May 10, 2022
Guru Kabir is considered to be one of the primary founding
masters of Sant Mat spirituality, the Sant tradition. Kabir is also
the "Rumi" of India, a wonderful bhakti poet-mystic and lover of
the Beloved Lord of the Soul, the Ocean of Love.
Sant Kabir lived during the fifteenth century, raised near
Banaras by Muslim parents. He was a weaver, a simple and unlettered
man, who earned his living at the loom. It is out of the heart of
the common life that he sings his rapturous lyrics of Divine
love.
“Kabir” is an Islamic name popular in the Muslim world — it’s
one of the “Ninety-Nine Names of Allah” found in the Koran,
meaning, “The Greatest”.
Today, Kabir has over twenty-five million devotees in various
Kabir Panth and Sant lineages, and is loved by Sikhs, Hindus,
Jains, Christians, and Muslims alike. Kabir’s hymns are still sung
in the satsangs of various paths all over India and around the
world.
Everyone’s Universal Saint, Kabir was:
- a Master or Sant Sat Guru of Surat Shabd Yoga, a
founding Guru of Sant Mat and Kabir Panths;
- a musician and poet of Nirguna Bhakti (love and devotion for
the One Beloved Formless God);
- a great teacher of Eastern Gnosis (Gnosticism or
mysticism);
- peace maker between Hindus and Muslims;
- a social reformer in India who denounced the caste
system;
- thought of by many in Islam to be a Sufi Master or
Murshid;
- believed by Hindus to be one of the greatest poet-mystics
and Vaishnava devotees in the history of India;
- considered a Bhagat by the Sikhs — many of his hymns are
included in the Adi Granth (Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh
scriptures);
- influenced by Goraknath and the Nath Yogis, and the Nath
Yogis of northern India were, in turn, influenced by Tantric
Buddhism;
- Kabir’s spirituality is a blend of Prem and Bhakti: love and
devotion for the Beloved Lord, the One God (Ek Ongkaar), and
mystical, soul travel experiences of a visionary and auditory
nature (Inner Light and Sound Meditation, Surat Shabd Yoga).
All for the love of wisdom, radio, and podcasts,
James Bean
Spiritual Awakening Radio