Kabir

I offer an autoethnographic inquiry into the process of finding one’s way out of the maze of mental illness; it is an examination of how in the course of creating music to express my suffering from bipolar disorder, I found a poetic and musical expression for my soul. Making music gradually moved my focus away from illness toward imagination and creativity and brought about a major shift in my positioning in terms of my identity, helping me to construct the selfhood of an artist rather than that of an ill person. This transformation is explored in the context of India’s music and spiritual tradition and the Western framework of resource-oriented music therapy, an approach that prioritizes participant empowerment and uses music for self-care.
Keywords: music therapy, poetry, bipolar disorder, narrative reconstruction, autoethnography, rehabilitation, self-healing, Indian ragas

Citation: Sharma, P. (2014). Making song, making sanity- Recovery from Bipolar disorder. Canadian Journal of Music Therapy, 20(1), 2014, pp.65-84

ÖZET Milletlerin gelişiminde ve geleceğinde düşünce alanındaki çalışmalar büyük önem taşır. Bu alanda yapılan çalışmalar, niteliklerine göre bazen milletlerin (ve insanlığın) yol haritasını belirlemede ve izlemede öncülük ederler. Tasavvuf düşüncesi de bu alanda toplumlar için rehberlik platformu oluşturan disiplinlerden biridir. Bu alanda en önde gelen şahsiyetlerden biri de hiç kuşkusuz Yunus Emre'dir. Bu çalışmada; Yunus Emre'nin bilinen edebî şahsiyeti, eserleri ve tasavvufî yönü üzerinde durulmayarak onun tartışılan bir başka yönü olan mezarı konusunda yapılan yoğun spekülasyonlara ve yanlış bilgilere cevap bulunmaya, bu yanlış bilgilerin daha fazla yayılmasının önüne geçilmesine çalışılmıştır. Konunun bu yönü zamanla popülerleşmiş ve Anadolu'nun bir çok yerinde Yunus Emre'nin mezarının olduğu kanısına varılmıştır. Çalışmada; konunun belgesellik arzeden yönleri, klasik kaynaklar ve modern araştırmalar değerlendirilerek Yunus Emre'nin kabrinin Eskişehir (Sarıköy)'de bulunduğunun kuvvetle muhtemel olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. ABSTRACT Intellectual activities occupy a special place in the past and future of nations. Studies made on intellectual activities act as a guidance in the orientation of the mankind. The Islamic mystic thought " tasavvuf " is one of these activities, which enables the formation of a wide platform of guidance for nations. As far as these Islamic mystic figures are concerned, Yunus Emre comes into prominance as a great personality. This study does not deal with the well-known literary personage of Yunus Emre as well as his works and mystic legacy. Instead, in order to avoid the current speculations and the misinformation regarding the subject, it tries to answer the questions about his tomb and his place of death, an aspect, which has gradually gained popularity among the Anatolian people and in the course of time it was believed that the tomb of Yunus Emre had been scattered throughout Anatolia. This study aims at preventinting the increasing mis-perception of Yunus Emre as a barely mystic personality and the formation of wrong-perceived cults around him. Making use of the documentaries, the classical sources and the modern researches on Yunus Emre, this study concludes that the tomb of Yunus Emre must be situated in Sarıköy, a village of Eskişehir.

The Origins of Sant Mat, The Five Names, and the Identity of Tulsi Sahib's Guru, by James Bean

Everyone in contemporary Sant Mat has a clear idea about their own recent history of masters, at least dating back a few generations. Most trace their lineage of gurus back to Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras, India. Tulsi Sahib (1763–1843) is viewed as the adi-guru or founding guru, the “great grandfather” of modern-day Sant Mat. The identity of Sant Tulsi Sahib’s guru has understandably been of great interest to many students of Sant Mat history. It’s quite normal for followers of a spiritual path to be curious about “the family tree” of previous masters, wanting to know where their spiritual path comes from. So, who was the guru of Tulsi Sahib? And who was that individual’s guru? Who was the guru before that? And so on.

