Hari M. G.

From the Facticity of

Phenomenality to the Mystic
Absolute: Variations of
Truth in Kabir’s Poetry

52 Spirit ua l it y S tudies 9-1 Sp rin g 2 02 3

 Hari M. G.

Hari M. G., Ph.D. serves as Assistant Professor of En-

glish at the School of Linguistics and Literary Stud-
ies, Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth, India. His research
interests include Mysticism, Literary Theory, Indian
Literature, Green Literature, and Film Studies. He can
be reached at [email protected].

Kabir is a sixteenth century mystic-poet whose words permeate

Received February 16, 2023 the socio-cultural life of Indian subcontinent, bringing the
Revised March 12, 2023
Accepted March 13, 2023
dimension of the beyond to the everyday life of ordinary people.
This study, through a close textual analysis of select poems of
Kabir, seeks to map the variations of “truth” in his poetry and
contends that there are three phases in the poet’s spiritual
Key words
Kabir, bhakti, mysticism, seeking – 1. the stage of complete negation of everything
poetry, truth that one finds to be a lie and seeing the phenomenal world
exactly the way it is without any distortions from the mind;
2. the pain of not experiencing the ultimate truth and the
longing for it; 3. experience of the transcendent mystic truth.
By juxtaposing an analysis of poems that illustrate these
three variations of truth, this study argues that even as truth
takes on different meanings in his poetry, there is a common
factor to the “different truths” of Kabir – a close and intense
attention to what one perceives to be true at a given moment.

←← Mural of Kabir from Sui Simbli temple in Jammu, India. S pi r i t u a l i t y S t u d i e s 9 -1 S pr in g 20 23 53

1 Introduction
Mysticism is, essentially, “the expression of the innate tendency poetic validation for the power of words rooted in deep ex-
of human spirit towards complete harmony with the transcen- perience in the way it unsettled social stereotypes and plat-
dent order” (Underhill 1911, 8) and hence, its reach is beyond itudes and for its uncanny potency to conduit the illogical
the realm of language and logic. A sense of wonder and mystic dimension in language. More than anything else, his
awe is at the very heart of any religious experience and as poetry offers a variety of experience that a mystic traverses
Rudolph Otto (1923, 14) notes, we can attribute the origin in his spiritual seeking. Or rather, it accurately lays out the
of religion to this universal human experience of mystery: different flavours that the subjective notion of truth takes
“the feeling of ‘something uncanny’, ‘eerie’, or ‘weird’… the feeling upon in the path to the realisation of one’s own Self.
which, emerging in the mind of the primeval man, forms the
starting-point for the entire religious development in history.” Kabir’s poetry has inspired people for its spiritual exuberance
A mystic embraces this uncanny feeling of mystery and dis- as well as its daring social critique. The image of Kabir as an
solves the certainties of his/her limited individual identity, at iconoclastic rebel has resonated with socio-political move-
the risk of being irrational for the general public. This is the ments outside the ambit of religion. On a closer look, these
reason why mystics across traditions and geographies tend two aspects of vociferous protest against social evils and the
to come across as illogical even as the theological discourse outpouring of spiritual experiences are organically connect-
of the traditions they are part of sound logical enough. While ed. The zeal of social reformation that is usually attributed
theology deals with logic of metaphysics, mysticism is the to Kabir is nothing but the first step that he vouches for as
discourse of one who is completely taken in by the other- the most significant quality that is required if one fancy any
worldly dimension of human experience. However, it is also progress in spiritual path – that is, the need to be absolutely
significant that many mystics have used language and logic honest about the basic facts about one’s life. The spiritual
to reach out to people who are outside the ambit of their exuberance, as we see in Kabir’s poetry, is the ultimate flow-
range of experience. Hence, mysticism can be discussed in an ering of a life founded on an unflinching ability to be honest.
academic space with regard to the engagement of the saints
in the public sphere, though such deliberations cannot bring However, the truth that Kabir extols in his poetry takes on
out the metaphysical reality that they allude to. As Ralph many hues. We can conceive them as different stages of
Barton Perry (1904, 82) notes, “there is a place in religion spiritual unfoldment in the life of a seeker. Through a close
for that which is not directly answerable to philosophical or textual analysis of select poems of Kabir, this study seeks to
scientific standards. But there is always, on the other hand, an bring out co-existence of “different truths” in Kabir’s poetry.
element of hope which conceives the nature of the world, and For this purpose, the poems which present the notion of
means to be grounded in reality.” It seems the sheer intensity truth in varying contexts have been selected and they are
of mystic experience overflowed in a language that is logical studied with an emphasis on the implications and ambigu-
enough to ridicule the way of life of the general public, but ities with regard to truth that one can discern in them. This
illogical to the core when pointing to the hinterlands of the study discusses three different phases in Kabir’s elucidation
saints’ inner world. This conflict between the mystics’ lived of truth – 1. the stage of complete negation of everything
reality and the reality that they temporarily step in to engage that one finds to be a lie and seeing the phenomenal world
with the public, opens up a nebulous space where seemingly exactly the way it is without any distortions from the mind;
clear conceptualisations are problematised. Hence, research 2. the pain of not experiencing the ultimate truth and the
on mysticism, in this context, becomes an attempt to closely longing for it; 3. experience of the transcendent mystic truth.
look at some of the most common notions that human be- While making the distinction of three different phases in
ings have taken for granted for ages and to expose the unre- Kabir’s conception of truth, this study also ventures to iden-
flective mentality that has gone into the making of them. It tify the common thread running through these different
is in this context that this paper discusses the poetry of the strands.
sixteenth century Indian saint-poet Kabir.

