Kabir — "The river and its waves are one surf: where is the difference between the river …"
The river and its waves are one surf: where is the difference between the river and its waves? When the wave rises, it is the water; and when it falls, it is the same water again. Tell me, Sir, where is the distinction? Because it has been named as wave, shall it no longer be considered as water?
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Indian mystic poet whose verses (preserved in the Sikh Guru Granth Sahib and the Hindu Bhakti tradition) attacked both Hindu and Islamic orthodoxy.
Closely associated with
Guru Nanak (founder of Sikhism, who incorporated Kabir's verses).
For an intellectual contrast, see
Brahmanical priesthood, the ritualistic Hindu establishment of his era — Kabir's poetry is the founding text of bhakti devotional rebellion against ritualistic Hinduism — his verses ridicule caste, ritual purity, and priestly mediation as religious theatre.
Details
From 'One Hundred Poems of Kabir', illustrating the non-dual nature of creation and the creator.