On the Usage of the Term "Sant Mat" and the Tulsi Sahib Connection;

Sants of Antiquity;

Who Was Tulsi Sahib's Guru? Our One-And-Only Solid Clue;

Sant Dariya Sahib of Bihar;

About the Ratnagar Rao Doctrine;

Rare Quotes From Sat Saheb, Dariya's Guru;

The Origin of the Five Names;

The Panch Naam Words Traced Back to Kabir/Dharamdasi Texts;

The Five Names of the Nath Yogis?

"It is particularly useful to have in one place, in English, a compilation of all major legends surrounding Kabir's life, and one which includes most of its significant variants. I also appreciate the tone of the discussion: at once sympathetic and scholarly, it avoids the poles, at which most such discussions have clustered, of unquestioning credulity and strident skepticism." -- Ken Bryant, University of British Columbia.

"This is a work of careful, long-considered scholarship. The critical edition and translation of Ananta-Das, arguably Kabir's earliest biographer, are of very great value in themselves -- fresh contributions in a field that urgently needs to grow. Lorenzen's introduction adds another dimension by highlighting the social messages embedded in Ananta-Das's narrative. By presenting what the authors consider to be Kabir's earliest hagiographical halo, this book brings to light an all too little known aspect of a very well known figure." -- John S. Hawley, Professor and Chair, Department of Religion, Barnard College, Columbia University

This book represents the first systematic collection and analysis of the principal legends about Kabir Das, a fifteenth-century poet-saint. It focuses on the ways in which the legends embody and reflect the often changing social and religious needs of those who created and listened to them. Particular attention is paid to the earliest known collection of legends, Ananta-das's Kabir Parachai. This book makes available for the first time an English translation of this text, with detailed notes on its variant readings, as well as a corrected Hindi edition based on a comparison of over a dozen manuscripts. The various historical synchronisms between Kabir and his leading contemporaries, including Ramananda and King Virasimhadev Baghel, are reevaluated, and a solution is proposed to the longstanding debate about Kabir's dates.

"The strength of this book lies in the meticulous text scholarship it manifests. The authors have obviously done their homework and are showing us fully what they have found. "-- Daniel Gold, Department of Asian Studies, Cornell University.

A book that includes an edition and translation (trans. with Uma Thukral and Jagdish Kumar) of Ananta-das's Kabir parachai.

http://www.sunypress.edu/p-1079-kabir-legends-and-ananta-dass-k.aspx

Like the powerful, stark images from the streets of Varanasi that enrich Turn me to gold: 108 poems of Kabir, Kabir comes at us with full force, shoving a polished mirror right in our face, for us to contemplate our vanity, our hypocrisy, our illusion. With exquisite precision, poem after poem, he uses the sword of truth to slash away all garments of respectability, all pretenses of holiness, all affectation.
But if Kabir wields a sword in one hand, in the other he carries a fragrant rose. His ecstatic delight at life, his compassion for every living creature, his burning devotional heart, shows us that on the other side of this ruthless process of truth-facing, lies nothing less but naked, unfettered love. A love free from agendas, free from drama, free from sentimentalism.
To me, reading Turn me to gold: 108 poems of Kabir feels like free falling. Not the kind of falling that comes with and fear, but the liberating, exhilarating sense of losing all reference points, all ideas and conceptions about oneself, about the world, about life—until nothing is left but sheer existence, in union with everything, infused by love.
To get me there, Kabir held nothing back, bestowing on me both the exquisite devotion of a tender lover, and the ruthless intensity of a spiritual master. Love and consciousness, discernment and passion.
The rose and the sword.

