Kabir was a weaver.

This weaver likes Kabir.

The great thing about country is that cultures, both old and new, coexist in harmony. We have been open to the best of religious tradition and cultures from all over the world. This we owe to the universal and open vision of our ancient scriptures. While religious wars were bleeding Europe, people of various religions were living together peacefully in India. India is the birth place of four major religions – Hindu, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Octavia Paz, the famous Mexican poet, called India `a living museum’. He was admiring the fabulous differences that side by side in India. To day people of all faiths lives in the spiritual garden of India- a secular India.

Kabir, the child of Ram and Allah

We have had great saints and spiritual leaders-leaders who taught people to love one another, to seek the truth, and to lead good lives irrespective of their religious beliefs. Their messages have come down to us in the form of poems, songs and legends.

One such poet –saint who lived 600 years ago, was Kabir, there are number of legends about Kabir’s birth but we know for certain that he was raised in a family of Muslim weavers. As he grew up, two things left a deep impact on Kabir. Since it was a time when Persian poetry and philosophy were influence north India, they shaped Kabir’s thinking. Then Kabir met his guru, a Hindu named Ramananda, who was against strict and formal ways of worship. Kabir spent a lot of time with his guru. He grew tired of the outward shows of religious practice and caste divisions. He urged people to find their roots in God rather than in rituals. Kabir called himself the child of ram and Allah. He preached and practiced love and equality.

He urged people to look within themselves. ``do not go into the garden of flowers! O friend! Go not there; in you is the garden of flowers!

Here is Rabindranath Tagore’s translation of Kabir’s famous poem.

Lo! I am besides thee

I am neither in temple nor in mosque.

I am neither in Ka’aba nor in Kailash.

Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in yoga and renunciation.

Can you understand what Kabir was trying to say? That there was no need to visit is holy places, because your own heart is the holiest place. He wanted people to forget their differences and just believe that Allah, Akbar, Ram or Rahim are alone and the same.