Kabir is one of the most important, arguably the most in-

fluential, among a group of poets in medieval India known
as the Bhakti poets. His poetry has seeped into the literary
sensibility of Indian subcontinent and has been a remarkable

54 Spirit ua l it y S tudies 9-1 Sp rin g 2 02 3

 Hari M. G.

2 An Unflinching Look at
the Facticity of Life
The first step that Kabir vouches for in the quest for the ab- depth to the complexity of ideation happening here. It is
solute is an unflinching loyalty to truth. As Andrew Schelling said that the heart in which truth exists is where “You” abide.
(2011, xi) notes, Bhakti poets have always stood for a rig- Like the notion of “truth”, “You” also does have an ambiguous
orous enquiry into the nature of truth: “Bhakti is salted with signification. The obvious reference of “You” would be the
an integrity that requires intellectual effort and a great deal of divine; but it can also mean the seeker of the divine. Taken
honest probing to get close to.” Though the idea of truth keeps together, these lines make a very profound statement – the
changing as one progresses in one’s seeking, Kabir exhorts seeker who makes an earnest effort to know oneself, without
his fellow beings to begin this journey to the realization of any conscious intention to take the easy road of falsehood,
Self by ceasing to consciously get involved in lies. He even would finally reach a space within oneself that is usually
says that those who willingly live in falsehood are despica- called “God”. As Linda Hess (1983, 30) notes, in Kabir’s poetry,
ble (Kabir 2020,161): it is the persistent commitment to truth that finally empow-
ers a human being to perceive the unmediated infinitude of
One who loves falsehood existence: “The essence of Kabir’s effort as a teacher may be
And gives up truth willingly stated plainly: he wants people to be honest. He believes that
Even in my dreams, oh God, complete honesty (and nothing else) provides a realization of
Don’t let him come near me. complete truth – understanding of the nature of consciousness,
the relation of individual and the universe, inside and outside,
The poet’s abomination for a life founded on lies emanates life and death.”
from his conviction that it is only an intense and sincere
search for truth that would lead to the realization of one’s ul- In some verses, the poet makes his logic as simple as it could
timate Self. For a mystic like Kabir the ontological certitude be stated (Kabir 2020, 148):
of the realization of one’s true being is the only sensible goal
worth having. Spewing lies in the inner world consciously Shun hypocrisy and pride
would deny a human being the possibility of accessing the Be like a pebble on a road
divinity within. He is quite affirmative when he says it is truth Only one who be like this
alone that can bring the dimension of the sacred alive in Can behold the Lord.
one’s “heart” (Kabir 2020, 160):
Logic here is quite simple. As a mystic and a guru, Kabir
There is no penance like truth makes just one demand – to shun hypocrisy and pride; and
No sin as great as a lie; the one who could do that is worthy enough to be touched
The heart in which truth exists – by the divine. As simple as it seems, there is an entire world
That’s where You abide. implicit in these words. “To be like a pebble on the road” one
has to abnegate and dismantle the mental structure itself.
These lines exemplify the depth that Kabir brings to seem- To be ordinary and honest, in this context, would amount to
ingly simple poetic expression. The first two lines sound like going beyond the mind. The spiritual reality that the mystic
a simple morality lesson given to children – being truthful cryptically alludes to, in many of his other poems, is accessi-
is the greatest virtue and lying the greatest sin. But, what ble only when the seeker could transplant his being beyond
“truth” is he talking about? Is it the ultimate truth of spiri- the chaos of the mind. In Kabir’s poetic world, simplicity of
tual Oneness that Kabir as a mystic realizes or is it the truth ideas and expression, often, have this quaint resonance of
of ordinary human beings which is usually construed as an deeper subtext of meaning. As the topic of his musings is the
absence of a conscious attempt at deception? It seems the subjectivity of a seeker of truth, simple words and images are
poet is alluding to both these dimensions of truth – truth of contextualized within a dense range of deep experiences of
the material world of human transactions and the metaphys- the beyond. Kabir’s basic outlook towards religion is that of
ical absolute of divinity. It can be read as an attitude which an inner exploration wherein the seemingly simple thoughts
would involve these two aspects of truth – an earnest heart and emotions lead to uncharted terrains of a baffling meta-
that does not attempt consciously to deceive oneself and physical reality. The poet seems quite certain about the basic
others, would eventually be able to move to the absolute and nature of this exploration of interiority which is quite evident
immutable truth of existence. The next two lines add more in the way he dismisses the charades of the external world.