For centuries, the songs of devotional poet-saints have been an integral part of Indian religious life. Countless regional traditions of bhajans (devotional songs) have been able to maintain their existence by adapting to serve the contemporary social needs of their participants. This dissertation draws on fieldwork conducted over 2014-2015 with contemporary bhajan performers from many different genres and styles throughout India. It highlights a specific tradition in the Central Indian region of Malwa based on poetry by Kabir and other Sants (anti-establishment poet-saints) performed by lower-caste singers. This tradition was largely unheard-of half a century ago, but is now a major part of Malwa’s cultural life that has facilitated the creation of lower-caste spiritual networks and created a space for those networks to engage in discourse about social issues. Malwa’s bhajan singers have also become part of India’s popular religious and musical life as certain performers have attai...

This chapter explores the modes through which vernacular music traditions may catalyze publics in contemporary India through an ethnographic focus on the Kabir Yatra in Bikaner, Rajasthan. As vernacular repertoires increasingly circulate beyond the contexts of their customary practice, they are accompanied by discourses that frame these forms as valuable resources. The chapter traces the mediations of these valorizing discourses, and the sounds of the repertoires that diffuse through live concerts, studio recordings and online networks. It unpacks the intertwining of the affective, the aesthetic, the political and the material-technological in the constitution of what Ana Maria Ochoa Gautier (2006) calls an ‘aural public sphere.’ I suggest that studying such intertwining gives us unique tools to think through the means and motivations around which publics may be summoned, may stabilize or disperse.

When we think about Kabir, it is always about his rebellious teachings on social change and a new interpretation of spirituality or mysticism. In both ways, he emerges as a revolutionary. On one hand, his proposals about a just and inclusive society attract the liberals of our age and on the other hand, his unique spirituality inspires many religious traditions including Vedanta. Here we see a rare combination in which the core of Indian spirituality (not Vedantic alone) and the inspiration to change the society goes hand in hand. Especially in our times where much research and discussion has been done on Kabir, we see two faces of Kabir. First, is obviously the champion of social change and second is the revolutionary mystic. People believing in traditional spirituality want to see him as a mystic, devotee and poet. Other people who criticise and oppose this spirituality want to paint him as a social revolutionary and founder or propagator of a new religion or spirituality. However, the more we go deeper with Kabir we see these two faces have a strong connection and cannot possibly be separated in any way. In my understanding, it is impossible to separate them and it is not desired even. If this is true and if both of the faces of Kabir are inseparable and legitimate in their respective positions then the question arises, why we want to discuss Kabir? Or what I have to say about him? Well, I don't want to challenge any of these two faces. I want to see the contradictions of our society through the contradictions of these two faces. Further, most importantly the interrelation between these two faces is more important for me. There is a sharp contradiction between these two faces. Especially if we believe in the Brahminized or Vedantic Kabir then this contradiction becomes more acute and irreconcilable, but if we see Kabir as an opponent of the Brahmin version of spirituality then there seems to be a meeting point in the two faces of Kabir. Now, most importantly the contradictions in the Brahminized or Vaishnava Kabir reveal something, which can explain the dilemma we all are going through in this globalised world. In this presentation/lecture, I am dealing with " The Kabir " and " Vaishnavized or Brahminized Kabir ". It is interesting to note that even after so many attempts of Vaishnavisation or Brahminisation of Kabir, there are irreconcilable contradictions in these two faces of Kabir. In Malwa even, the champions of Kabirpantha and Kabir Bhajan are strictly following the Vaishnavised Kabir. All their rituals, Sumiran Techniques and their interpretation of Surat Shabd Yoga and Laya Yoga; basically lead to the Vedantic way of Spirituality which is about preserving the Varnashrama Dharma. Every Sunday there are meetings in Kabirpanthi homes, they discuss about what Nam Sumiran is, what Atma is, what Parmatma is and How to achieve moksha or baikuntha. Suddenly in these discussions, there comes a point where the pathi, the guru, or the leader talks about the equality of men. They do emphasis on the equality of men saying that all men are gods own son and all

Hüseyin Avni Hoca efendinin riyasetinde çıkan ve İslami mecmualar arasında kadrosuyla, kadim ulemaya bağlılığıyla ön plana çıkan pek çok kıymetli hoca efendinin yazdığı kıymetli bir makale.
Bu sayıda şu makaleler vardır:

Pazarlıksız ve takıntısız bir mü’min olmak Naşir tarafından yazıldı.


