00:16Yes, Jami wants to be introduced to Kabir Sahib.
00:29Kabir Sahib says, Dear Achyarji, in the West, we generally do not know Kabir.
00:34In fact, during my time in India over the years, you are the only one who has mentioned him to me.
00:44If time permits and no other question requires your attention, would you please share with
00:49me who Kabir is to you, what you admire about his life on earth and what the core of his
00:56teaching is for us.
00:57Thank you Achyarji.
00:58For the deepest gratitude, Jami said it.
01:01Jami, yes.
01:02It's a pleasure to bring Kabir Sahib to the West.
01:10Geographically, Australia is not really in the West.
01:14You are further to the East compared to India.
01:19Yeah, culturally.
01:20Yeah, culturally.
01:21Culturally.
01:22Kabeer Sahib.
01:23Yeah, how do I talk about it?
01:24Bear honesty.
01:25Honesty.
01:26Honesty.
01:27Honesty.
01:28Honesty.
01:29Honesty.
01:30Honesty.
01:31Honesty.
01:32Honesty.
01:33Honesty.
01:34Honesty.
01:35Honesty.
01:36Honesty.
01:37Honesty.
01:38Honesty.
01:39Honesty.
01:40Honesty.
01:41Thy name is Kabir.
01:42name is Kabir. Worked his entire life, first of all. He was a weaver, small time weaver
01:55from Varanasi, by profession. Worked all his life. And there is a very strong reason
02:03why I am mentioning this in the first place, as the most important thing about him. There
02:11has been an abundance of so-called religious teachers who do not bother to work. They
02:25just yak. All they have is gab. Gab. Talk, talk and talk, not work. Kabir Sahib worked. He
02:38was a weaver and he would weave everyday. And he would live out of what he would earn
02:43from there. Not that he is the only one who would work. There are many others in history.
02:51But India is a place where the devotional sentiment always runs high. And he was born in the Bhakti
03:02age. He belonged to the 14th century. 14th and 15th century. And he lived in Varanasi, the
03:17centre of all orthodoxy. He could have easily managed to have as much money and worldly goodies
03:31as he wanted. He never had anything from his people, his audiences. Never. And he wasn't a beggar
03:45neither was he a seated and decorated guru who would collect donations in lakhs and crores. People would
04:04come and offer millions to him. None of that. He never bothered to establish himself as some high
04:15flying guru. Nor he was a beggar. He wouldn't say I am a bhikshu. He wouldn't take the begging bowl and go
04:24about collecting alms. He worked like any ordinary person. And he would call himself Kabira or Kabir.
04:41He would never give himself a title or a sabrike. Nothing. He is Kabir. Just Kabir. At least, his address
04:53his addresses to himself never go beyond calling himself Kabir or Kabira or Kabira.
05:10That's honesty to the bone, to the core. Later on, his followers started calling him
05:20Sahib and Sadhguru Kabir and all those things. He never did all that. It's so beautiful. It's so beautiful.
05:29In fact, I have this grudge against India. Just because Kabir Sahib was so humble about himself, so India has not really given
05:37the place to give him the place he deserves. We still address him as Kabir. Very, very ordinary and far lesser folks are addressed far more admiringly and respectfully.
06:00But the greatest of them all is called Kabir. And not that he did not know that the world lives on pretence and showmanship.
06:16He knew all those things. He knew all those things. And yet he would say Kabir. Once he said, Kabir Kutta Ram ka. Mutiya Mera Naam.
06:25It requires guts. And Jami, your Acharya Ji is sold out to this beautiful display of guts. Only somebody with the utter heart of a lion can dare to proclaim in public Kabir Kutta Ram ka. Kabir is the
06:52pet dog of Ram. Kabir is the pet dog of Ram. And he didn't stop at that. He went ahead and christened himself as Mutiya. Kabir Kutta Ram ka Mutiya Mera Naam.
