Songs of Kabir: Mysticism, Symbolism, and Spirituality

Introduction to Kabir's Mystical Poetry

Mystical poetry functions as a form of prophecy, or as a temperamental reaction toward a vision of Reality. It represents a unique mystical consciousness committed to mediating between a personal relationship with God and the sharing of eternal secrets with humanity. In this sense, artistic consciousness and self-expression possess two attributes: it is love-poetry written with a missionary purpose.

Kabir is a widely revered spiritual saint in India. His songs are mystical poems that powerfully connect spirituality with everyday life in simple, accessible language. His work has been an inspiration to many poets across generations. The words used in his poems are figurative, literal, and universal in character, breaking down the obstacles that separate people from experiencing the divine. The songs of Kabir are rooted in his spiritual visions, his mystical insight, and his lifelong faith in the Supreme Being. The mystic songs draw on symbols and myths from the Hindu religion; they are full of devotion, allegory, and ideas of adoring and surrendering to God.

For instance, he sang:

A child was born before the mother's birth,
The Guru is touching the feet of the disciple,
The fish are swinging on the trees,
……………..
Or the lion is riding the waves of the ocean (Sethi)

Metaphor and Everyday Symbolism in the Songs

The ingenuity and uniqueness of the Songs of Kabir lies in the use of simple metaphors to convey his message, and in his constant appeal to day-to-day life for inspiration. Kabir establishes a clear and instantaneous communication channel with his audience. He compares steadfastness and humility to the tree, ignorance to a crow, God to a weaver, completeness and the beauty of solitude to a swan, the body to a cloth, cosmic experience to the ocean, the Guru to a washerman, and longing for God to the passion of a newly-wed bride. This range of imagery helps explain the diverse and wide-reaching nature of Kabir's audience.

However, Kabir's authentic mysticism is only experienced after his audience begins to live his words. The ingenuity of his language is founded in the depth of his personal experience, carrying a seed-like quality that remains latent until cultivated. Kabir's words in the songs can potentially yield various experiences through nurture and care; the experiences may not be immediately obvious during an initial encounter with the text. For example, the meaning of "Chalti Chaaki Dekh Kar Diya Kabira Roye, Dui Pataan Ke Beech Mein Saabat Bacha Na Koi", and its authentic mystical experience, are entirely different things. Although Kabir's words are suggestive, they often carry a deeper meaning beneath the surface. He describes his mystical instructions as "Gunge Ki Sain Jin Jani Un Mani" — meaning that those who recognized the mute's indication found the truth.

Riddles and Deeper Introspection

Apart from his mystical teachings, Kabir uses illogical riddles to challenge his audience to find solutions. The riddles in the songs do not necessarily have fixed meanings or solutions attached to them; instead, they seek to inspire readers to think beyond the literal words and enter a deeper state of introspection. Readers may question the direction of time's flow or experience the mind's capacity to develop its own realities. His audience can also instantly recognize the flowing creativity within themselves, much like a fish swimming freely in water. Kabir's words and riddles translate directly into the exact experiences they generate in the audience. Seeking the "right" answers to his words is therefore counterproductive and futile. He sang:

No one tells me about the bird
That sings within the body
Its colour is a colourless hue,
Its form a formless form,
It lives under the shade of nam.
. . . .
In the vast tree dwells a bird,
It hops, it pecks, it eats,
And from branch to branch it flies.
. . . .
But they fly away in the evening.
Morning they return for the day;
. . . .
But where, O Pundits,
Where, O learned ones,
Is the home of the bird
That no one is able to see,
That sings within each body? (The Bird that Sings Within / Sethi 254)

The bird here symbolizes the soul living within the human body-cage, or within the world as a great tree. It eats two fruits — the bad and good effects of one's initial birth. The soul departs in the evening, when mortal life ends, and returns in the morning, when mortal life is reborn. The Bauls and fakirs share many such symbols in their songs, preferring a direct relationship and communion with God over outward ritual observance.

Conclusion: True Mysticism in Kabir's Songs

True mysticism in the songs of Kabir lies in his personalized instruction for his audience. When the reader abandons himself in search of the ultimate truth that Kabir writes about, only then is he able to reveal it in completeness. Kabir's poetry does not offer fixed answers; it opens a space for the reader's own spiritual discovery, ensuring that his songs remain as alive and transformative today as they were when first composed.

Works Cited

Callewaert, Winand M. "Kabir: Do We Sing His Songs or Someone Else's?" The Intimate Other: Love Divine in Indic Religions (2005): 129–152.

Hess, Linda. Bodies of Song: Kabir Oral Traditions and Performative Worlds in North India. Oxford University Press, 2015.

Kabir. Songs of Kabir. Trans. Rabindranath Tagore and Evelyn Underhill. Mineola: Dover, 2016. ISBN 978-0-486-43358-5: 81–480.