Kabir Ehlinden Yardım İsteyiniz” Sözü, Gerçekten Sâbit Bir Hadîs midir? Hüseyin Avni tarafından yazıldı.
Selef-Selefiyye Kavramları ve Türkçe Akaid Kitaplarındaki Muhtevâsı Muhammed Önder tarafından yazıldı.

Ehl-i Sünnet Ve'l Cemaat
Ali Kara tarafından yazıldı.

Kur'ân’ın Her Bir Ayetinin Bir Zâhiri Bir de bâtını vardır” sözü bir hadîs midir? Ubeydullah Ademoğlu tarafından yazıldı.

Molla Hüseyin El-Batevî ve Kürtçe Mevlid-i Şerîfi Müfid Yüksel tarafından yazıldı.
Kilise Yeni Bir Tarihi Bölünmenin Eşiğinde Modernizm Anglikan Kilisesinin Duvarlarını Aşındırıyor Mustafa Özcan tarafından yazıldı.

Din İstismarı Şerafettin Aktaş tarafından yazıldı.

Rabıta Taraftarları, İnkarcıları , İnkarcıların Şüpheleri ve Cevabları Hüseyin Avni tarafından yazıldı

Yûsuf bin İsmâ‘îl en-Nebhânî’nin rahmetullâhi‘aleyh) Hayâtı ve Eserleri * Yusuf Hanif tarafından yazıldı.

Ehli Sünnet Yayınları Artmalı -II Guraba - Mülâkât tarafından yazıldı.

Ölülerin Tasarrufu ve Dirilere Faydası Var mıdır? Abdurrahman Güzel tarafından yazıldı.

Modernist Rûhiyâtı Üzerine Mülâhazalar Malatyalı Muhammed Reşat tarafından yazıldı.

Doğru, Hiç Bir Şey Yeni Değilmiş! Hüseyin Avni tarafından yazıldı

The first part of the book deals with the controversial and enigmatic figure of Rāmānanda (fifteenth century), the works attributed to him, the monastic order of the Rāmānandī, and the movements that in various ways were inspired by Rāmānanda. The author investigates the “Rāmānanda enigma”, exploring the hagiographic literature and the Sanskrit and Hindī works under his name. The second part of the volume presents a translation of the Hindī songs attributed to Rāmānanda. Although their attribution is far from certain, they are a significant expression of the mystical literature of the sant-s. An extensive commentary introduces the reader to its fascinating symbolic and spiritual world.

For centuries, the songs of devotional poet-saints have been an integral part of Indian religious life. Countless regional traditions of bhajans (devotional songs) have been able to maintain their existence by adapting to serve the contemporary social needs of their participants. This dissertation draws on fieldwork conducted over 2014-2015 with contemporary bhajan performers from many different genres and styles throughout India. It highlights a specific tradition in the Central Indian region of Malwa based on poetry by Kabir and other Sants (anti-establishment poet-saints) performed by lower-caste singers. This tradition was largely unheard-of half a century ago, but is now a major part of Malwa’s cultural life that has facilitated the creation of lower-caste spiritual networks and created a space for those networks to engage in discourse about social issues. Malwa’s bhajan singers have also become part of India’s popular religious and musical life as certain performers have attained celebrity status and been recognized at the national level as living bearers of the Sant tradition.

