there is no (true) relationship.
The devotee who loves the Lord(41) selfishly, that passion-seeking one will never meet the Lord, not even in his dreams.
She who devotes herself, body, soul, wealth and household, Kabīr calls that one a happy wife.(42)
Kabīr make the vermillion mark,(43) do not use collyrium;(44)
Have the Beloved ensconced in your eyes, do not permit another,(45)
Kabīr, I am the dog of Rām, “Mutiyā” is my name;
With Rām's chain around my neck, wherever He leads, I go.(46)

There must also be the singing of God's praises, a practice in which the julāhā is continually engaged.⁴⁷

The limbs anointed with perfume, sandal paste and (sweet smelling) oils,
Shall be burnt with wood.
What is there praiseworthy in the body and in wealth?
After falling on the earth they cannot be resurrected.
They who sleep at night work during the day,
Who never for a moment utter Hari's Name,
Who rule(48) and who chew pān(49)
Shall at the time of death be as firmly bound as thieves.
They who under the guru's guidance lovingly sing of the greatness(50) of Hari
They will become absorbed in Rām Himself and find joy.
He who graciously established His Name,
Has pervaded me with His sweet smelling odours,
Says Kabīr, think, O (spiritually) blind,
Rām is true and all worldly occupations are false.(51)

All these are aspects of traditional bhakti and they represent a significant area of agreement between the Vaiṣnava bhakta(s) on the one hand and Kabīr on the other. There are, however, in addition to those already discussed two basic differences separating them. In the first place, there is in Kabīr's works an explicit rejection of avatār(s).⁵² Like the Sant(s) he addressed his devotion directly to God Himself, supreme and non-incarnated, not to any manifestation of intermediary. Secondly, there is Kabir's understanding of the practical expression of love, enunciated in his interpretation of nām sumiran or nām japa. This interpretation is of fundamental importance. It provides the heart of his discipline and in it we find his distinctive understanding of the believers' proper response.

“NāM SAMIRAN”

Remember Rām, remember Rām, remember Rām, O Brother;
Without remembering the Name of Rām the majority drown (in the ocean of existence).(53)
Wife, son, body, house and pleasurable wealth,
None of these will be yours when Kāl finally arrives.
The wicked Ajāmila(54) and the prostitute did many vile things
But they crossed over (the ocean of existence) by repeating
Rām's name,
You have taken birth(55) from pigs and dogs, and yet you are not ashamed.
Why do you neglect the ambrosia(56) of Rām's Name and take poison instead?
Abandon the confusion of (ritually) prescribed and forbidden acts and take the Name of Rām.
By the grace of the guru, says the servant Kabīr, make Rām your beloved.(57)
Kabīr, remembrance is the essence,(58) all else is entanglement;
From beginning to end, I have searched everything all else I see is Kāl.(59)
Millions of actions are instantly erased by the slightest mention of the Name;
The merits acquired during endless ages, without (the Name of) Rām, will not get you anywhere.(60)

The divine order of things, as expressed in the law of karma, ensures that one must reap in accordance with what one sows. In order to banish the influence of committed sin the individual must sow the seed which bears not the baneful fruit of transmigration, but the blessed fruit of union. This seed is love of the divine Name.

But how does one “love the Name?” What is meant, in Kabīr's usage, by the expression nām sumiran or nām japa?

Nām has already been dealt with.⁶¹ The divine Name is the revelation of God's being, the sum total of his attributes, the aggregate of all that may be affirmed concerning him. The two verbs which are normally attached to nām are japanā and sumiran neither of which can be adequately translated into English in the context of Kabīr's usage. Japanā mean “to repeat”, and is used in connection with the recital of a divine name or mantra. In many contexts this literal translation is entirely appropriate, for mechanical repetition of this kind, often with the help of a rosary, was a very common practice. Mere mechanical repetition was not however, Kabīr's practice, even though some references might indeed suggest that Kabīr seems to adhere to the dominant Vaiṣnava belief in the magical power of the invocation of the divine Name as a means of instant salvation.

