When he sings, I just stand and listen || Acharya Prashant, on Kabir Saheb (2019)

Acharya Prashant

‍♂️ Want to meet Acharya Prashant?  Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...    Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?  Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Video Information: Vishranti Shivir, 07.09.2019, Chandigarh, India   Context:   Who is Saint kabir?  Why Acharya Prashant has such fondness for him?  Why is he regarded as one of epitomes of spirituality?  When  was Kabir known an Kabir Saheb?  Why West don't know Kabir Saheb?   Music Credits: Milind Date  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .

Transcript

00:00What's your question, Jamie, tonight, if any?

00:14Yeah, I think I saw something.

00:28Yes, Jamie wants to be introduced to Kabir sahib.

00:36Says, Dear Acharya ji, in the West, we generally do not know Kabir.

00:40In fact, during my time in India, over the years, you are the only one who has mentioned him, that is, Kabir sahib, to me.

00:50If time permits, and no other question requires your attention, would you please share with me who Kabir is to you,

00:57what you admire about his life on earth, and what the core of his teaching is for us.

01:03Thank you, Acharya ji, deepest gratitude, Jamie.

01:06Jamie, yes, it's a pleasure to bring Kabir sahib to the West.

01:16Geographically, Australia is not really in the West.

01:20You are further to the East compared to India.

01:26Yeah, culturally, culturally.

01:32Kabir sahib, yeah, how do I talk about him?

01:37Bear honesty.

01:44Honesty, honesty, honesty.

01:46Honesty, thy name is Kabir.

01:54Worked his entire life, first of all.

01:58He was a weaver, small time weaver, from Varanasi, by profession.

02:06Worked all his life and there is a very strong reason why I am mentioning this in the first place

02:12as the most important thing about him.

02:17There has been an abundance of so-called religious teachers who do not bother to work.

02:31They just yak.

02:34All they have is gab, gab.

02:38Talk, talk and talk, not work.

02:42Kabir sahib worked. He was a weaver and he would weave everyday

02:46and he would live out of what he would earn from there.

02:50Not that he is the only one who would work, there are many others in history.

02:57But India is a place where the devotional sentiment always runs high

03:06and he was born in the Bhakti age. He belonged to the 14th century.

03:1214th and 15th century.

03:15And he lived in Varanasi, the center of all orthodoxy.

03:24He could have easily managed to have as much money and worldly goodies as he wanted.

03:36He never had anything.

03:40He never had anything from his people, his audiences, never.

03:50And he wasn't a beggar either.

03:54Neither was he a seated and decorated guru

04:06who would collect donations in lakhs and crores.

04:11People would come and offer millions to him.

04:16None of that. He never bothered to establish himself as some high-flying guru.

04:24Nor he was a beggar.

04:28He wouldn't say, I am a bhikshu. He wouldn't take the begging bowl and go about collecting alms.

04:33He worked like any ordinary person.

04:37And he would call himself Kabira or Kabir.

04:48He would never give himself a title or a sobriquet, nothing.

04:53He is Kabir, just Kabir.

04:56At least his addresses to himself never go beyond calling himself Kabir or Kabira or Kabira.

05:14That's honesty to the bone, to the core.

05:23Later on, his followers started calling him Sahib and Sadguru Kabir and all those things.

05:30He never did all that.

05:32It's so beautiful.

05:35In fact, I have this grudge against India.

05:37Just because Kabir Sahib was so humble about himself,

05:41so India has not really given him the place he deserves.

05:48We still address him as Kabir.

05:52Very, very ordinary and far lesser folks are addressed far more admiringly and respectfully.

06:07But the greatest of them all is called Kabir.

06:11And not that he did not know that the world lives on pretense and showmanship.

06:23He knew all those things.

06:25And yet he would say Kabir.

06:27Once he said, Kabir Kutta Ram Ka, Mutiya Mera Nao.

06:32It requires guts.

06:36And Jaime, your Acharya Ji is sold out to this beautiful display of guts.

06:49Only somebody with the utter heart of a lion can dare to proclaim in public Kabir Kutta Ram Ka.

07:00Kabir is the pet dog of Ram.

07:03And he didn't stop at that.

07:07He went ahead and christened himself as Mutiya.

07:16Kabir Kutta Ram Ka, Mutiya Mera Nao.

07:20Gale Ram Ki Jewari, Jit Kheeche Tit Jao.

07:25And when you come across something like this,

07:31you feel delighted to be alive at that moment.

07:36When I am with Kabir Sahib, I feel grateful for being alive.

