Editing Kabir (section)

===Philosophy===
[[File:Saint Kabir with Namdeva, Raidas and Pipaji. Jaipur, early 19century, National Museum New Delhi (2).jpg|thumb|Kabir with Namadeva, Raidas and Pipaji. Jaipur, early 19th century]]
According to Linda Hess, "Some modern commentators have tried to present Kabir as a synthesizer of Hinduism and Islam; but the picture is a false one. While drawing on various traditions as he saw fit, Kabir emphatically declared his independence from both the major religions of his countrymen, vigorously attacked what he considered the follies of these religions, and tried to kindle the fire of a similar autonomy and courage in those who claimed to be his disciples.{{sfn|Hess|Singh|2002|p=5}} He adopted their terminology and concepts, but vigorously criticized them both.{{sfn|Hess|Singh|2002|pp=5-6}}{{sfn | Lorenzen | Muñoz | 2012 | pp=27-28}} He questioned the need for any holy book, as stated in Kabir Granthavali as follows:
 
{{Quote
|<poem>
Reading book after book the whole world died,
and none ever became learned!
But understanding the root matter is what made them gain the knowledge!
</poem>
|Kabir Granthavali, XXXIII.3|Translated by Charlotte Vaudeville{{sfn|Schomer|McLeod|1987|p=23}} }}

Many scholars interpret Kabir's philosophy to be questioning the need for religion, rather than attempting to propose either [[Hindu–Muslim unity]] or an independent synthesis of a new religious tradition.{{sfn | Lorenzen | Muñoz | 2012 | p=35}} Kabir rejected the hypocrisy and misguided rituals evident in various religious practices of his day, including those in Islam and Hinduism.{{sfn | Lorenzen | Muñoz | 2012 | p=35}}

{{Quote
|<poem>
Saints I've seen both ways.
Hindus and Muslims don't want discipline, they want tasty food.
The Hindu keeps the eleventh-day fast, eating chestnuts and milk.
He curbs his grain but not his brain, and breaks his fast with meat.
The Turk [Muslim] prays daily, fasts once a year, and crows "God!, God!" like a cock.
What heaven is reserved for people who kill chickens in the dark?
Instead of kindness and compassion, they've cast out all desire.
One kills with a chop, one lets the blood drop, in both houses burns the same fire.
Turks and Hindus have one way, the guru's made it clear.
Don't say Ram, don't say Khuda [Allah], so says Kabir.
</poem>
|Kabir, Śabda 10|Translated by Linda Hess and Shukdeo Singh{{sfn|Hess|Singh|2002|p=46}} }}

In ''Bijak'', Kabir mocks the practice of praying to avatars such as Buddha of Buddhism, by asserting "don't call the master Buddha, he didn't put down devils".{{sfn|Hess|Singh|2002|p=45}}{{sfn|Doniger|2010|p=484}} Kabir urged people to look within and consider all human beings as manifestation of God's living forms:

{{Quote
|<poem>
If God be within the mosque, then to whom does this world belong?
If Ram be within the image which you find upon your pilgrimage,
then who is there to know what happens without?
Hari is in the East, Allah is in the West.
Look within your heart, for there you will find both Karim and Ram;
All the men and women of the world are His living forms.
Kabir is the child of Allah and of Ram: He is my Guru, He is my Pir.
</poem>
|Kabir, III.2|Translated by [[Rabindranath Tagore]]{{sfn|Kabir|1915|p=[https://archive.org/stream/onehundredpoemso00kabiuoft#page/72/mode/2up 72]|loc=LXIX}} }}

Charlotte Vaudeville states that the philosophy of Kabir and other [[Sant (religion)|sants]] of the Bhakti movement is the seeking of the Absolute. The notion of this Absolute is ''nirguna'' which, writes Vaudeville, is same as "the [[Upanishad]]ic concept of the [[Atman (Hinduism)|Brahman-Atman]] and the monistic Advaita interpretation of the Vedantic tradition, which denies any distinction between the soul [within a human being] and God, and urges man to recognize within himself his true divine nature".{{sfn|Schomer|McLeod|1987|pp=26}} Vaudeville notes that this philosophy of Kabir and other Bhakti sants is self-contradictory, because if God is within, then that would be a call to abolish all external [[bhakti]]. This inconsistency in Kabir's teaching may have been differentiating "union with God" from the concept of "merging into God, or Oneness in all beings". Alternatively, states Vaudeville, the ''saguna'' prema-bhakti (tender devotion) may have been prepositioned as the journey towards self-realization of the ''nirguna'' Brahman, a universality beyond monotheism.{{sfn|Schomer|McLeod|1987|pp=27-33|ps= with footnotes}}

[[David Lorenzen|David N. Lorenzen]] and Adrián Muñoz trace these ideas of God in Kabir's philosophy as ''nirguna Brahman'' to those in [[Adi Shankara]]'s theories on [[Advaita Vedanta]] school of Hinduism, albeit with some differences.{{sfn | Lorenzen | Muñoz | 2012 | p=48}}