S pi r i t u a l i t y S t u d i e s 9 -1 S pr in g 20 23 55
Internalized sense of truth that he upholds is contemptuous more than biological and social machines. In some of the
of the external parading of religiosity and as Satchidanan- poems, the mystic expresses his amazement at the ridiculous
dan (1999, 194) says it has not lost its mordant effect on the nature of such a life (Kabir 2003, 61):
world: “Religion to Kabir was a wholly inward experience; the
imprecations he bestowed upon those who followed the exter- I see the world
nals have still lost nothing of their mordant effect.” is crazy.
When I tell the truth,
Kabir’s scathing attack on falsehood and unreflective ways of People run
life is, in fact, the most articulate and logical sections in his to beat me up –
oeuvre. A life of material pleasures and social platitudes is When I tell lies,
spurned for its complete neglect of the fundamental facticity they believe me.
of human condition – death and transience. The constant
change that the physical world which include human body Even religion, as it is practiced in the world, becomes one
undergoes and the certitude of death, for him, should deeply more attempt at making life more predictable and safer. To
disturb a human being. A philosophy that does not factor in, look into the profound questions that religion raises, takes
these fundamental realities, is seen as just vacuous verbiage. at most honesty and courage which, usually, gives way to
The constant reminder of death and precarity of life abounds meek dogmatization. Gertrude C. Bussey (1932, 92), makes an
in his poetry (Kabir 1991, 55): insightful observation in this regard: “From the philosophical
point of view one can only reiterate the uncertainty of religious
Ten are the doors to the cage positions and scrupulously avoid the temptation to dogmatize.
There the life-bird stays Yet this does not really meet the situation fully. Even though
That it stays so long is strange people crave truth, many are not yet ready to prefer truth to ap-
Its flight should not amaze. parent certainty.” It is quite interesting that Kabir, a saint, has
the same critical approach to a religion based on faith (Kabir
Death, in Kabir’s poetic world, is an event that nullifies all hu- 1983, 93):
man attempts to camouflage the hollow nature of all social
facades. The Universal energy that the poet exhorts each hu- Everyone says words, words,
man being to get to experience, is the ultimate dictator when That word is bodyless.
it comes to life and death (Kabir 2003, 117): It won’t come
On the tongue.
Hari has sent His summons – See it, test it, take it.
COME INSTANTLY
Your time to act is up. Kabir, like other Bhakti saints, has been very categorical
about what constitutes a real spiritual experience. The rigid
Death, unlike other events, is non-negotiable and is, ulti- dogmatic charades of institutionalised religion and its ego-
mately, a test of the authenticity of life. The mystic experi- istic practice at the individual level were ridiculed by him.
ence that the poet considers to be the only sensible state of The hollow verbiage that is philosophised and spiritualised
existence is available to those who go in earnest seeking of cannot make one available to the grace of “that word”. Kabir
it, realizing the fragility of all that constitute one’s world. An says that it is bodyless and it will not come on the tongue.
experience beyond the physical is, for the mystic, the only But it can be seen and once seen it should be tested and
eternal experience and hence, the only goal worthy of seek- then, it becomes one with the seeker. This is, in fact, a clear
ing. Kabir is elusive and illogical when he talks about the statement of the saint-poet’s basic approach to religion. He
mysteries of the mystic realm, but he is absolutely rational locates the first spiritual stirrings in “seeing” that there is
and logical when he explicates the facticity of life that leads a dimension beyond physicality. This sight or rather, glimpse,
a seeker to search for them. Even if his poetic outpourings of is followed by an intense and rigorous scrutiny of this other-
mystic visions be dismissed on the basis of a rational analy- worldly feel. It is only after the seeker goes through the pain
sis, his arguments for leading such a life are on firm logical of doubt and insecurity that the “bodyless word” becomes
foundation. In fact, as a spiritual teacher, Kabir, as reflected part of the seeker’s conscious being. This is a spiritual path
in his poetry, does not ask for a blind belief in the certainty completely founded on true experience, contrary to the dog-
of the beyond. His appeal is solely based on the unreason- matic and scriptural spirituality of religion as institution.
able stance that the general public takes in living as nothing