This dissertation follows performers and songs from Malwa into new contexts and explores the processes by which performers and audiences in diverse styles and contexts use Sant bhajans to construct understandings of the self. It further addresses the role of Sant bhajans in the formation of new communities comprising members from previously disparate social groups. It interrogates why Sant bhajans might be relevant and appealing to Indians from so many backgrounds and how these bhajans and their performers are relevant to major cultural, religious, and social discourses in India today. It describes and analyzes the various processes by which Sant bhajans are creating new arenas for artistic, spiritual, and social dialogue, and allowing previously marginalized voices to contribute to the formation of Indian culture.

Kabir, we may think, needs no introduction. After all we believe he was born a Hindu (miraculously of a Brahmin virgin widow according to Kabir-panthis), found in a lake and reared by Muslim foster parents; used a stratagem to become guru Ramanand’s disciple by lying down on the ghat at dawn, tripping up the guru and receiving his spontaneous exclamation Ram Ram! as a namadiksa; was denounced by the Kashi Brahmins and brought in chains before Sultan Sikander Lodi who passed the death sentence (as Kabir refused to bow to him) and after three unsuccessful attemps (the Ganges did not drown him, fire did not burn him and the elephant did not crush him) the Sultan bowed before the Kabir.

But alas none of the above is true. Kabir was born a Muslim, did not have a guru, was not even a contemporary of Lodi according to the author’s research.

The creation story of the Gnostics, as with all creation myths, is meant to answer the fundamental questions of our existence: where did we come from, why are we here, where are we in the grand scheme of things?  The themes within the several versions of these creation stories are classic motifs of love, separation, longing and union, though played across a cosmic stage. 

In this article we will discover how closely this mythic tale from the Middle East that can be traced back almost two thousand years, is paralleled by the creation stories of Kabir (d. mid-1500’s), Soami Ji (Swami Shiv Dayal Singh Ji Maharaj d. 1878) and his spiritual Master, Tulsi Saheb of Hathras (d.1843). These unique yet related mystic tales, having survived through long ages and various cultures, are still found today near the centre of a living spiritual tradition known as Sant Mat.

摘要：《格比尔百咏》是泰戈尔翻译的中世纪印地语诗人格比尔诗歌集,也是泰戈尔唯一一部翻译他人诗歌的译著。泰戈尔对格比尔诗歌的选译是一个高度能动、富有创造性的过程,他强化了格比尔诗歌中对内在神爱的表述,弱化了格比尔诗歌对外在瑜伽修炼的推崇,并将格比尔置于印度神秘主义思想史叙事之中,帮助这位出身卑微的诗人在日后的印度思想史叙事中占据关键位置。因此,《格比尔百咏》实际上是泰戈尔以自己的神秘主义思想对格比尔的重新解读。该译作应被视为泰戈尔诗歌创作和宗教思想的有机组成部分,堪称泰戈尔成名作《吉檀迦利》的姊妹篇。

关键词：罗宾德拉纳特·泰戈尔; 格比尔; 《格比尔百咏》; 神秘主义

Kitapta, İstanbul Vefa semti (Fatih- Süleymaniye) sınırları içindeki sekiz hazirede bulunan 1200’den fazla kabrin (mezarın) kitabesi, fotoğrafı, teknik bilgileri, Osmanlıca dizgisi, transkripsiyonu, günümüz Türkçesi ve İngilizce çevirileri yer almaktadır.

Rasa is one of the core concepts in the Kabīrian poems in early Rajasthani and Punjabi manuscripts. This paper examines the description of the attributes and production process of the Kabīrian rasa and compares these with three fields of knowledge that are known to the poet's predecessors and contemporaries: alchemy , mahua flower wine distillation, and Haṭhayoga. A number of Kabīrian poems describe rasa as a rejuvenating, gold-making mystic liquid made through a process of distillation that resembles the production of mahua flower wine. Both images were further incorporated into the body-centric yogic practices present in the poems. Though similar expressions are also found in Gorakhnāth's works, Vaishnava imprints and bhaktification distinguishes the Kabīrian version from its predecessors. Rāma/Hari was added to rasa, and the concept of rasa being a material drink-able liquid was also gradually reworked into a metaphor for 'the name of Rāma/ Hari' or 'the taste of love/devotion.' This analysis concludes that the word rasa displays how the pre-bhakti thoughts were incorporated into the early modern North India bhakti discourse.