Through his previous wrong doings, man has collected a bundle of poison.(62)
But millions of actions are instantly erased if he but takes (the Name of) Hari on his lips.(63)

Such examples, must however, be read in the context of Kabīr's experience of divine greatness and omnipotence. Here is a case of hyperbole, an effort to convey the immensity of God's power and not a claim that the mere mechanical mention of a single name or syllable is an assured path to salvation.⁶⁴ Indeed, we have Kabīr's own contention:

Every one goes around saying “Rām, Rām, but Rām is not found in this way.(65)

Simple repetition of this kind is not enough, regardless of how devout the repetition may be or how sophisticated a system may be built around the practice. It is a pattern which can include the repetition of a chosen word or brief formula, but only if the emphasis is on the interiorizing of the utterance, upon the paramount need of understanding the word so uttered and of exposing one's total being to its deepest meanings.

Sumiranā, “to remember” or “to hold in remembrance”, is more helpful, for “remembering the Name” is nearer to a description of Kabīr's practice than “repeating the Name”.⁶⁶ It too, however, falls short of an adequate description. How then, is the practice to be described? Kabīr himself provides us with a definition.

To repeat the Name of Rām is to establish Rām in the man.(67)

And the method whereby this establishment is carried out is meditation—meditation on the nature of God, on his qualities and his attributes as revealed in the Word (śabd).

Kabīr, in this world meditate on Hari, since He pervades the whole universe:
Those who meditate not on Hari's Name have been born in vain.(68)
Meditate on Hari, my brothers
Meditate peacefully so that the essential thing is not lost,(69)
Make your body the churn. your man the churning stick;
Into this churn put the sabad.
Make meditation on Hari your churning
So that by the guru's grace you may produce the ambrosia.
Says Kabīr, the devotee who fearlessly meditates thus
Will with the aid of Rām's Name gain the (opposite) shore.(70)
The worship(71) which we offer is meditation(72) on the Name for without the Name there can be no (true) worship.(73)

This meditation on the nature and qualities of God is the core of Kabīr's religious discipline. The Word reveals the absoluteness of God. Meditate on this and make your submission before Him.

As I meditate on Hari's perfections, I am pierced by many arrows
I am pierced but I do not flee, Kabīr endures (the pain).(74)

The Word reveals the eternally stable permanence of God, the eternity of God. Reflect on this and abandon the fickle, fleeting world. The Word reveals the absolute freedom of God from all that is māyā. Meditate on this and so separate yourself from its deceits. The Word reveals the ineffable greatness of God. Reflect on this and humble yourself before Him.

The Creator(75) possesses endless excellent qualities but not a single defect;(76)
If I search my own heart, all the defects are in me.(77)

It is a meditation which must overflow in words and deeds which accord with the nature of the Name. It is remembrance of God manasā, vācā, karmana⁷⁸ in thought, word and deed.

This is the practical response which a believer is required to make. Meditate in love and you shall grow towards and into Him who is the object of your devotion and your meditation. It is a discipline whose roots are to be found in the Āgamic practice of japa as well as the Sūfī tradition of dhikr and after Kabīr, has been developed, interpreted and expounded again and not only by Nānak and his immediate successors but by devout Sikhs ever since,⁷⁹

This meditation must be individual and it must also have a corporate application. Kabīr emphasized both.

Says Kabīr, never cease meditating on the greatness of rāmnām.(80)
Kabīr, in the company of a true believer,(81) love doubles day by day;
But the Sakta is like a black rug,(82) wash it but it never becomes white.(83)

Indeed, the importance of the company of true believers (the satsamg) as a vehicle of enlightenment is strongly stressed by Kabīr.

Says Kabīr, if the benefit of saintly company is part of your destiny;(84)
Through it salvation is obtained and the impassable gorge is not obstructed.(85)
The Creator who fashioned the universe and watches over it, dwells in every heart;
By the guru's guidance He is made manifest in (the company of) true believers.(86)
Kabīr, the company of true believers ought to be sought daily;
They will drive away wickedness and show you wisdom.(87)
Kabīr, blessed that day when you meet the saints;(88)
Embrace them intimately and sin will be washed away.(89)

The traditional figure of the sandalwood tree is also used in this connection.

