Kabir Tests His Son Kamals Discipleship

Dadi: "Guddu, if your father was a famous saint, would you just follow everything he said?"

Guddu: "Probably? I mean, he'd know best, right?"

Dadi: "Kabir's son Kamal had a different idea. He boldly told his father: "I am your son, not your disciple.""

Guddu: "He refused to be his father's student?!"

Dadi: "He didn't refuse wisdom - he refused to be a copy. Kamal wanted his own spiritual path, not just to be "Kabir Junior.""

Guddu: "Was Kabir angry?"

Dadi: "There was definitely tension! See, Kabir was known for refusing gifts from devotees. People would offer him money, gold, diamonds - he'd say no to everything."

Guddu: "Total detachment!"

Dadi: "But Kamal? He accepted all the offerings that came!"

Guddu: "The opposite of his father!"

Dadi: "Kabir objected. "Why are you taking these gifts? This isn't our way!""

Guddu: "What did Kamal say?"

Dadi: "He moved out of Kabir's house and built a small hut right in front of his father's. And here's the thing - seekers who came to visit Kabir started visiting Kamal too!"

Guddu: "People followed him even though he did things differently?"

Dadi: "Because he had his own wisdom. Once, a king offered Kamal a diamond worth millions. Kamal looked at it and said, "It's just a stone.""

Guddu: "He called a diamond a stone?!"

Dadi: "The king was confused. Was Kamal going to reject it like his father would? But when the king tried to take it back and put it in his pocket, Kamal stopped him: "Are you mad? First you carried this burden here, and now you'll carry it back?""

Guddu: "*(laughing)* So he didn't want it but also didn't want the king to have it?"

Dadi: "He told the king to leave it there - just somewhere in his hut. Not stored safely, not treasured - just... dropped somewhere."

Guddu: "Did the king come back?"

Dadi: "A month later! He was sure Kamal had secretly sold or hidden the diamond. "Where's the diamond I gave you?""

Guddu: "What did Kamal say?"

Dadi: ""Diamond? Oh yes, that stone. I don't know where you put it. Maybe look around?" The king searched and found it exactly where he'd left it - in the straw of the roof, untouched."

Guddu: "He really didn't care about it!"

Dadi: "Another king gave him a gold chain. "Put it there," Kamal said, continuing his meditation. TEN YEARS later, the king returned. "How are you enjoying the gold chain?" Kamal: "Where did you put it? Check there.""

Guddu: "Ten years and he hadn't touched it?!"

Dadi: "The chain was exactly where it had been left a decade ago."

Guddu: "That's incredible detachment!"

Dadi: "But different from his father's. Kabir refused gifts entirely. Kamal accepted them but was completely indifferent to them. In some ways, Kamal's approach was even harder - having things but not caring about them at all."

Guddu: "Like having chocolate in your room but never eating it?"

Dadi: "Exactly! Which is harder - never having chocolate, or having it right there and still not wanting it?"

Guddu: "Having it there would be much harder!"

Dadi: "That was Kamal's test. He proved you could possess things without being possessed BY them."

Guddu: "What's the lesson here, Dadi?"

Dadi: "That spiritual paths can look different and still be valid. Kamal wasn't wrong for being different from Kabir. He found his own way to truth. The goal is freedom from attachment - and there's more than one road to that freedom."

Guddu: "So I don't have to do exactly what my parents do?"

Dadi: "You should respect their wisdom, beta. But ultimately, you need to find your own authentic path. Kamal honored his father while becoming his own person. That's the balance we all seek."

Guddu: ""I am your son, not your disciple." I kind of like that."

Dadi: "Use it wisely. Honor comes from understanding, not from copying. Be yourself - that's what Kabir would have wanted anyway."