Kabir – The Enlightened Weaver

“You will move towards truth only when you realize 'I do not know'.” —Sadhguru

"Maati Kahe Kumhaar Ko – A Poem by Kabir"

Maati kahe kumhaar ko, tu kya roondhe mohe

[The clay says to the potter, who are you to knead me?]

Ek din aisa aayega, main rundhoongi tohe

[There will come a day, when I will knead you]

Aaye hain so jayenge, raaja rank fakir

[Everyone who is born will die some day, be it a king or a poor man]

ek sinhaasan chadh chale, ek bandhe zanjir

[One sits on a throne, another is a prisoner]

Missing the Truth of Kabir

Sadhguru: Today is Kabir’s Jayanti. Kabir was a weaver by profession - a great mystic poet who still lives through his various poems. The poetry that he wrote or sang is just a small portion of his life. Most of the time he worked as a weaver. Since only the poetry is here, people think that is all he did. No, his life was an engagement in weaving, not in poetry. The cloth doesn’t live, but here and there, a poem or a verse still lives. I don't know how many have been lost, but what is left is still incredible.

Though such a fantastic human being, we don't know much about him except his poetry. Obviously he was a man of profound experience, there is no question. But his entire life till the point of his death and even beyond, what mattered to people was not mysticism, his wisdom, or the new vision of clarity that he wanted to bring. It was all about whether he was a Hindu or a Muslim. This was the main question. Just in case you don't know, I'm bringing some very vital information to you: nobody is born as a Hindu or a Muslim or whatever other nonsense. Nor does anybody die as a Hindu, or a Muslim or anything else. But when we are here, there's a big social drama going on. 

Everything that you made up - your ideas of who you are, what religion you belong to, what is yours, what is not yours – is untruth.  Truth is just there; you don't have to do anything about it. It is in the lap of this truth that all of us exist. Truth does not mean what you utter; truth means the fundamental laws which makes this life and everything happen. The choice is only either you are in tune with it or you are not in tune with it. You don't have to invent truth. You don't have to study truth. You don't have to bring it down from heaven.

If a tree is growing up and blossoming, obviously all the necessary ingredients to support life is here - that is why it is on. If you are here, it means everything that is necessary for this life to happen is here. Otherwise you wouldn't be here. The question is are you in tune with these forces or are you against it? 

“Oh, why would I be against the forces of life?” Well, the moment you believe you are something that you are not, you are against it. You may think you are being religious, but all that is happening is you are just screwed up; you are creating a psychological drama and completely screening up the existential drama. You are completely missing the Creator's creation, because your own silly creation is keeping you busy in your head. 

Enlightenment – A Celebration of Ignorance

You will move towards truth only when you realize “I do not know”. If you think you know, you will start moving towards untruth - because “I know” is only a thought; “I do not know” is a fact, it is reality. The sooner you get it, the better it is. The greatest realization in your life is you do not know. “I do not know” is a tremendous possibility. Only when you see “I do not know”, the longing and seeking to know and the possibility of knowing become a reality. 

In this culture we always identified with ignorance because our knowledge is minuscule - no matter how much we know - but our ignorance is boundless. So if you identify with your ignorance, you become boundless in some sense, because whatever you identify will be your quality. In a way, enlightenment is a celebration of ignorance, a blissful ignorance. You are not cluttered with knowledge, so you see everything just the way it is, that's all. If you are cluttered with knowledge, you do not see anything the way it is; you are prejudiced about everything. 

So Kabir was an enlightened weaver, a mystic. Mysticism should not be with one individual from somewhere in the past, from a few poems that you read. Mysticism means every day you are stepping into a new sphere of life. Something new, that you did not know, has come into your experience today. Mysticism does not mean an accumulated amount of knowledge; mysticism means an exploration. If you believe, you will not explore anything. You can genuinely explore only when you know that you do not know. 

Editor’s Note: Read more on other mystics that Sadhguru has spoken about.