摘要：泰戈尔的《格比尔百咏》英译本出版后反响巨大,多次再版并被译为多种外语。它为格比尔在全球范围内收获了不计其数的读者,更改变了格比尔研究的方向,推动了印度国内印地语学者接纳、认同格比尔在印度文学史上的地位和贡献。该译本是泰戈尔在孟加拉年轻学者查克拉瓦蒂和英国作家安德希尔的帮助下,根据森的四卷本《格比尔》选译,其底本主要源自格比尔诗歌的西传本,继承发扬了格比尔文本传统动态发展的特点,更好地反映了格比尔诗歌在当时的流传演变情况。因此,泰戈尔《格比尔百咏》英译本成为了中世纪印地语诗人格比尔诗歌庞大文本传统中极具重要意义的一环。
关键词：泰戈尔 格比尔 《格比尔百咏》

Devotion is ‘deep strong love’ for something. In literature, it
connotes religious or spiritual nature. India has been known for her rich devotional literature. The Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Ramayana and Mahabharata have given India a unique identity in the world. Spiritual poets of India have influenced the poets, seers and philosophers of the whole world. They taught us the concept of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam (the whole world is one family) and designated India as Jagadguru (teacher of the world). Vidyapati, Meerabai, Kabirdas, Tulsidas, Surdas, Tukaram, Sri Chaitanya, Chandidas, Adi Shankaracharya established our spiritual tradition and strengthened devotional literature of India. Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Sarojini Naidu and Paramhansa Yogananda spread India’s spiritual message to the world.

"This paper is an attempt to trace two aspects of creative artists: ‘Bildungsroman’ (novel of formation) and ‘Künstlerroman’ (novel of the artist). The subject of the former is the development of the protagonist’s mind and character, in the passage from childhood through varied experiences- and often through spiritual crisis-into maturity, which usually involves recognition of one’s identity and role in the world. The latter, the ‘artist novel’ represents the growth of an artist from childhood into the stage of maturity that signalizes the recognition of the protagonist’s artistic destiny and mastery of an artistic craft.""

This essay illustrates significant aspects of Evelyn Underhill’s pioneering inter-religious and comparative theological context. In exploring the history and dynamics of mysticism,
Underhill focused on well over one hundred Christian mystics in her many books and
articles. In developing her point of view, she also draws on mystics and ideas from Islam,
Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism, albeit relatively briefly and mainly in her early writings. In this essay I will focus on comparative reflections she develops in her
classic work *Mysticism+ (1910), from her books of poetry (1912, 1916), and from introductions she did for the autobiography of Maharshi Devendranath Tagore (1914) and especially for a book on the poetry of Kabīr (1915).

A shy but determined Dalit man; born in pre-partitioned Rawalpindi, Shailendra (1923-1966) was the poet whose subversive poems and deeply romantic and philosophical songs, I grew up listening to. I remembered word for word many of his works but was completely oblivious, for many years, to the genius of the lyricist who penned them. Years later, I critically analyzed his verses to discover how he brilliantly fused the age-old Indian consciousness with the tensions of the modern world in his mainstream lyrics. His legacy is that they have, over the decades, seeped into the corpus of Indian folk culture and linguistic life.

Eski zamanların mezarlık algısıyla bugünün mezarlık algısı arasında dağlar kadar fark var. "mezar" kelimesi "ziyaret edilen yer" anlamına geliyor, yani o kadar bizden bir şey. Oysa bugün zombistan!. Eskiden mezarlıklarla içiçe yaşardık; orası kent estetiğinin olmazsa olmazıydı, bu bilinçli bir seçimdi, oysa şimdi...