Thus Spake Kabeer 51

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

हरि गुन गावै हरषि के, हिरदय कपट न जाय ।
आपन तो समझै नहीं, औरहिं ग्यान सुनाय ।।

Hari gun gaavai harashi ke, hiradaya kapat na jaay
Aapan to samajhai nahin, aurahin gyaan sunaay

In this couplet Kabeerdaas ji is referring to people who ecstatically sing the Lord’s praises while their hearts are full of evil thoughts. They are like the so – called learned person who has learned by rote without going deep and acquiring an insight into the subject. He is ignorant but goes around spouting the rote learnt information in the name of wisdom which will be of no use to the learner.
A really knowledgeable person is one who dwells on the things he is learning, tries to understand their meanings in depth and internalises them so that they become a part of his ethos. When such a person teaches, he conveys the essence of his learning and experience to the learner.

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बूझ सरीखी बात है, कहन सरीखी नाहिं।
जेते ज्ञानी देखिए, तेते संसै माहिं ।।

Boojh sariikhii baat hai, kahan sariikhii naahin
Jete gyaanii dekhiye, tete sansai maahin

Kabeerdaas ji, in this couplet, is regretting the dearth of really knowledgeable persons in this world. The essential qualities of a ‘gyaanee’ or knowledgeable person have been mentioned in the couplet above. As it is, we find lots of people are being considered ‘gyaanee’ (even without those qualities). In this respect Kabeerdaas ji believes that knowledge purifies the mind so that all doubts are resolved and a person gains the insight required to see the truth, but in this world, we hardly come across anybody free of doubts. How can he be knowledgeable then? Kabeerdaas ji feels, this is not something that can be mentioned. But even without that people should be able to understand this fact.