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 Hari M. G.

3 The Desperate Seeker

The poet hopes his words would make at least a few open succinctly comments on the utter vulnerability of the saints
and sensitive, though he is convinced they cannot break in the Introduction to her book Eating God: A Book of Bhakti
through the rock like rigidity of the minds of the vast ma- Poetry: “she was an insurgent who knew the perils of the border
jority. Therein, lies the intimacy of Kabir’s poetry. It is not game she was playing, and the yawning chasm that lay just be-
addressed to the entire world, but to those few who are will- yond the horizon of her insatiable yearning.” The poems which
ing to surrender at least a part of their sense of being – an delve into the utter insecurity of being human constitutes the
invitation to those who have a little empty space within to most fascinating sections of Kabir’s poetry. When the seeker
accommodate the divine. Intimate space that his poetry is is sincerely honest about the everyday world of ordinary real-
positioned, is not only one where he appeals to others to be ity, he finds what people usually call as “life” quite tragic and
attentive and but also a space where he chooses to pour out doomed. Without an illusion of fantasy, life appears a precar-
his own struggles in experiencing the bliss of the absolute. ious chance happening that is bound to end with death. This
In some poems, the poet brutally subjects himself to an ethi- basic facticity does not bother an unreflective human being,
cal scrutiny, to the extent of calling himself the “worst human thanks to an obsessive clinging to fantasies rooted in lies.
being” (Kabir 2020, 149): The true seeker who has seen the reality of such fantasies
gets inevitably embroiled in an intensely unsettling insecuri-
Kabir, I am the worst of all, ty, which in turn propels his/her spiritual seeking. The poetry
Everyone else is great; of such states of pain and hopelessness is also one that re-
The one who understands this – flects a profound honesty – bearing testimony to a desperate
He is my mate. need to find fulfilment (Kabir 1993, 269):

