Apr 17, 2021
The Many Kabirs, Buddhas, and Christs, or Radiant Forms
I believe in the Sant Dharam Das branch of Kabir Panth there was the practice of either channeling Kabir, or later gurus writing under the name Kabir, pen name, if you will. Something I’ve written about. This is reminiscent of the Corpus Hermeticum which contains many writings composed over many decades all attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. In the Sikh scriptures also, many of the gurus used “says Nanak” quite often, as if they were writing in the name of the first guru in the Sikh line, the founder: Guru Nanak.
The same is true in Buddhism and Christianity in texts written centuries after the time of Christ and the Buddha. New sayings of them both appear in later scriptures like the Surangama Sutra and Pistis Sophia.
In these and other cases there is the belief that the founding teachers live on as spiritual beings and so get channeled by their devotees. In the Dharam Das Kabir group gurus did not write under their own names for centuries (until recently with the writings of Prakash Mani Naam), thus there are so many writings attributed to Kabir, more than could be authored by any one person for sure. I believe the Anurag Sagar was likely authored by Dharam Das and is probably informed or somewhat influenced by texts of earlier composition such as the Bijak. So the Pisits Sophia analogy is especially appropriate in this case, as that’s a Third Century Gnostic gospel which is clearly influenced by New Testament passages. A fascinating topic. Some have claimed to have met a kind of radiant form of Kabir long after the historic Kabir’s death, including a couple of famous gurus: Garib Das and Dadu Dayal.
Indian history is rather opaque and difficult at every step and contains many examples of unresolved mysteries. For instance, Dadu’s guru, Buddhan in icon art resembles Kabir. Dadu was in a line of gurus related to Kabir. Sometimes successors adopt the same style of clothing, but the image of Buddhan sure looks very much like Kabir.
