– S . Kushhal Singh (Canada)
SAINT KABIR, THE ‘SIRMOUR BHAGHAT, as the fifth Nanak ranked him, had declared that his ‘rasna’ (tongue) was his rosary:
“ਕਬੀਰ ਮੇਰੀ ਸਿਮਰਨੀ ਰਸਨਾ ਉਪਰਿ ਰਾਮੁ ॥”
[SGGS: 1364]
He needed no mala or rosary.Kabir Sahib would recite the Lord’s Name using no rosary but his ‘fasna’. A rosary has a fixed number of beads, 51, 101, 151 etc, so that its user may easily calculate the number of times the Name of the Lord is uttered. People generally do the ‘Jap’ that way. Probably they feel satisfied after doing the fixed number. Some even go to the extent of saying “202 Ram”, “203 Ram” and so on. However, saints do not do it as Jap, but meditate with Ram in their heart and mind.
No ordinary person can think of God without a morsel in his stomach. A saint, though in form a human being, is more like the virtuous God. The saint is merged so completely in the Lord that they become just the same identity. Yet hunger does torture the saint as well, so he begs his Lord for food as daily nourishment for in that state of hunger, he can not dwell in peace just by reciting Ram s Name. In this same condition, Saint Kabir told the Lord:
“ਭੂਖੇ ਭਗਤਿ ਨ ਕੀਜੈ ॥ ਯਹ ਮਾਲਾ ਅਪਨੀ ਲੀਜੈ ॥”
[SGGS 656]
Kabir Sahib very frankly asserts that he just can’t do meditation of the Lord when hungry. What he says thereafter is slightly confusing. He seems to offer returning the Lord’s mala to Him. I am sure the saint means by APNI the mala with which he does meditate on His Name. But as per his slok on ang 1364 of SGGS, his own tongue is his mala. It means that the saint will not use his tongue to meditate and remain silent. Yet the saint meditates on the Name of the Lord in his heart and mind, even though otherwise silent!
The main purpose of Saint Kabir is, if he isnot provided food by the Lord Himself. he willl pray and beg of Him for his daily requirements. So informing the Lord of wealth that he owes no body anything, he lists his daily requirements thus:
“Two seers of flour, a quarter seer of ghee (clarified butter), half a seer of pulse and salt”. He mentions that these items will do for two times a day. The saint is a weaver and this much quantity is going to satisfy round the year. Apparently Kabir Sahib used a lot more of food than we know the lean bhaghat in his sketches.
Besides, he goes on to beg for a 4-legged cot (Can there be a cot with lesser legs?), a pillow and a mattress, and a quilt to cover him. All this is enough for him. He needs nothing more to please him, and to “recognize the Lord”.
Compared to this small list of Kabir Sahib’s requirements, a study of the list the farmer DhannaJi of Rajasthan puts up before the Lord (Dhanaasri, Ang 695) is well-planned and fuller. His food requirements are: “Pulse, flour and ghee, and corn of seven kinds.” DhannaJi has not indicated the quantity of these items, which may mean that the Lord must procure these things for him without any limit. He is a cultivator and agriculture being a seasonal occupation, some days he has hard work to do and on other times he is free; thus the food requirement is different in quantity.
But DhannaJi’s list of other items is much fuller. He needs not merely foot-wear and good clothes to wear, but also a milch cow, a buffalo and a Turkistani mare. The toiling cultivator must have lots of milk and milk products in his house and a good strong mare to move about. But above all these, SaintDhanna has been single so far, and wants to get married. But he would like to marry a lady who would prove’a good housewife’, who would manage the affairs of the household. With the Lord procuring all these requirements, he would be very pleased.
Dhanna Ji might have known that saint Kabir was not a satisfied person on the home-front. That might be the reason of including in his list the item of “better-half”. Apparentlyhe had learnt his lesson very well from his mentor! Finally, however, we admit confusion on one point. Gurbani teaches that they who are absorbed in the Lord with no difference remaining between the Lord and His saint, meditation has the effect of the latter having no feeling of hunger. Hence it means that saint Kabir merely was having a joyful play with the Lord. He was not having any tension due to hunger, had no rosary nor needed to return any to Him. Understanding such supreme devotees of the Lord is clearly beyond normal humans.
