Today, we will know about one such incident.
One day a merchant thought that people discuss so much about Saint Kabirdas . Tomorrow, I too will attend his Satsang, let me see what is so special about Him that everyone keeps praising him. The next day, the merchant went to attend the morning session of the Satsang. During the Satsang, the merchant’s attention was focused on the golden words of Saint Kabirdas and he was feeling blissful; listening to the divine voice, the merchant too felt that there was indeed something special about him; but just then the Kurta (a shirt-like cloth) made of Khaddar (coarse cloth material) caught the merchant’s attention and he felt that it did not behove a saint at such a high level to wear such an inferior quality cloth; thus, he thought that the next day he would bring a Kurta made of velvet. The very next day, he brought along a very beautiful, new velvet Kurta and presenting it to him, made a request to Saint Kabir to wear that Kurta. Saint Kabir examined the kurta inside out and then said that he would wear it the following day. The merchant felt very happy. But the next day when he saw the saint wearing the kurta, he was amazed to see that he was wearing it inside out!!! The merchant felt very surprised as to why did He do so? This question kept bothering him for the entire duration of the Satsang. All the devotees were thinking to themselves that the Guru must have surely conjured up some divine game to impart a teaching.
The Pravachan came to an end. Saint Kabir’s gaze stopped on the merchant, noticing the question mark in his eyes, He said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you that yesterday this merchant had presented me with a very expensive Kurta; so upon his request, I have worn that kurta today and Saint Kabir began asking everyone around, “How does it look?” The merchant promptly quipped that Saint Kabir was wearing the Kurta inside out. The saint smiled and replied, “Oh, an ordinary weaver like me can possibly never ever buy such an expensive kurta; so I thought that I should let my skin experience the soft, velvety touch of the cloth (the upper portion of velvet is very soft). I thought what will the people gain from seeing it, at least the body would experience the luxury for some time!!! Upon hearing this, the merchant immediately fell at His feet and said, “I used to think as to what is so special about you that everyone keeps praising you. You are truly beyond worldly honour, ego and deformities. I feel blessed upon having your Darshan.” Saint Kabir smiled and said, “The function of a cloth is to cover our body and protect it from sun, cold, heat and honour in public. It has no other function apart from this.”
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