Kabīr, just as the fragrance of the sandal tree(90) pervades the ḍhāk-palāś;(91)
It has made all that surrounds it like itself.(92)

The activity of the true believer in the satsamg is the singing of divine praises rather than the function implied by the word meditation, but nām-sumiran covers both, for both are concerned with God and with the individual's approach to Him. Music has always been used and the corporate singing of God's praise by His devotees is something of which Kabīr heartily approved.

The purified believer who sings perfect qualities of Hari;
Such a devotee is extremely pleasing to me (says Kabīr).(93)

Meditation on the divine Name and the singing of praises must have seemed easy to many, but Kabīr declares them to be otherwise, as we have already noted.⁹⁴

Kabīr, it is extremely difficult to invoke Hari's Name:
As when performing (acrobatics) above a (impaling) stake, he who falls is lost.(95)

They are difficult, and few are prepared to make the sacrifice which they demand. Those who do accept the discipline, however find that the reward far outweighs the sacrifice.

Kabīr. If i repeat the Name I live; if I forget it I die.
Repeating the rām-nām is hard, but if one hungers for it and partakes of it all sadness goes.(96)

This then, is the discipline. The human body is a field in which the seed of the divine Name is sown. Cultivate it with love, humility, fear of God, true living, purity and patience, and thus you shall reap your reward.

Regard your body as a field, your man as the plough, your actions the ploughing and effort irrigation;
(In the fields) sow the Name as seed, level it with contentment, and fence it with humility.
Kabīr, let your actions be those of love, (the seed) will then sprout and you will cross the ocean of existence.(97)
Love is the soil, holiness the water, and true and contentment the two buffaloes.
Humility is the plough, the man the ploughman, remembrance (of the Name) the watering, and union (with God) the seed-time.
The Name is the seed and grace the crop, while the world is wholly false.
Kabīr, if the Merciful One is gracious all separation (from Him) comes to an end.(98)

[…] our interest has been engaged by a man whose immense popularity throughout the Indian subcontinent is due as much to his mystical perceptions as to his maverick nature, a synthesis which is the distinctive religion and lifestyle of the julāhā from Banāras who has long been hailed by all Indians as the “man for all seasons”, the universal man. What other human being is hailed as a Hindu bhakta, a Muslim pīr, a Sikh bhagat, an avatār, a champion of Hindu-Muslim unity, a bold enemy of the superstition and empty ritual of orthodox Hindus as well as the dogmatism and bigotry of Muslims, an ardent foe of caste and class distinctions, indeed of all forms of social discrimination? Surely, Kabīr is the embodiment of true nonconformity. Surely, Kabīr is one of those rare persons to appear on the stage of human history, an embodiment of creative spontaneity, of all that is “free, noble and challenging in the Indian tradition”.⁹⁹

Notes

1. K. Gr., Sa. 14.18.

2. The feminine from of the Skt. sat, “truth”, hence a true, chaste, faithful wife whose life is patterned on that of her namesake, the daughter of the sage Dakṣa, who took her own life on the sacrificial fire, jwālā-mukhi, when her husband Śiva was publicly insulted by his father-in-law. The term has come to be applied to all wives or widows who immolate themselves, as well as to the act of immolation.

3. masān: (H. śmaśān), “the cremation ground” is conceived of as a frightful place, haunted by ghosts and evil fiends. A vivid description of this may be found in the opening verses of the Vetāla-pamcavimśatikā of the Brhatkathāsaritsāgara, a marvelous English translation of which has been rendered by prof. J. A. B. van Buitenen in Tales of Ancient India (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973). Though I could find no suggestion of it in the Indian commentaries, we cannot dismiss Dr. Vaudeville's contention that the masān addressed by the satī may well refer to the dreadful goddess Masānī, also known as Śmaśāna-bhairavī, a form of the goddess Durgā.