07:13And when you come across something like this, you feel delighted to be alive at that moment. When I am with Kabir Sahib, I feel grateful for
07:35for being alive. I am grateful for being alive. I am grateful I was born so that I could come upon Kabir.
07:42And he lived in Varanasi, which I said is the seat of Hindu orthodoxy. And yet he had the courage, the devotion and the conviction to say,
08:02the path of the mountain is the path of the mountain. At another place he says, the path of the mountain is the path. If one could attain God by worshipping stones, I would rather worship the mountains.
08:26And he told to all the idol worshipers that even dogs are better than all these gods that you worship. At least dogs offer you some protection and security in the night.
08:40What do these gods offer you? Macho man. My hero. And I have been a fanboy. He is my superhero. And the sheer depth of his realization.
09:07And the absolute simplicity of his expression.
09:12Maya, Maya, sab kahe, maya lakhe na koe, jo man se na utre, maya kahie soe. And there are volumes upon volumes trying to describe what maya is.
09:22The entire world is perplexed about maya. What is maya? What is maya? And Kabir Sahib dismisses all this talk about maya like this.
09:36With one flash of his hand.
09:43Jo man se na utre, maya kahie soe. As if he is saying, son.
09:48The question is so simple. Why can't you see the answer? Like a maths teacher consoling a beginner who is grappling with an actually easy but apparently insurmountable problem.
10:07Son, it is so easy. Just say y is equal to e raised to the power x and you will get the answer.
10:17Jo man se na utre maya kahie soe. Done and dismissed.
10:29And maya is cringing and squirming.
10:34Finally somebody got the better of me. Jo man se na utre maya kahie soe.
10:40That which keeps occupying your mind. That which you cannot get rid of is maya.
10:48Is there any other who ever put it across so simply and so beautifully and so totally? There is nobody.
11:00Time is another of our obsessions and we never seem to get the better of it. Time. What is time? What is time? What is time? What is space time?
11:22And Kabir Sahib says, Jeti man ki kalpana kaal kahave soe.
11:30And here, he has hit two birds with this one arrow.
11:39And he says Jeti man ki kalpana kaal kahave soe. By kaal he means not merely time but also death.
11:45Such fantastic mastery is rarely seen elsewhere. Obviously you get glimpses of it many other places as well.
11:58I respect all of them. All of them are very very dear to me. I worship them.
12:04But when it comes to Kabir Sahib, I said I am a fan boy.
12:07When he speaks, when he sings, I can just stand and clap all day.
12:24Brute honesty and childlike simplicity. How can you put these two together? Kabir Sahib does.
12:36Brute honesty and childlike simplicity and innocence.
12:52I sometimes say to the ones around me, if I am very unwell and dying, don't offer me Gangajal and all that.
13:04Just sing Kabir to me.
13:06Not that that would take me to heaven. That might actually make me get up.
13:20I am not interested in heavens or sorg.
13:24But if you bring Kabir Sahib to me, chances are I will just spring back to my feet.
13:32No Mambo Jumbo. No miracles. No other worldly stuff.
13:48Hmm? Kabira.
13:58The highest that the world can ever know is calling himself Kabira.
14:04Who will not fall in love with such a hero.
14:20And work and work.
14:34Work. Work. Work the entire day. Work.
14:42And have the courage to speak truth to power.
14:56The bare truth.
15:00The hard hitting truth.
15:02The hard hitting truth.
15:04Never mix it up. Never dilute it.
15:08Put things as they are.
15:14And Sahib was attacked.
15:24He was attacked from all sides.
15:26Because he did not belong to any side.
15:28He did not relent.
15:46On one hand, to me he is the greatest scholar of Advaita.
15:52That the world has known.
16:12And he is also the greatest devotee when he says Ram.
16:20Of course his Ram is not Maryada Purushottam Ram.
16:26These two streams become one in him.
16:29Gyan and Bhakti.
16:30You cannot describe him as a Bhakti saint.
16:37The knowledge of the entire Vedic corpus,
16:42shines simplified in Kabir Sahib.
