“Kall pereh punya letna, uper gemsi ghass!”
This is a ‘doha’ (lyric) from Kabir, which essentially brings out the absolute simplest truth of life, that is- tomorrow you will be lying under feet, grass will grow on top.
This essentially symbolizes that life is very temporal; one may not be there tomorrow. Kabir Jayanti is a celebration of the birth anniversary of the poet, philosopher and thinker Kabir.
He was one of the greatest spiritual, mystical and religious poets that India has ever produced. He was born in the year 1440 and passed away in the year 1518, but still remembered and revered by thousands.
He was born on the purnima or full moon in the Jyestha month according to traditional Hindu calendar and according to Gregorian calendar, in the month of May June. In 2019, Kabir Jayanti will be celebrated on the 17th of June, Monday. This will be approximately the 639th Birth Anniversary of kabir, who was known as the Sab Sanatan sartaj.
Who was Kabir?
There has been no trace found of Kabirdas’s biological parents. Some say he was born to a Hindu mother, but there is no proof of that. He was found in a place called Lehartara, which is a small town in Varanasi, by the Ganges; by a Muslim couple called Neeru and his wife Neema, who were by profession weavers. The couple took the deserted baby home and named him Kabir, which means The Great One. As he grew up, his life changed course as he met the Hindu mystic Guru Ramananda, who coined the name Kabir Das. It is absolutely difficult to categorize and specify him as Brahmin, Muslim or Vaishnavite as he himself said that he was the son of Allah as well as of Ram. He was the only person, who truly transcended all the religions and preached only humanity. Being a weaver, he wove not only clothes but beautiful mystical and lyrical poetry which has remained timeless and classics. He was the pioneer who influenced the Bhakti Movement and preached praying to the Nirguna Bhagawan.
What is Kabir Panth?
The spiritual path propounded by Kabir is known as Kabir Panth. It is a religious community which is mostly found in the north and central India. They only follow the path of debotion or Bhakti movement.
Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Guru of the Sikhs, collected Kabir’s work and compiled them all in the Sikh Holy scripture called Guru Granth sahib.
Kabir’s poetry
Kabir’s mystical two-liners are the most famous and is till date quoted and loved as Kabir Ka Dohe. These Dohe are rhythmic, and teaches precious philosophies of life. Through an absolute style they depicted the deepest truths of life. His poetic works include Bijak, Sakhi Granth, Kabir Granthawali and Anurag Sagar. Despite being illiterate Kabir wrote in Hindi mixed with Brajbuli, Awadhi and Bhojpuri. He was many a times challenged by numerous people, but Kabir always remained calm, and the detractors used to come back to him as his disciples later on.
Legends of Kabir Das
Kabir breathed his last in a place called Maghar, which is close to Gorakhpur in 1518. The Hindus and Muslims both wanted to have the rights to carry out his last rites. It was a miracle when Kabir sat up and asked them to lift his body. When his followers lifted his body they saw a whole lot of beautiful flowers. The muslims took the flowers to Maghar and the Hindus took the flowers to Varanasi. The Hindus built a Samadhi Mandir of Sant Kabir and the Muslims built a Sant Kabir’s Mazaar, which are side by side, of each other, and where on the Kabir Jayanti, people of all religions come and pay homage.
Kabir Jayanti Celebration
Kabir is till now deeply revered because of his humanitarian philosophies, and thus his birthday celebrations are held in various parts of the country. At Varanasi, the celebrations are held at Kabirchaura Mutt. Various satsangs or other events are organized where the life lessons taught by Kabir are discussed at great details. Various cultural events are organized where dohas and others poems by Kabir are recited and discourses held on the philosophy of Kabir.
Philosophy of Kabir
Kabir was the first Indian poet who amalgamated both the Hindu and Muslim elements in his philosophy and preached also as such with the help of his dohas and poetic works. He firmly believed that everyone is connected to the Jivatma and the Paramatma, and Nirvana or attaining moksha was the amalgamation of these two. His poetry in simple lucid language only spoke about humanity and showed a clear leaning towards the Bhakti and the Sufi ideas.