Jignasa Journal Of History Of Ideas And Culture Part 01

Author(s): Vibha Upadhyaya and Others
Publisher: University of Rajasthan

Page 103

The Secular Religiousity in Kabir's Philosophy of Bhakti / 65
हरि जननी मैं बालक तेरा। काहि न अवगुन बकसहु मोरा ।। also
मोरे घर आये राम भरतार |
तन रति कर मैं मन रति करिहौं, पाँचों तत्व बराती ।
रामदेव मोहे ब्याहन आये, मैं जोवत मदमाती ।।
also
हरि मोर पिउ मैं हरि की बहुरिया । राम बड़े मैं तनिक लहुरिया ।। "
Which all are examples of dasyabhāva, vātsalyabhāva and kāntabhāva types of bhakti respectively, bring him closer to the Saguna bhaktas of his time and of later period. There is no doubt that the Rama and Hari of Kabir had nothing to do with the personal God of Vaisnava Saguna Dharma of the same name. But one may ask why did Kabir use these names to describe his Nirguna Brahma? One possible answer to this question could be seen in the prevailing popularity of these names among the masses during that time which inspired Kabir to use their names for having an easy and direct communication with the people of his society and this ought to be noted that Kabir was living in the city of Banaras which was a great centre of Vaisnavism at that time.
Again, this may be said that Kabir used the word 'Rama' from his so called diksha-mantra 'Rama' that he, as tradition speaks, accidentally got from his 'unwilling' guru Rāmānanda, a noted Vaisnava bhakta of his time unintentionally and then Rāma became the Soul and Self of Kabir in a symbolic form having, in no way, any connection with Rama, the son of Dashratha of Ayodhya. 15 Rāma in Kabir is the same as Brahman of the Upanisads" and this makes Kabir's position different from his Guru and establishes his (Kabir's) unique identity among the worshippers of Rāma his days. The terminology used by Kabir in the different forms of his poetry, viz., Sākhī, Pada and Ramainī (others type are Chautisa, Bavani, Vipramatisi, bara, thinti, chachar, vasant, hindolo, beli, virahuli, kahasa and ulatabansi) has been taken as evidence to trace the influences of Vedicism, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Yoga-Sadhana, Nathapanth, Islam and Sufism's which all have contributed to develop a dominating sense of mysticism or Rahasyavada in Kabir's philosophy of Bhakti that has been discussed immensely and variously by competent authorities on Kabir and it is not intended to be touched upon here but what makes us sure about the nature of Kabir's bhakti is the nirguṇavāda which has been considered as the last of the four types of bhakti alongwith Satvika, Rājasik and Tamasik as the other three types in the Bhagvata Purana. The whole philosophy of Kabir may be seen as developing in the centrality of this nirgunavada which sees the whole world as the image of one God (not any personal) and emphasizes on performing one's worldly affairs. This caused to develop in Kabir a sense of monism, and not monotheism, that resulted in his aversion for all sorts of separatism based on caste, creed, social status, region, religion and other things creating gaps between man and man, as one can very clearly see in his bitter attacks and condemnation of religious dogmatism and ritualism, caste-differentiation, evil social practices like untouchability etc. Which are the main contents of his teachings. It, on the other side, laid great emphasis on the social-religious harmony, and uniformity in social behaviour, and developing a deep sense of ethical and moral goodness exhibited through the practices of truth-speaking, non-violence including vegetarianism" and feeling a sort of oneness with not only human world but with all the creatures of the Universe. The Niguṇavāda also believes,