Kabeerdaas ji is categorized as a saint but his thoughts and compositions are not confined to religion, spirituality, meditation and bhajans alone. He also deals with worldly life – the character and behaviour of individuals; practices (and malpractices) rampant in society; evils of caste system which divides people into ‘high’ and ‘low’ classes, etc. He also goes in depth in denouncing superstitions and hypocrisy prevalent in practice of religions and sects in general. He considers them as obstructions in the way of health, peace and happiness of society. We should take all these things into account if we want to understand and interpret Kabeerdaas ji’s poetry correctly.

— Kusum Banthia

हिन्दी में पढ़िये

कबीर ब्यास कथा कहै , भीतर भेदे नाहिं ।
औरन को परमोधता , गए मुहर कमाहिं ।।

Kabeer byaas kathaa kahai, bheetar bhede naahin
Auran ko paramodhataa, gaye muhar kamaahin

Kabeerdaas ji keeps commenting on the hypocrisy spread in the name of religion in the world. In this couplet, he criticizes the hypocrite Vyasa — one who preaches about religion through mythological stories and parables. He himself does not have in depth knowledge of religious tenets and how they are expounded through the stories. In fact, he is neither interested in the spread of religious knowledge nor in properly instructing the people.  His purpose is only to earn money through his preaching, for which he keeps deceiving the credulous people by pretending to be wise and knowledgeable.

मानुस तेरा गुन बड़ा, मांस न आवे काज ।
हाड़ न होत आभरण, त्वचा न बाजे बाज ।।

Maanus teraa gun badaa, maans na aave kaaj
Haad na hot aabharan, tvachaa na baaje baaj

There are two aspects to human beings on this earth. One is physical i.e., his body with skin, bone, flesh blood etc. and the other is mental and spiritual i.e., his mental make-up, his thought processes, his character etc. Kabeerdaas ji, in this couplet, says that physically the human existence is useless for this world. His flesh cannot be eaten like that of other animals, his bones cannot be used in making ornaments, nor can his skin be used in making musical instruments. If at all he is of some use to this world it is his mental qualities only. His love, his compassion, his intellect and virtues are the qualities which can help mankind and make this world a better place to live in. By implication Kabeerdaas ji is persuading people to pay attention to enhancing their humane virtues and work for the good of society.