Charles James Lyall

“ Kabīr’s fame as a preacher of bhakti, or enthusiastic devotion to a personal God, whom he preferred to call by the Hindu names of Rāma and Hari, is greater than that of any other of the Vaishnava spiritual leaders. His fervent conviction of the truth and power of his doctrine, and the homely and searching expression given to it in his utterances, in the tongue of the people and not in a learned language remote from their understanding, won for him multitudes of adherents; and his sect, the Kabīrpanthīs, is still one of the most numerous in northern India, its numbers exceeding a million. ”

“ Every man and woman that has ever been born is of the same nature as yourself. He, whose is the world, and whose are the children of ʽAlī and Rāma, He is my Guru, He is my Pīr.” He proclaims the universal brotherhood of man, and the duty of kindness to all living creatures. Life is the gift of God, and must not be violated; the shedding of blood, whether of man or animals, is a heinous crime. The followers of Kabīr do not observe celibacy, and live quiet unostentatious lives ”

“ All evil in the world is ascribed to Māyā, illusion or falsehood, and truth in thought, word and deed is enjoined as the chief duty of man: “No act of devotion can equal truth; no crime is so heinous as falsehood; in the heart where truth abides there is My abode.” [3] The distinctions of creeds are declared to be of no importance in the presence of God: “The city of Hara [4] is to the east, that of ʽAlī [5] is to the west; but explore your own heart, for there are both Rāma and Karīm;” ”