These words emanate from a deep engagement with You are my Mother
one’s own subjectivity. When attention is directed to the hid- And I am your child:
den recesses of the mind, the poet feels the even the slight- Why couldn’t You forget
est meanness of thought as the greatest of sins. The line “The All my faults?
one who understands this / He is my mate”, implies that it is
not a mere confession of an inner turmoil, but an intimate The insecurity and vulnerability expressed here is absolute,
advice to look deep within oneself for even the tiniest of in the sense that it comes from a space devoid of all the
faults. Absolute integrity is what Kabir expects in those who mental constructs that human beings resort to in a desperate
are touched by Him, and He is laying his interiority bare as an search for security and stability. On the one hand, the poet is
instance of such unabashed encounter with hitherto uncon- in deep pain as he is unable to experience the bliss of cosmic
scious mental spaces. Such an intimate and honest dissection oneness; on the other, he is equally distant from the comforts
of oneself leads to utter insecurity and helplessness as well. and pleasures of the normative social life. Caught up in the
But the poet is not ashamed to cry for God’s help when he is in-between space which neither has the absolute security of
left with nothing to cling on to (Kabir 1993, 157): the mystic nor the deluded sense of security of the mundane
life, he calls himself a fool while the entire world looks very
I have come to seek refuge in You – self-assured (Kabir 2011, 53):
but nowhere do I see Hari’s feet!
I have come to seek your presence: The smart guys
Your servant Kabir is in despair! Aren’t just the majority,
They are everywhere,
These are not the words of a believer, but of one who will Everyone but me.
not settle for anything less than an experience that is truly I’m the only
cosmic. In fact, Bhakti poetry abounds in utter insecurity of Dimwit in town.
the inner world, and it was natural for the saints to experi- I wasn’t born like this,
ence being caught up in a no man’s land as they shed their With an extra chromosome,
social investments without any surety of Self-realization. It’s singing the Lord’s name
Walking the spiritual path in its initial stage was fraught with Made me so.
a deep sense of insecurity and anxiety, for many of the saints.
Arundhati Subramaniam (2014, xxvi) quite insightfully and

S pi r i t u a l i t y S t u d i e s 9 -1 S pr in g 20 23 57
 4 Poetry of the Mystic Awe
The tone in these lines is very matter-of-fact. Although the In Kabir’s poetry, extreme vulnerability is a phase that the
poet feels that he is the only “dimwit”, there is no attempt saint goes through before settling into the boundless expe-
to become like others who appear to be “smart”. Rather, he rience of spiritual oneness. In the poems that describe the
states that he was not born like this and it is the quaint clarity of anchoring one’s being in the spaciousness of the
path of “Bhakti” that made him so. The deep exploration of divine dimension; we find the poet much more affirmative
one’s own subjectivity that the poet sets out to, does not give about his perception of truth. There is a clinical precision
any room for a reversal of path. Despite not knowing what about these poems in the way they state the suchness of
lies ahead, the devotee has to tread the path even as others existence. They are the words emanating from a human
live their lives without even a thought about the dimension consciousness that has seen the vacuity of the phenomenal
of the beyond. This nebulous stage where all the certain- world and has gone through the turmoil of a mind troubled
ties about the truth gets unsettled is an inevitable phase in by the ignorance of the transcendent Absolute. After going
the spiritual journey of an ardent seeker. In the poems that through these stages, the poetic voice in these poems is affir-
questioned the falsehood of a socially conditioned quotidian matively stating the ultimate truth of life (Kabir 1983, 125):
life, the poetic voice is affirmative about what is not “true”.
But Kabir’s poems that detail the pangs of seeking are about If you are true, a curse can’t reach you
the pain of not realising the truth. Here, he is less concerned And death can’t eat you;
about the falsehood that vast majority of the society invests Walking from truth to truth,
their lives in; on the contrary, the poet compares his plight What can destroy you?
with the seeming confidence of others and is perplexed by
their casual attitude. The realisation of the truth about the “Truth” referred to in this poem, is not the relative truth of
facticity of phenomenality evolves into confusion about the the moment, but the metaphysical truth which Kabir consid-
ultimate certitude of being in these poems. ers to be the foundation for the phenomenal world. It is de-
scribed as beyond transience and death, and one who is con-
stantly in touch with this dimension transcends the relativity
of phenomenal existence. The relative world of phenome-
nality as a whole is dismissed by the poet as “monstrous lie”,
leaving the metaphysical oneness of life as the only truth
(Kabir 2011,105).

