OF CHRISTIANITY UPON OTHER RELIGIODS SYSTEMS. 33 



of Kabir's life contains remarkable* parallels with certain 

 incidents in the life of our Lord. There seem, for instance, to 

 be some references to Virgin Birth. As a boy, Kabir worsts a 

 learned Pandit in argument (c/. the Lalita Vistara and the 

 Apocryphal Gospels). He was blamed for associating with out- 

 casts, and he miraculously supplied food to the poor. The 

 religious leaders of the day were excited to hostility against him. 

 He is said to have raised a boy and a girl from the dead. Women 

 devotees waited upon him. Sikander Lodi tried to put him to 

 death, but failed. Some of the details of his trial before this 

 sovereign seem to have been modelled on those related of Christ's 

 trial before Pilate. Kabir appears to have delivered his teach- 

 ing orally and to have written nothing. Among the sayings 

 recorded of him are several which recall certain passages of the 

 New Testament. Such are the following : — 



" The things which are seen are transitory." 



" What God desires is purity of heart." 



" Men are saved by devotion (bhakti), and not by works." 



" Perfect love casteth out fear." 



" Whatever I have is not mine own : it is Thine. It is Thine 

 own that I give Thee ; what have I ? " 

 Small is the door of devotion as the tenth part of a 

 mustard-seed. The heart of men is swollen with pride 

 to the size of an elephant {cf. Matthew xix, 24, and 

 Qur'an, Surah vii, 38), how can he pass within ? " 



" Those who sought found." 



Kabir's disciples exist to the present day. They are known as 

 Kabir-panthis, or " Walkers in Kabir's path." They are urged 

 to fast on the last day of each lunar month and on Sundays. 

 They celebrate a kind of sacrament, entitled " Jol-Prasad 

 (" Candle-flame and Grace," the word jorasdd — in Sanskrit 

 prasdda, " Divine favour," — having now come to denote the food 

 consumed in this rite), in which a kind of wafer is eaten. The 

 ceremony is supposed to confer eternal life, if worthily 

 performed. It is clear that Kabir was " not far from the 

 Kingdom of God." There must be many more such humble 

 seekers in India to-day. 



Guru Nanak, the founder of the religion of the Sikhs 

 (Sanskrit Sishya, " disciple "), was born at Lahore in a.d. 1469. 

 He inculcated the Christian doctrine of the Patherhood of God 

 and the Brotherhood of his own disciples. Kanak taught 



* Wescott, Kahii' and the Kahir-Fanth^ p. 36. 



