About Kabir

(4)

Here is the background: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, the discredited Indian 'guru' gave a 'sermon' to his 'disciples' which later found its way into a book which in turn found its way into my (being gassed here - R lung gas) little library. I read the book. One of the passages which impressed me was concerned with the phenomenon at hand: the tendency of old folks to relate to their impending death in a stereotypic way. Here is the quote. This will take a while:

'Kabir lived his whole life in Varanasi. Now, Varanasi, for Hindus, is the most sacred place on the whole earth, and it certainly is the oldest city in the world. You cannot find a single indian scripture, howsoever old it is, where Varanasi is not mentioned. It has always been there it seems. And if you go to Varanasi you can feel its ancientness; it is almost an eternal city.

'Its roads are so small that cars cannot move, buses are out of the question; not even an auto-rickshaw can be used. They are so small that only a man-pulled rickshaw can pass through those streets. And when two man-pulled rickshaws are passing each other it is almost a miracle to see that they have not got stuck to each other.'

(continued next section)