4. K. Gr. Sa. 14.3.

5. sūrai: (H. sūr), lit. “a valiant” or “brave man”, “hero”, such characteristics are associated with the martial kṣatriya, whose duty is to fight and for whom death on the battle field is the highest. The reference is, of course, to the soul.

6. pahirā sahaj samjog: lit. “wearing the apparel fit for sahaja”, refers to the Rājput custom of a warrior, determined to die in last desperate fight, putting on the sasamjognyāsi's ochre robe as symbol of his voluntary renunciation of life.

7. K. Gr., Sa. 14.27.

8. In the Kabīr-granthāvali there is an amg or section each of pad(s) and sākhī(s) entitled Suratan or “Heroism”.

9. The reader's attention is directed to some significantly suggestive sections of Prof. Willard Johnson's article, “Death and the Symbolism of Renunciant Mysticism”, Asian Religions/History of Religion, 1973 Proceedings, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, pp. 12-22. One of the characteristics of Dr. Johnson's concept of “renunciant mysticism” is what he terms “the call of the funeral pyre”, following Gaston Bachelard. Johnson goes on to quote from Bachelard's The Psychoanalysis of Fire a Passage which describes the death of mayflies attracted to burning logs, which he notes could just as well have been written on the image of the Indian funeral pyre.

   “Love, death and fire are united at the same moment. Through its sacrifice in the heart of the flames, the mayfly gives us a lesson in eternity. This total death which leaves no trace is the guarantee that our whole person has departed for the beyond. To lose everything in order to gain everything”.

   Johnson then observes: “One could hardly argue that ordinary men ‘hear’ the call of the funeral pyre. But as Indian mysticism developed, this old Vedic myth of death negation was adopted to the mystical path of escaping death. If one is ‘already dead’ one cannot die again: one has [a] further meaningful relation to death’ (Johnson, op. cit., p. 14). See also K. Gr., Sa. 14.23; 14.24; 14.37; 14.41.

10. See supra, p. 208.

11. The final aim of the Nāth siddha(s) and other haṭha-yogī(s) is jīvan-mukti and it is this state of liberation which is synonymous with immortality. While other schools of thought regard the final dissolution of the physical body as indispensable for liberation, the siddha(s) seek liberation in a transformed or transmaterialized body, which [is called the] “perfected” body. See S. B. Dāsgupta, op. cit., pp. 251-255.

12. In addition to the idea of jīvanmukta, Kabīr also borrows that of jīvanmrta, from the Nāth siddha's and applies it to the mystic engaged in bhakti, who has sacrificed his earthly life. See supra, p. 218, n. 197.

13. “The devottee makes the essential renunciation of the physical and consequently is released from its bondage to be participant in the immortal divine. … Mortality is transcended through the means of a symbolic death. … This kind of understanding of death sees it not as a fearsome loss of all that is dear, to be avoided at all cost, but rather as a powerful means of self-transformation, to be sought as a final resolution to the problem of mortality”. (W. Johnson, op. cit., p. 14).

14. K. Gr., Sa. 19.1. In this and the following sākhī we have excellent examples of Kabīr's ulṭabāmsī(s) or paradoxical poems, evidently patterned on the sandhābhāṣā of the tāntric Sahajiyā and Nāth-panthi masters. See supra, p. 29, n. 89 and also p. 48, n. 170.

15. i.e. if the gross body is abolished through the process of yoga, immortality in the shahaja is achieved, whereas if it remains as it is there is no hop of ending the natural round of karma-samsāra.

16. K. Gr., Sa. 19.12 muā kāl kau khāi: lit. ‘the dead one ate Kāl.” The “dead” man is the jīvanmrta who is the only conqueror of Kāl, Death.

17. In Kabīr's poetry and in the Sant tradition generally, the notion of virah, the tormenting desire of the soul for the absent Beloved, bears a resemblance to the Sūfī notion of ishq, the state in which “the Divine influence inclines the soul towards the love of God”, and shauq, “the yearning to be constantly with God”.

