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

बोली एक अनमोल है, जो कोई बोले जानि ।
हिये तराजू तौलि के, तब मुख बाहर आनि ।।

Bolii ek anamol hai, jo koi bole jaani
Hiye taraajuu toili ke, tab mukh baahar aani

This is one of the couplets of Kabeerdaas ji about social behaviour. He has, time and again, spoken about the impact on society of how a person speaks. In this couplet too, he holds speech to be a great asset. One should use it very carefully. Something spoken thoughtlessly might be wrong or harsh or hurt people’s sentiments. It might create rift in relationships or show the speaker in an entirely wrong light. Kabeerdaas ji therefore suggests that before speaking, one should weigh it in his heart, (i.e. think carefully about the implications of the matter and manner of the speech) so that it does not create any kind of animosity.

अंधे मिलि हाथी छुआ, अपने अपने ग्यान ।
अपनी अपनी सब कहै, किसको दीजै कानि ।।

Andhe mili haathi chuua, apane apane gyaan
Apanii apanii sab kahai, kisakoo deejay kaani

There are people who are absolutely ignorant of their ignorance. They form opinions or develop concepts on the basis of their extremely limited knowledge and expect people to accept them as the ultimate truth. Kabeerdaas ji points this out through the example of four blind men who were taken near an elephant and asked to feel it and describe what an elephant was like. They ran their hands over it. When asked to describe it, the man who had been standing in front of the elephant and had felt it’s trunk, said, an elephant is like a Python –– round and long and flexible. The one standing near the tail, said, an elephant is like a thick rope. The one having touched the ear, likened the elephant to a winnowing tray and the one touching it’s leg said it was like a column –– all misrepresentations because of insufficient knowledge. According to Kabeerdaas ji, the (lay) persons in this world are unable to grasp a truth in its entirety and mistake their partial knowledge as being the only complete and final truth. This “truth” differs from person to person. Kabeerdaas ji advises people not to pay any attention to these misleading versions of truth.