Kabir was a saint and poet –great historical (holy) story part-II
Niru and Nima brought up Kabir as if he were their son. Like his father he learned to weave. He studied the Koran. While working him often sang songs in praise of God. During his face time he killed to be in the company of holy men. He wanted to know more about the Hindus and their holy books. At that time, a wise teacher called Swami Ramananda had come to Varanasi to preach.
Kabir wanted swami Ramananda to be his teacher. He knew this was going to be difficult. The swami was a hi8ndu and he was Muslim. The swami’s students would not allow Kabir to meet him. So he thought of a plan. Kabir knew that the swami went to bathe in the Ganga very early in the morning. So one dark night, Kabir lay down on one of the steps. Early in the morning, swami Ramananda came down for his bath and stepped on the sleeping Kabir.
``Ram, Ram!’’, he said in shock Kabir jumped up at once and touched the swami’s feet saying: ``you have given the mantra ``Ram, Ram’. Please let me learn from you’’.
The swami agreed to teach Kabir, but many of his students were angry.
``he is not a Hindu,’’ they said. But the swami replied. ``God loves every one. He does not see whether they are Muslims or Hindus.’’
Kabir grew up to be a wise man and a great poet. He learned both Sanskrit and Persian. He talked to everyone about god. He told them that going to a temple or mosque was not enough. He wrote beautiful dohas or couples in praise of God. He sang them to the music of the flute. His dohas are sung even to this day. This is one of the beautiful dohas he wrote.
I am neither in temple nor mosque.
O servant, where do you seek me?’
Look, I am beside you.
In simple words he told people to love one another and treat each other as brother and sisters. Whether Hindu or Muslim all are equal in God’s eyes; and loving your fellow being means loving god.
Both the Muslims and the Hindus were angry with Kabir. They took him in chains to the emperor. The emperor ordered his soldiers to kill Kabir. The soldiers bound him with ropes and threw him into the river. But Kabir did not drown. Then they locked Kabir in a hut and set it on fire. The hut burnt down but Kabir was safe. Finally they put him in front of a mad elephant. But instead of killing Kabir, the elephant ran away. Defeated, the emperor set Kabir free, by and by Kabir, collected around him a group of faithful followers. Kabir went from place to place singing songs in praise of god. Years passed by and Kabir grew older. By then he had thousands of followers. When Kabir died his followers quarreled among themselves. The Hindus wanted to burn his body. The Muslims wanted to bury his body. Suddenly they heard Kabir’s voice from the sky. ``Take the sheet away from my body.’’ When they removed the sheet, they did not find the body. In its place they found flowers. So the Muslims took half the flowers and buried them, while the Hindus took the other half and burnt them.
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