The Encyclopedia of World Religions

252 S Kabir

human religious authority and took the G OD who dwelled within their hearts as their guru. Kabir was born into a Muslim family of weavers. At some point he was heavily influ enced by Hindu traditions. In the end he rejected all sacred scriptures and much religious RITUAL , Hindu and Islamic alike. He sought instead the true God within, the one Reality. His ideas resemble I SLAM in emphasizing that there is only one God and in rejecting caste. His ideas also resemble H INDUISM in that they include notions of KARMA and rebirth. Kabir composed his poems not in the lan guage of the educated but in the language of the ordinary people. The poems quickly became popu lar throughout north India. Kabir exercised a great influence on N ANAK , the first guru of the Sikhs. Indeed, Kabir’s poems appear in the sacred book of the Sikhs, the A DI G RANTH . He did not himself establish the group known as the Kabirpanth, “Kabir’s path,” but the group continues today to try to put his insights into practice. Kali A Hindu goddess, worshipped especially in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. In San skrit, the classical language of ancient India, the word kali means “black.” Images depict the god dess Kali with black skin. A goddess associated with the blood of the battlefield, her appearance is striking. Her face grimaces as she sticks her tongue from her mouth, dripping blood. She wears only a skirt of severed human forearms and a necklace of human heads. In her hands she holds a man’s severed head and a sword. She often stands on the motionless body of the god Siva, who is lying on his back. Despite these features, Hindus worship Kali as a beneficent mother. She stands on Siva because, according to one school of Indian philosophy, the male principle is inactive, while the female prin ciple is active. The severed body parts symbolize release from SAMSARA , continual rebirth. Devotees worship Kali by sacrificing animals such as goats. This is one of the few instances of animal SACRI FICE in mainstream Hinduism. (Indians known as

in the mixing of sparks of the divine light with dark, material substance. As Luria saw it, the goal of religious practice is to restore the divine sparks to the light of God ( tikkun ). Doing so prepares the way for the MESSIAH to come. Besides developing these ideas, kabbalah gave new significance to following the Jewish way of life. It teaches that human actions actually alter God. Observing the instructions of T ORAH strength ens God; violating them weakens God. Kabbalists also recommend more specific practices. Generally they urge the aspirant to contemplate God in prayer. By that means his or her intellect will enjoy com munion with God. One kabbalist, Abraham Abu laf ia ( c. 1240– c. 1291), formulated techniques that remind one of certain practices in yoga: breathing exercises, recitation of God’s names (cf. MANTRA ), and bodily motions to accompany the recitation (cf. MUDRAS ). As a result of these practices, the lim its of the self were supposed to disappear and the person was united with God. Kabbalah is still pursued today. It has also had a wider influence. Especially the kabbalah of Isaac Luria played a significant role in the rise of H ASIDISM . In addition, kabbalistic ideas influenced important European thinkers and poets, for exam ple, Pico della Mirandola, Gottfried Leibniz, and William Blake. Further reading: Arthur Green, A Guide to the Zohar (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2004); Kabbalah Simply Stated: A Conversation with the Rabbi (St. Paul, Minn.: Paragon House, 2004); Lawrence Kushner, Kabbalah: The Way of Light (White Plains, N.Y.: Peter Pauper Press, 1999); Daniel C. Matt, trans., The Zohar (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2004). Kabir (1440–1518) an Indian saint Saint Kabir is best known for his poetry, which combined Islamic and Hindu elements into a single religious path. Kabir belonged to a religious movement in medieval India known as the “sants.” This move ment appealed to people of the lowest CASTES from all religious backgrounds. The sants rejected