07:43I am grateful I was born so that I could come upon Kabir.

07:48And he lived in Varanasi, which I said is the seat of Hindu orthodoxy.

08:01And yet he had the courage, the devotion and the conviction to say,

08:09Paathar Pooje Hari Mile Toh Main Poojoon Pahad.

08:14At another place he says, Deotan Se Kutta Bhala.

08:20If one could attain God by worshipping stones,

08:29I would rather worship the mountains.

08:34And he told to all the idol worshippers

08:40that even dogs are better than all these gods that you worship.

08:44At least dogs offer you some protection and security in the night.

08:48What do these gods offer you?

08:52Macho man, my hero.

08:58And I have been a fanboy.

09:07He is my superhero.

09:11And the sheer depth of his realisation.

09:15And the absolute simplicity of his expression.

09:19Maya Maya Sab Kahe Maya Lakhe Na Koi, Jo Manse Na Utre Maya Kahiye Soe.

09:24And there are volumes upon volumes trying to describe what Maya is.

09:31The entire world is perplexed about Maya.

09:37What is Maya? What is Maya?

09:40And Kabir Sahib dismisses all this talk about Maya like this.

09:45With one flash of his hand.

09:50Jo Manse Na Utre Maya Kahiye Soe.

09:53As if he is saying, son, the question is so simple.

09:59Why can't you see the answer?

10:02Like a maths teacher,

10:05consoling a beginner who is grappling with

10:10an actually easy but apparently insurmountable problem.

10:14Son, it is so easy.

10:20Just say y is equal to e raised to the power x.

10:23And you will get the answer.

10:28Just substitute e to the power x with y.

10:31And you will get the answer.

10:33Jo Manse Na Utre Maya Kahiye Soe.

10:35Done. Done. Dismissed.

10:38And Maya is cringing and squirming.

10:42Finally somebody got the better of me.

10:45Jo Manse Na Utre Maya Kahiye Soe.

10:47That which keeps occupying your mind.

10:51That which you cannot get rid of is Maya.

10:58Is there any other who ever put it across so simply and so beautifully and so totally?

11:05There is nobody.

11:08Kaal Kaal Sab Kahe.

11:11Kaal Na Jaane Koi.

11:13Jeti Man Ki Kalpana Kaal Kahave Soe.

11:16Time is another of our obsessions.

11:20And we never seem to get the better of it.

11:23Time. What is time? What is time?

11:25What is time?

11:27What is space time?

11:30And Kabir Sahab says, Jeti Man Ki Kalpana Kaal Kahave Soe.

11:37And here,

11:41he has hit two birds with this one arrow.

11:46And he says Jeti Man Ki Kalpana Kaal Kahave Soe.

11:49By Kaal he means not merely time but also death.

11:56Such fantastic mastery is rarely seen elsewhere.

12:01Obviously you get glimpses of it many other places as well.

12:05I respect all of them.

12:06All of them are very very dear to me.

12:09I worship them.

12:11But when it comes to Kabir Sahab, I said I am a fan boy.

12:17When he speaks, when he sings,

12:20I can just stand and clap all day.

12:31Brute honesty and childlike simplicity.

12:39How can you put these two together? Kabir Sahab does.

12:44Brute honesty and childlike simplicity and innocence.

12:58I sometimes say to the ones around me,

13:03if I am very unwell and dying,

13:09don't offer me Gangajal and all that.

13:12Just sing Kabir to me.

13:19Not that that would take me to heaven.

13:22That might actually make me get up.

13:27I am not interested in heavens or swarg.

13:31But if you bring Kabir Sahab to me,

13:35chances are I will just spring back to my feet.

13:42No mumbo jumbo.

13:51No miracles.

13:53No other worldly stuff.

14:04Kabira.

14:05The highest that the world can ever know is calling himself Kabira.

14:13Oh!

14:15Who will not fall in love with

14:26such a hero?

14:39And work and work.

14:43Work.

14:44Work the entire day.

14:48Work.

14:58And have the courage to speak truth to power.

15:05The bare truth.

15:08The hard-hitting truth.

15:13Never mix it up.

15:14Never dilute it.

15:20Put things as they are.

15:29And Sahab was attacked.

15:30He was attacked from all sides

15:32because he did not belong to any side.

15:36He didn't relent.

15:43On one hand, to me he is the greatest scholar of Advaita.

15:59You would not have heard such a description of Kabir Sahab.

16:03He is mentioned as a bhakti saint.

16:06To me, he is a great Vedanti.