Can’t you see that

Rama is the only truth, says Kabir
Everything else a monstrous lie?

This dismissal of the phenomenal world is the ultimate stage

in a gradual evolution of truth. When the mystic calls the en-
tire reality of the physical phenomenon a mirage, he does so,
after going through a wide range of experiences that are part
of the physical reality. It is the intensity of a life in the most
ordinary and profane circumstances that brings out the di-
mension of the sacred in Kabir’s poetry. What we find here is
a spiritual journey that is driven by intensity of life in a given
moment which Robert Bly (2004, xvii) identifies as the very
basis of Kabir’s spiritual method: “Kabir says when you do inte-
rior work, the work is not done by the method, but by intensity.”
The intense attention to the vast saga of life that is played
out in space and time, takes the mystic to an altogether dif-
ferent reality that is beyond the spatiotemporal limitations.
Even after reaching the sublimity of the transcendent truth,
he does not get completely withdrawn from the play of en-

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 Hari M. G.

ergies in the physical world. Settling into the certitude of the not limited to one identification or the other; rather it posits
fundamental truth of life – the metaphysical oneness of life all identities as mental constructs to camouflage this lack.
according to Kabir – enables the poet to see the reality of Hence, it is quite natural that he sees the ultimate truth as
life as a dynamic process. Roland Stahl (1954,152) makes an beyond the mind as mind itself is a ploy. The mystic wisdom
interesting observation in this regard: “God is the ground of of the mind being a conditioned mechanism that is repetitive
all being and the creator and sustainer of all finite existence, not in nature, is illustrated here with sharp precision.
only in idea, but in actuality… This conception of reality, with its
view of life and activity within the absolute, committed Kabir to The most striking and fascinating poetic expression of the
the doctrine of reality as dynamic process.” mystic reality in Kabir’s poetry, is in the poems which are
usually called “ulatbaasi” poems or “upside-down” poems.
Another connection that Kabir makes with the transcendent These poems are an attempt to put into words an experience
ultimate and the physical here-now is that he posits the for- and a dimension that are beyond language and logic. Since,
mer as the only solution to the suffering that integral to the the experience itself entails an “anti-language” quality, the
latter. He sees grounding oneself firmly in the certainty and poet uses weird imagination to represent the illogical nature
security of the being of the universe as the only way to settle of the mystic dimension (Kabir 2011, 5):
the chaos of relative existence (Kabir 2003, 187):
Is there a man so clever
Without the song of testimony, Who’ll explain this
the quarrels of the world don’t end. Topsy-turvy Veda?
Water catches fire;
Once again, the thrust here is on interiorisation – the sub- The blind can see.
jective experience of divinity, not on an uncritical adherence A frog swallows five cobras.
to belief systems. It entails, as Charlotte Vaudeville and Har- A buffalo carries off a tiger;
ry B. Partin (1964, 196) note, “withdrawing to the innermost A goat eats a wolf;
depths of one’s interiority”. Such a withdrawal is presented in A deer kills a cheetah.
Kabir’s poetic world, as a flight beyond the reach of mental A quail gets the better of a falcon;
chaos (Kabir 1993, 246): A mouse of a cat;
A Jackal of a farrier.
If you but remain quiet for an instant, Respectfully,
God, the Lord, will be present. With palms folded,
I offer this song
Again, Kabir’s use of pronoun implies a much deeper percep- To the Lord, says Kabir.
tion than the seemingly simple surface meaning indicates,
like in some of the other poems discussed in this paper. It It is quite evident that the poet, through a juxtaposition of
is said if “you” remained quiet for a moment, God would be illogical imagery, is striving to drive home the point that it
present. By the words, “Lord” and “God”, Kabir always talks is impossible to put into words the mystic oneness that he
about a divine dimension that is beyond the constant traffic experiences in the deepest spaces of his subjectivity. The last
of the mind. “You” can only mean the mind, in this context four lines of the poem indicate the attitude that the poet has
and hence divinity is presented, here, as a dimension that is towards such an experience – “with palms folded” he offers
accessible when we develop the necessary discipline to keep his song about the profound mystery of one’s being to the
the mind aside. Quieting the mind, as always in Kabir’s mystic “Lord”. This marks the ultimate realization of the truth that
world entails an unwavering commitment to truth because, the seeker in Kabir always longed for. The break in language
for him, the constant traffic of thoughts in the mind is a re- and logic that he calibrates to great poetic effect, becomes
sult of the identification with the world of phenomenality. a representation of the absolute reality, which is transcen-
This stance with regard to the mental structure of a human dent and metaphysical. Like many other mystics, Kabir does
being is, in fact, quite radical. Kabir sees all identification not tell his readers what the transcendent reality is; rather,
that a human being passionately invests in, as consequenc- he tells us what it is not – he tells us that it is not the phe-
es of a fundamental lack – the lack of basic understanding nomenal world of logic and human transactions. The silence
regarding the true nature of one’s being. His perspective is he keeps with regard to the nature of the ultimate truth itself

