Simple Spirituality Recalling Kabir

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Does life have a purpose? Is there a plan in the way events roll out? Is Consciousness divine? Does it guide and send us clues that are associated with living better? Why do some people spend time on productive activities with authenticity and passion while others live harried lives trapped in their habits and addictions?

These questions are real and relevant. People living purposefully feel content and have inner peace. But is this by design? Is there a way, a method? Recalling saint-poet Kabir who lived in the 15th-century in Varanasi, this book says, yes. By living in the moment, in the eternal present, one can live with intention, honestly and decently, and meet all the commitments in life.

Joyfully attending to the ordinary everyday activities makes life authentic, not only in purpose but also in significance. Retrieving Kabir's verses from authentic sources, this book arranges them in a narrative of accessing the higher consciousness within one's own body and feeling one with the universe.

Here is a book that will make every reader reflect, think inwards and search within his own self.

Kabir Das is the people's poet, Alive in the collective consciousness of Indian society for the last 500 years, Kabir's words are repeated by people as they go through their lives. Considered as the first Hindi poet, Kabir used various dialects including Braj, Bhojpuri and Awadhi, Some of Kabir's verses are included in the Sikh scripture, Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

Bhakti is finding God within. The Upanishads described God-consciousness as the eternal watcher - two birds, beautiful of wing, close companions sitting on a tree - द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वृक्षं परिषस्वजाते। Kabir called it a swan who will fly away after watching the vanity fair of this world.

Gleaning through the scholarly studies of stalwarts of Hindi literature - Ayodhya Singh Upadhyay 'Hari Oudh', Shyam Sundar Das, and Hazari Prasad Dwivedi - and scholars - Mata Prasad Gupt, Paras Nath Tiwari and Pushp Pal Singh - this book is a manifesto of living an authentic and spiritual life. It is a must-read and must-have in every household.

Arun Tiwari emerged as an author through Wings of Fire, the celebrated biography of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, which also established him as his spiritual pupil. After Dr. Kalam's departure in 2015, a month after publishing their widely acclaimed book Transcendence: My Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji, Arun Tiwari took up A Modern Interpretation of Lokmanya Tilak's Gita Rahasya (2018) and A Modern Interpretation of Goswami Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas (2019). With this book, he indeed completes a trilogy of the Indian Bhakti tradition.

Using his lifetime scholarship, Arun Tiwari examines Kabir's idea of God-within in the context of the Yogic transition of Nath Sampradaya. Cross-referencing Western perspectives like those of Canadian psychiatrist Maurice Bucke, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, and English writer Aldous Huxley to Kabir's idea of God-within is eclectic.

English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon famously said, 'Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly'. Arun Tiwari places Kabir's poetry in that class and presents it as a handy method of attaining Shrimad Bhagavad Gita's ideal of happy in oneself with oneself alone.

Arun Tiwari quotes Adi Shankaracharya's Brahma Jnanavali Amala Mala or, at least, the first half of the 20th verse. ""The brahman is the truth. The world is false. The brahman is not distinct from the jivatman. This should be known as the true sacred text, as stated in Vedanta". Arun Tiwari has given a translation of the first half, the bit he has quoted. In my translation, the words used are slightly different, but the sense is the same. डिण्डिमः is a word that is difficult to translate into English. It is a drum that rumbles. Thus, Vedanta loudly proclaims union (yoga) between the jivatman and the paramatman. Amongst all that Adi Shankaracharya wrote and composed, Brahma Jnanavali Mala is one of the best succinct statements of Advaita Vedanta. Specifically Vedanta and, in general, jnana yoga appeal to the intelligence, the mind. After all, we are Homo sapiens. We think; therefore, we are. We are; therefore, we think.

It is matter of immense pleasure for me to write about a book on Bhagat Kabir written by my learned friend and a pious soul, Prof. Arun Tiwari. Kabir played the role of a teacher and social reformer through the medium of his simple writings and, like other devotees of his times, did not follow dogma and ritualism. When Guru Nanak Devji visited Banaras during his first odyssey (1507-1515), he met Bhagat Kabir, more than 100 years old then, and interacted with the sage on his divine messages. The tradition was preserved by the successive Guru. Guru Arjan Dev included 227 padas in 17 musical measures and 237 shlokas of Bhagat Kabir in the Aadi Granth.