18. K. Gr., Sa. 2.15.

19. rahaṭ: the noria of a Persian water wheel. Though most Indian commentators see in the unending flow of water in the water wheel the ceaseless flowing of the lover's tears, Dr. Vaudeville sees the symbolism of samsāra in which “the helpless jīva ceaselessly passes from one body to another”.

20. papihā is a popular name for the cātaka bird, the “Rainbird” (Clamator jacobinus, pied crested cuckoo), which in Hindu lore and legend is conceived as ceaselessly thirsting for the Svāti raindrop since it will drink no other water. The pathetic cry of the cātaka is: piu, piu “Beloved, beloved”.

21. K. Gr., Sa. 2.48.

22. K. Gr., Sa. 2.50. gali pūre kai lāgi: because of the context one is inclined to follow Dr. Vaudeville in seeing pūre as the oblique from of pūrā (Tiwārī, Kabīr-granthāvalī renders pūlā as an alternate reading) meaning a bundle of grass, rather than take pūre as pūrna, “full” or “plentitude”, referring to the supreme Reality as some Indian commentators do. In either case the meaning is clear enough: the jīva is saved by embracing the Absolute.

23. See K. Gr., Sa 1.7; 1.9; 1.12; 1.22; 2.35, 2.55. 14.5; 22.4; 22.15; etc.

24. See K. Gr., the pad section Prem and the sākhī section Prem Virah Kau Amg in their entirety but more especially Pd. 6, 11, 13, 15, 18; Sa. 2.9; 2.18; 2.23; 2.25; 2.31; 2.45 and also 9.7; A. G., Gauḍī 65; Sūhī 2.3.

25. e.g. K. Gr., Sa. 2.5; 2.8.

26. e.g. K. Gr., Sa. 2.7; 2.17.

27. i.e. a practitioner of the Ayurvedic system of medicine.

28. K. Gr., Sa. 2.14. P. N. Tiwārī notes an alternative reading for the last line. jin yāh bhār ladāiyā; nirbāhegā soy, i.e. “He who laid on the burden; he alone will cure it”.

29. In Kabīr's works there is to be found evidence of two kinds of fear, with opposing attitudes to each. The first is the fear of being tempted by the world and the perdition which results from succumbing. The proper attitude here is nirbhai (H. nirbhay), K. Gr., Sa. 1.27; A. G., Sl. 5. or anabhai (H. abhay), A. Gr., Sl. 180, terms which belong to the vocabulary of tāntric yoga. Abhayapada, a state of absolute “fearlessness” belongs to the perfect yogī or siddha, whom nothing can move. It coincides with the perfect sahaja state from which there is no fear of falling back into the fetters of samsāra. Among the works attributed to Gorakhnāth by Dr. Mohan Singh is one called Abhai-mantra; see S. B. Dāsgupta, op. cit., p 374, n. 1. The second is the fear of God and it is an attitude to be cultivated.

30. bhai (H. bhay): has many meanings, including “fear” and “awe”.

31. bhāv (H.): has numerous connotations, among them “intention”, “emotion”, “sentiment”.

32. prīti (H.): indicates “satisfaction”, “pleasure”, “love”.

33. K. Gr., Sa. 15:85. It is difficult to understand why Vaudeville renders the second line (jab hirdai saum bhai bhayā, tab miṭī sakala rasa rīti) as “When fear is not present in the heart, all other good sentiments vanish”. Further, it is not clear why see opines, “This sakhi … was probably wrongly attributed to Kabīr”, in spite of the fact that she acknowledges its appearance in the Padmcavānī literature of the Dādū-panthī(s), as well as the generally reliable Sarbāngī of Rajjabdās.

34. man: in this context is probably as a double-entendre, referring both to the man as well as to the thought faculty, situated in the head.

35. See supra, p. 214, n. 173.

36. K. Gr., Pd. 81.

37. K. Gr., Sa. 6.2.

38. khasam (H.): means both “husband”, as well as “Lord”, or “Master”. K. Gr., Sa. 11.5.

39. sat (H. satya): lit. “true” or “pure”.

40. sneh (H.): lit. “affection”, partiality”, friendship”, hence relationship.

41. sāhani (H. sāh): lit. “gentleman” or “richman”.