S pi r i t u a l i t y S t u d i e s 9 -1 S pr in g 2 0 23 59
 5 Conclusion
is the most apt representation of it possible in language; it Religion as a cultural practice can often be quite conserva-
is to create this silence that the poet becomes vocal about tive and dogmatic. As Otto Pfleiderer (1983, 2) notes, “it en-
negation of everything else. tails the presupposition… that the transmitted dogmas contain
infallible, divinely revealed truth, to which man should readily
Kabir’s poetry expresses not only the wonder and magic of and unquestioningly submit.” The most regressive aspect
being in touch with a dimension that is beyond physicality, about such a practice of religion is that it is belief oriented.
but also the ease of transiting into such a state (Kabir 2003, Kabir’s poetry, especially those poems which delve into the
121): nature of phenomenal and metaphysical truth, stand in con-
trast to the rigid conception of the divine in institutionalised
Kabir says, brother, religion. Though Kabir’s poems that are about the transcen-
I have gone crazy – dent Absolute dismiss the phenomenality of the material
quietly, quietly, like a thief, world, we have seen that the spiritual seeker in Kabir is
my mind has slipped into the simple state. equally interested in the relative truth of the phenomenal
world. Most importantly, Kabir’s poetry calls for an earnest
Kabir settles into the simplicity of being one with the ex- attention to the phenomenon of life, without any deceptive
istence after going through trials and tribulations of a des- mental distortions. This profound quality to be attentive to
perate search for truth. The wonder and ecstasy that such an the “truth” one perceives, even when it is the relative truth of
expanse of being bring is the ultimate reward for a life lived phenomenality, is alone sufficient for his poetry to stay rel-
with dedicated attention to what one perceives as the truth evant beyond time and geography. Absolute commitment to
and a vigilant mental process of weeding out all kinds of lies know what can be known in a temporal and situational con-
text is what the mystic considers as the most valued quality
in a spiritual seeker, and his poetry inspires many, even in
our times, to make that quality a living reality in their lives.
Kabir’s is a legacy that should be embraced and celebrated as
his words are even more relevant in our times than his.

Kabir’s notion of “truth” that this study sought to illustrate

in its varying shades, despite its contextual differences, has
been invariably rooted in a profound sense of honesty within
the limits of one’s perception. The three phases of “truth” in
Kabir’s poetry that this study discussed – being objectively
factual about the phenomenal reality, being in a constant
longing for the ultimate realisation of truth, and a celebra-
tion of the mystic bliss – are connected with the common
thread of utmost honesty possible in a given instant. Or rath-
er, the element of being truthful to one’s subjective reality
and its longings is one constant factor we find in Kabir’s po-
ems even as the seeker’s perception of truth changes. The
poems discussed in this study stylistically and thematically
point towards such an intense and unwavering honesty and
its alchemic power for transforming human consciousness.

60 Spirit ua l it y Studies 9-1 Sp rin g 2 02 3

 Hari M. G.

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