Question

What were the major ideas expressed by Kabir? How did he express these?

Answer 1

Hint:
Kabir Das believed in the formless God. His teachings were followed by people from different communities. He was a famous poet of the fifteenth century. He had a positive influence on the different religious movements of the century..

Complete answer:
Kabir Das was one of the most influential saints. He probably lived in the fifteenth -sixteenth century. He was a mystic poet. His writings greatly influenced Hinduism and the Bhakti movement. There are not much evidence or information about his life but it is said that he was brought up in a family of Muslim Julahas or weavers, who were settled in or near the city of Benares(Varanasi). His verses are found in the Sikhism scripture Guru Granth Sahib, Panch Vani and Bijak. We get to know about his ideas through a vast collection of verses known as ‘sakhis’ and ‘pads’.

Kabir’s teachings were vehement and rejected major religious traditions. His teachings ridiculed different forms of external worship of both Brahmanical, Hinduism and Islam. He used to teach Hindu, Muslim unity. He believed that God is one who just has different names. He believed in a formless Supreme God. He also said that the only path to salvation was through bhakti or devotion. He also preached the lessons about the brotherhood of man. He was not in support of the caste system. His poetry was a form of spoken Hindi making it easy to understand for ordinary people. He has his followers among both Hindus and Muslims.

Note:
Kabir Das was a famous mystic poet of the fifteenth century. He had followers among different communities. His teachings were found in the sakhis and pads. He rejected major religious traditions and said that God is one with different names.