42. A. G. Gauḍī 23. suhāganī (H.): lit. “happy wife”, is another example of Kabīr's commonly used soul/wife metaphor. See supra, pp. 233-34.

43. simdūr (H.): the vermillion, red lead, applied to the parting of a married woman's hair as a sign of marital fidelity.

44. kājar (H. kājal): lamp-black or antimony, used as collyrium on the eyes, is a poetic image of worldly attachments.

45. K. Gr., Sa. 11.13; cf. A. G., Gauḍī 69.

46. K. Gr., Sa. 6.1; cf. A. G., Sl. 74.

47. The majority of the verses of praise are concentrated in the K. Gr., Padāvalī sections 1 and 3, entitled “Satgurumahimā” and “Naum (Nām) Mahimā” respectively and in the sākhī sections 1 and 3, “Satgurumahimā kau Amg” and “Sumiran Bhajan Mahimā”. They are also to be found liberally sprinkled throughout the A. G., collections. See e. g. A. G., Gauḍī 17, 26, 48; Āsā 4; Dhanāsarī 5; Sūhī 3; Bilāwalu 3, 51, 119, 220, etc.

48. hāthi taḍor, lit. with a cord or string in hand. R. K. Varmā glosses this as “he who rules”, which we accept for lack of any other adequate rendering.

49. tambor (Skt. tāmbūla), a betel leaf preparation, known also in North India pān.

50. gun (Skt. guna), lit. “quality”, “attribute”, hence greatness.

51. A. G., Gauḍī 16.

52. A. G., Dhanāsarī 1.

53. See supra, p. 214, n. 173.

54. Ajāmela gaj: Ajāmila was not an elephant, as Macauliffe would have it, but rather an evil (H. gaj “evil or undesirable person”) brāhman who lived in open sin with a śūdra harlot and broke all the laws sacred to his caste. The prostitute bore him ten sons and Ajāmila was most fond of the youngest, named Nārāyan (one of the names of Viṣnu). As the brāhman lay dying he called for his favourite son. Viṣnu hearing his name, was bound to send his deputies in answer to the call. On arrival they found the emissaries of Yama already on the scene, but eventually persuaded him to recall them, and Ajāmila did. He did, however, repent of his sinful life and, taking samnyās, practiced austerities so fervently that he obtained mokṣa.

55. sūkar kūkar joni bharme, lit. “wander in the wombs of pigs and dogs”.

56. amirta (Skt. amrta): the ambrosia which bestows immortality so that one is released from the rounds of samsāra.

57. K. Gr., Pd. 20, cf. A. G., Dhanāsarī 5. This is an entire section of sākhī (s) in the Kabīr-granthāvalī dedicated to nām sumiran, “Sumiran Bhajan Mahimā kau Amg”.

58. sār: (H.) “essence”, i.e. the essential reality or the essential duty.

59. K. Gr., Sa. 3.14.

60. K. Gr.. Sa. 3.11. Cf. K. Gr., Sa. 3.10.

61. Supra, pp. 214 ff.

62. The bundle of poison in his bad karma, the accumulated weight of sinful actions committed in his previous existence.

63. K. Gr., Sa. 310. Tiwāri notes homṭh (H., lips) as an alternative reading. See also K. Gr., Sa. 4.13.

64. In the same third chapter (amga) of Kabīr-granthāvalī sākhī (s) (Sumiran Bhajan Mahimā) several verses indicate that the salvific vision, which results from the invocation of Rām's name, is extremely difficult to obtain. For example:

    “Long is the road, distant is the house, rugged is the path, beset with dangers;
    O Sant (s), how can one obtain the inaccessible vision of Harī?”

    (K. Gr., Sa. 3.12)

65. K. Gr., Pd. 61 Refrain.

66. See supra, p. 49, n. 173.

67. K. Gr., Pd. 21 Refrain. citu (Skt. citta): see supra, p. 253

68. A. G., Sl 94, cf. A. G,, Basant (Himdola) 7.

69. Hari kā bilovana bilobahu mere bhāī,
    Sahaji vilovahu jaise tatu na jāī.

    Literally:

    “Churn the churn of Harī, my brothers,
    Churn it gently so the essential thing is not lost.”