16:12He is the greatest scholar of Advaita that the world has known.

16:18And he is also the greatest devotee when he says Ram.

16:26Of course, his Ram is not Maryada Purushottam Ram.

16:32These two streams become one in him.

16:35Gyan and Bhakti.

16:37You cannot describe him as a bhakti saint.

16:39The knowledge of the entire Vedic corpus shines simplified in Kabir Sahab.

16:52And yet he has the integrity to say

17:03when the Vedas talk of animal sacrifice

17:07Kabir says that Adharma is called Dharma in the Vedas.

17:26It goes something like this.

17:27Ashwamedh, Ajamedh, Sarpamedh, Narmedh

17:32Kabir says that Adharma is called Dharma in the Vedas.

17:36When it came to cruelty towards animals,

17:43Kabir Sahab is in another league.

17:48He is probably the only well known figure in the history of religion

17:53who has spoken very clearly, loudly and unsparingly

18:03against cruelty to animals and flesh eating.

18:07He did not spare even the Vedas.

18:11When the Vedas said that Ashwamedh should be there.

18:14You know what Ashwamedh is, right?

18:16A sacrifice in which the horse is offered.

18:19Similarly, Ajamedh in which the goat is offered.

18:25So Kabir Sahab says that Kabir says that Adharma is called Dharma in the Vedas.

18:31And that is another reason why I so closely identify with him.

18:39Today veganism is a cause we espouse.

18:43Kabir Sahab was a vegan in those times.

18:51He was the staunchest vegetarian at least.

18:54And he was very clear that if you eat flesh,

19:01if you kill animals and if you eat animal flesh,

19:06then you are entering into evil

19:14and no forgiveness, no redemption would be available to you.

19:25Nobody, just nobody has spoken so strongly against flesh eating.

19:32In fact, there have been teachers who were themselves flesh eaters.

19:39And in that background, when you look at Kabir Sahab,

19:44he is exemplary all alone in a league of himself.

19:55So not only does the Vedic stream,

19:59but even the Buddhist stream and the Jain stream

20:04come together and merge in him.

20:06He is the greatest Sangam this country has known.

20:09And I would also say, India in particular and the world in general

20:24have yet not given Kabir Sahab his due.

20:29His real place in the history of mankind

20:33is yet to be ascertained and evaluated.

20:38We take him very casually.

20:43Just because he never put up a great show about himself,

20:48we take him very casually.

20:50Go close to him and go close to all others

21:08and then you will realize how singularly,

21:15brightly he shines.

21:20Hmm?

21:37I can speak all night on him, so stop me.

21:40Stop me.

21:46In fact, I have spoken more on Kabir Sahab than I have done on anybody else,

21:51both in Hindi and English.

21:56And I think as long as this body is there, I will continue doing that.

22:00And his entire corpus is enormous.

22:06There is so much to speak on.

22:10Thank you.

22:41Thank you.

23:00And sense of humour.

23:04That's not easily found among religious spiritual people.

23:10My boss has a terrific sense of humour.

23:20People sometimes tell me that they look up to me not merely as a teacher

23:27but also as a stand-up comedian.

23:33They have probably not met my boss.

23:41Meet him and his brand of humour is

23:56delicate and rib-splitting.

24:11Hmm?

24:21Both insightful and casual.

24:31He is extremely casual.

24:33You will not find him serious.

24:36He just says things.

24:41Hmm?

24:46And what he just casually says,

24:51people interpret an entire…

24:56people take an entire lifetime to interpret.

25:01And he has just casually said something.

25:03Now you interpret it.

25:10Kabir Das ki oolti baani, barse kambal bheege paani.

25:24Hmm?

25:27He is saying, Kabir Das talks of it in an inverted way.

25:34Quilts are raining.

25:44And water is being wetted.

25:51At another place, he describes the wedding ceremony of an aunt.

25:58Cheeti ka byaah.

26:01Hmm?

26:03So now the aunt is having a grand wedding

26:08and the elephant has come over

26:11and the mouse has also come.

26:16And the entire thing is described and in the end he says

26:19the one who can realize what is being said here

26:24will cross over.

26:26If you can interpret what is going on, you will cross over.

26:30And the entire description is outrightly funny.

26:38He not merely meditates you, he outwits you.

26:47The zenith of all wit.

26:59Hmm?

27:12Hmm?

27:29Hmm?

27:35All right. Yes.

27:38And thanks for asking this, Yemi.

27:43I am seriously glad.

28:01No part of this recording may be reproduced

28:03without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.

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