16:45And yet he has the integrity to say.
16:57When the Vedas talk of animal sacrifice.
17:00It goes something like this.
17:01Ashwamedh, Ajamedh, Sarpamedh, Narmedh.
17:12Kahe Kabir Sahib is in another league.
17:16He is probably in the same league.
17:18It goes something like this.
17:20Ashwamedh, Ajamedh, Sarpamedh, Narmedh.
17:22Kahe Kabir Sahib is in another league.
17:29When it came to cruelty towards animals.
17:36Kabir Sahib is in the history of religion.
17:46Who has spoken very clearly, loudly and unsparingly against cruelty to animals and flesh eating.
18:01He did not spare even the Vedas.
18:04When the Vedas said that Ashwamedh should be there.
18:07You know what Ashwamedh is, right?
18:09A sacrifice in which the horse is offered.
18:12Similarly Ajamedh in which the goat is offered.
18:18So Kabir Sahib says, Kahe Kabira dharam ko dharam batave vedh.
18:22And that is another reason why I so closely identify with him.
18:33Today veganism is a cause we espouse.
18:37Kabir Sahib was a vegan in those times.
18:41He was the staunchest vegetarian at least.
18:47And he was very clear that if you eat flesh, if you kill animals and if you eat animal flesh,
19:04then you are entering into evil and no forgiveness, no redemption would be available to you.
19:17Nobody, just nobody has spoken so strongly against flesh eating.
19:25In fact there have been teachers who were themselves flesh eaters.
19:32And in that background when you look at Kabir Sahib, he is exemplary all alone in a league of himself.
19:50So not only does the Vedic stream, but even the Buddhist stream and the Jain stream come together and merge in him.
19:59He is the greatest Sangam this country has known.
20:03And I would also say, India in particular and the world in general have yet not given Kabir Sahib his due.
20:23His real place in the history of mankind is yet to be ascertained and evaluated.
20:32We take him very casually.
20:36Just because he never put up a great show about himself, we take him very casually.
20:44Go close to him and go close to all others and then you will realise how singularly, brightly he shines.
21:10I can speak all night on him, so stop me.
21:39In fact, I have spoken more on Kabir Sahib than I have done on anybody else, both in Hindi and English.
21:49And I think as long as his body is there, I will continue doing that.
21:54His entire corpus is enormous.
21:59There is so much to speak of.
22:01There is so much visceral site in showing that, there is a real world that you see.
22:12Like this in your scriptures, you will understand, as long as he has not examined you.
22:15And with the être of theCheck out, the event would be the same for you too, this is just an honour and the evening.
22:19That wants me to stand up.
22:20Alright, tell us more.
22:53And sense of humour.
22:57That's not easily found among religious and spiritual people.
23:03My boss has a terrific sense of humour.
23:13People sometimes tell me that they look up to me not merely as a teacher,
23:21but also as a stand-up comedian.
23:27They have probably not met my boss.
23:31Meet him and his brand of humour is delicate and rib-splitting.
23:53Both insightful and casual.
24:20He is extremely casual.
24:27You will not find him serious.
24:30He just says things.
24:31And what he just casually says.
24:44People interpret an entire...
24:47People take an entire lifetime to interpret.
24:52And he has just casually said something.
24:57Now you interpret it.
24:58Kabir Das ki ulti baani, barse kambal bheege paani.
25:11He is saying Kabir Das talks of it in an inverted way.
25:27Quilts are raining.
25:37And water is being wetted.
25:44At another place he describes the wedding ceremony of an aunt.
25:49Chiti ka bhyah.
25:57So now the aunt is having a grand wedding.
26:02And the elephant has come over.
26:05And the mouse has also come.
26:06And the entire thing is described and in the end he says the one who can realize what is being said here will cross over.
26:19If you can interpret what is going on, you will cross over.
26:23And the entire description is outrightly funny.
26:31He not merely out-meditates you, he outwits you.