    Presenting his message in a familiar idiom, Kabīr here speaks of the body as a churn, from which salvation is obtained through the śabd. Haṭha-yoga influences are abundantly clear in this piece.

70. A. G., Āsā 10. The reference here is to the crossing of the ocean of existence and reaching the opposite shore, i.e., salvation.

71. pūjā.

72. bicārā (H. vicār).

73. K. Gr., Pd. 26.3.

74. K. Gr., Sa. 14.22. The pain results from the mortal wound of virah which is caused by the “arrow” of the śabd. See K. Gr., Sa. 1.21.

75. karatā (H. kartā), “creator” here, as generally in Kabīr's works, does not refer to the god Brahmā, but to the supreme Divinity. Supra, p. 187.

76. See supra, p. 217, n. 186.

77. K. Gr., Sa. 6.5.

78. “Bhakti is adoration of Harī's Name;
              all else is endless pain.
    (Remembrance in) thought, word and deed
              is the essence of sumiran, Kabīr.”

    (K. Gr., Sa. 3.7)

79. J. S. Grewal, op. cit., pp. 160-61. This is but one of the more significant respects in which the tradition of Nānak and his followers is more truly heir to the religion of Kabīr than are the Kabīr-panthī(s).

80. K.Gr., Pd. 26.6.

81. sāda: see supra, p. 205, n. 116, as well as p. 44.

82. kārī kāmbarī: (H. kālī kamari) a kind of coarse rug or blanket made of undyed black sheep's wool. It is a proverbial simile which bespeaks something which cannot be changed, no matter how hard one tries.

83. A. G., Sl. 100.

84. likhiā koi lilāṭ: lit “written on the forehead”, i.e. inscribed in one's destiny.

85. A. G., Sl. 231. avaghhṭa ghāt: lit. “a difficult” or “inaccessible landing” on the bank of a river or lake; “a difficult, narrow pass” as between two mountains, symbolic here of the suṣumnā nāḍī or the brahmarandhra, which provides the adept access to the ultimate state of sahaja. See supra, p. 203, n. 108.

86. K. Gr., Pd. 115.

87. K. Gr., Sa. 4.22. The entire fourth chapter of both pad(s) and sākhī(s) in the Kabīr-grnthāvalī are dedicated to the “praise of the saints”.

88. sant, lit. “devotee”, “pious person”, hence true believer, see supra, p. 43, n. 145

89. K. Gr., Sa. 4.20. This dohā is expressive of the Vaiṣnava conviction regarding the value of saṭsamg, the sanctifying power of the saint, even by mere touch or proximity. However, it is doubtful that Kabīr shared this quasi-magical view as he explicitly renounces such a view with relation to nām japa. See supra, p. 238.

90. Santalum album of the Santalaceae family.

91. ḍhāka palāsa (H. ḍhāk-palāś); two names for the same tree, Butea frondosa, also known as kimśuk in Hindi. It is known for its beatuiful bright red flowers which bloom in March/April but seems to have no utilitarian value.

92. K. Gr., Sa. 4.1. As the fragrance of the sandalwood tree penetrates even the worthless ḍgāk-palāś, so the aura of devotion and virtue of true believer sanctify even the wicked who come near him.

93. K. Gr., Pd 30 refrain.

94. See supra, p. 239, n. 372.

95. K. Gr., Sa. 3.5.

96. K. Gr., Pd. 30.1-2.

97. Bj., Sa. 24.

98. Bj., Sa. 25.

Abbreviations

1. A.G. Ādi Granth

2. Bj. Bījak

3. H. Hindī

4. K. Gr. Kabīr-granthāvalī (Tivārī)

5. K. Gr. (Kāśi) Kabīr-granthāvalī (Śyamsundardās)

6. Pd. pad

7. Rmn. ramainī

8. Sa. sākhī

9. Sbd. śabd

10. Skt. Sanskrit

11. Sl. ślok