Spiritual Stories

Author(s): Raman Maharshi
Publisher: Ramanasramam Tiruvannamalai

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would be no feeding at all of the devotees the next day), he called out to his father and told him to sever his head and take it away with him. That done, Kabir made good his escape with the stolen provisions and his son's head, which on reaching home was hidden away from possible detection.
The next day Kabir gave a feast to the bhaktas, quite unmindful of what had happened the previous night. “If it is Rama's Will,” said Kabir to himself, “that my son should die, may it prevail!” In the evening after the feast, Kabir set out with his party as usual in procession into the town with bhajana, etc.
Meanwhile, the burgled householder reported to the king, producing the truncated body of Kamal, which gave them no clue. In order to secure its identification, the king had the body tied up prominently on the highway so that whoever claimed it or took it away (for no dead body is forsaken without the last rites being given to it by the kith and kin) might be interrogated or arrested by the police, who were posted secretly for the purpose.
Kabir and his party came along the highway with the bhajana in full swing when, to the astonishment of all, Kamal's truncated body (which was considered dead as a door-nail) began to clap its hands, marking time to the tune sung by the bhajana party.
This story disproves the suggestion that the head or the place between the eyebrows is the seat of the Self. It may also be noted that when in the battlefield the head of a soldier in action is severed from the body by a sudden and powerful stroke of the sword, the body continues to run or move its limbs as in a mock fight, just for a while, before it finally falls down dead.
A devotee protested: “But Kamal's body was dead hours before.”
Bhagavan replied: "What you call death is really no extraordinary experience for Kamal. Here is the story of what happened when he was younger still."
As a boy Kamal had a friend of equal age with whom he used to play games of marbles etc. A general rule they observed