Bha­gat Kabir was a man of God – a weaver by pro­fes­sion, who weaved the praise of God and wis­dom through his mag­i­cal metaphors and al­le­gories. The Bhakti move­ment of the 16th cen­tury pro­duced saint-po­ets who sang praises of God Almighty in their unique styles and also ques­tioned the in­grained caste pride amongst the pop­u­la­tion. The Bani of Bha­gat Kabir is part of the Guru Granth Sahib and his Sa­loks have sim­ple mean­ings and a deep out­look. Bhupin­der Singh Hous­ton, in this unique ar­ti­cle, pre­sents the clas­sic math­e­mat­ics of Bha­gat Kabir re­gard­ing the count­ing of the dead.

STRANGE AS IT MAY SOUND, READ THIS AND PON­DER. Give a deep thought, think and think again, lest you miss what Bha­gat Kabir is con­vey­ing. On page 1369 of Guru Granth Sahib, Bha­gat Kabir says,

ਕਬੀਰ ਏਕ ਮਰੰਤੇ ਦੁਇ ਮੂਏ ਦੋਇ ਮਰੰਤਹ ਚਾਰਿ ॥ਚਾਰਿ ਮਰੰਤਹ ਛਹ ਮੂਏ ਚਾਰਿ ਪੁਰਖ ਦੁਇ ਨਾਰਿ ॥੯੧॥
Kabir, when one died, two were dead. When two died, four were dead. When four died, six were dead, four males and two fe­males. ||91||

When we put the num­bers math­e­mat­i­cally they be­come:

Died      Ac­tual Dead

1 = 1 + 1 = 2

2 = 2 + 2 = 4

To­tal= 2 + 4 = 6

Amaz­ing! So, 1 has trans­formed into 6.

The math of Bha­gat Kabir is quite per­plex­ing, for it de­fies the ra­tio­nal logic, the very ba­sis of Math­e­mat­ics. Kabir’s words are pithy, yet they are full of wis­dom. In spite of them de­fy­ing logic, there is a cu­mu­la­tive cas­cad­ing ef­fect, from one to six.

Let us try to de­ci­pher what Kabir Ji is try­ing to con­vey.

The his­tor­i­cal con­text: It is be­lieved that this cou­plet is al­le­gor­i­cal, and was writ­ten by Bha­gat Kabir af­ter wit­ness­ing a hunt­ing scene on the banks of Ganga River. A hunter went to a for­est for deer hunt­ing. He saw a deer and took aim with an ar­row. The hunter aimed the ar­row re­leas­ing it and it pierced the deer. The doe (fe­male deer) died of the wounds. The ar­row had pierced the womb of the doe, and the baby came out of the womb and died. In the mean­time, the buck (male deer) came there and the hunter took the aim again and killed the buck.

ਕਬੀਰ ਏਕ ਮਰੰਤੇ ਦੁਇ ਮੂਏ ਦੋਇ ਮਰੰਤਹ ਚਾਰਿ ॥
ਚਾਰਿ ਮਰੰਤਹ ਛਹ ਮੂਏ ਚਾਰਿ ਪੁਰਖ ਦੁਇ ਨਾਰਿ ॥੯੧॥
Kabir, when one died, two were dead.
When two died, four were dead.
When four died, six were dead,
four males and two fe­males. ||91||
Guru Granth Sahib, page 1369

The hunter went closer to the dead deer to pick his hunt. There the hunter ac­ci­den­tally stepped on the snake and it bit the hunter. He fell down be­com­ing un­con­scious and died of poi­so­nous snake bite.

When his wife found out about the demise of her hunter hus­band, she rushed to the spot, see­ing the hunter hus­band dead she passed away in shock and grief. With­out the par­ents, the child of the hunter too passed away. Thus four males – deer, baby deer, hunter, hunter’s child and two fe­males – doe and hunter’s wife passed away.

The Al­le­gor­i­cal As­pect: Now, let us ex­plore the al­le­gor­i­cal as­pect of what Bha­gat Kabir is try­ing to con­vey. Let us start with the first dead – mind. When one (mind) died, two were dead. When the mind is dead and all the de­sires along with lust also died with it. So, he be­came free of all lust, de­sires and doubts. As a con­se­quence, even the ego van­ished. With that, the stigma of be­ing low caste also died.

The sec­ond dead Kabir Ji is re­fer­ring to is his con­cern for his low caste i.e. sta­tus in the so­ci­ety. The con­se­quence of these two deaths was that two more died. The next two deaths were the love of the ma­te­r­ial world and de­sires. Thus so far the to­tal count of dead was four. When these four died, two more died – bad com­pany (evil as­so­ci­a­tion) and slan­der.
Thus, when four died, there were a to­tal of six deaths – 4 male and 2 fe­male.

ਉਨਮਨਿ ਮਨੂਆ ਸੁੰਨਿ ਸਮਾਨਾ ਦੁਬਿਧਾ ਦੁਰਮਤਿ ਭਾਗੀ॥
The dis­turbed mind has been ab­sorbed in the Lord;
du­al­ity and evil-mind­ed­ness have run away.
Guru Granth Sahib, Page 339

Let us look at these in the Table as un­der:

No.	Death of/ (Gen­der)	Hints and Clues in Guru Granth Sahib	Trans­la­tion of Hints and Clues (with Page No. from Guru Granth Sahib)	Con­se­quences
1	Mind/ (M)	ਦੁਰਮਤਿ ਬਾਧਾ ਸਰਪਨਿ ਖਾਧਾ॥	Man is bound by the evil-mind­ed­ness, and con­sumed by Maya, the ser­pent, 939	Death of de­sires, which trans­lates to death of ego.
2	Sta­tus in the so­ci­ety/ (M)	ਕਬੀਰ ਜਾਤਿ ਜੁਲਾਹਾ ਕਿਆ ਕਰੈ ਹਿਰਦੈ ਬਸੇ ਗੁਪਾਲ॥	Kabir, what can my lowly sta­tus as a weaver do to me? The Lord dwells in my heart, 1368	Dis­crim­i­na­tion based on birth, sta­tus, class ceased.
3	Ma­te­r­ial world at­tach­ment/ (M)	ਕਬੀਰ ਐਸਾ ਕੋ ਨਹੀ ਮੰਦਰੁ ਦੇਇ ਜਰਾਇ॥	Kabir, will any­one set fire to his home (of at­tach­ments), 1368	Be­came de­tached with the re­al­iza­tion that the pos­ses­sions have to be left be­hind upon de­par­ture from this world.
4	De­sires/ (F)	ਕਬੀਰ ਮਨੁ ਪੰਖੀ ਭਇਓ ਉਡਿ ਉਡਿ ਦਹ ਦਿਸ ਜਾਇ॥	Kabir, the mind has be­come a bird; it soars and flies in the ten di­rec­tions (dri­ven by de­sires), 1369	De­sire-less, as the flut­ter of de­sires, has ebbed and now the mind has be­come free of de­sires.
5	Bad Com­pany/ (M)	ਕਬੀਰ ਮਾਰੀ ਮਰਉ ਕੁਸੰਗ ਕੀ ਕੇਲੇ ਨਿਕਟਿ ਜੁ ਬੇਰਿ॥	Kabir, I have been ru­ined and de­stroyed by bad com­pany, like the ba­nana plant near the thorny bush of ju­jube, 1369	Bad com­pany will bring trou­ble, so shun it.
6	Slan­der/ (F)	ਕਬੀਰ ਭਾਰ ਪਰਾਈ ਸਿਰਿ ਚਰੈ ਚਲਿਓ ਚਾਹੈ ਬਾਟ॥	Kabir, the mor­tal wants to walk on the path, car­ry­ing a load of oth­ers’ sins on his head, 1369	Slan­der­ing is putting oth­ers filth in your mouth.

So, Bha­gat Kabir is say­ing one death-cas­cad­ing ef­fect re­sult­ing in a to­tal of six deaths. The an­ni­hi­la­tion of mind cul­mi­nates in end­ing the mind’s won­der­ings, at­tach­ment to sta­tus, po­si­tion, power etc., de­sires, and ego. When these are elim­i­nated then de­sire to as­so­ci­ate with bad com­pany or to slan­der will also dis­ap­pear. Kabir Sahib shares with us where the mind rested on when evil-mind­ed­ness de­parted.

He says:

ਉਨਮਨਿ ਮਨੂਆ ਸੁੰਨਿ ਸਮਾਨਾ ਦੁਬਿਧਾ ਦੁਰਮਤਿ ਭਾਗੀ॥
The dis­turbed mind has been ab­sorbed in the Lord; du­al­ity and evil-mind­ed­ness have run away.
Guru Granth Sahib, Page 339

Writer-colum­nist Hous­ton-based Bhupin­der Singh has a deep in­ter­est in spir­i­tu­al­ity, his­tory, the life, times and writ­ings of Bha­gat Kabir.

 

Ti­tle Im­age Cour­tesy: His­toric Paint­ing ‘Deer Hunt’ by Abra­ham Hondius 1631-1691