Grass Plant 

 
There is anecdote, in the life of Kabir and his son Kamal. One morning Kabir sends 
Kamal to the forest to bring green grass for the cattle. Kamal goes to the forest with a 
sickle in his hands. Plants are dancing in the wind, as they are dancing right here 
before us. Morning turns into midday and mid day passes into evening, and yet Kamal 
does not return home from the forest. Kabir is worried, because he was expected to be 
back home for his midday meal. Kabir makes inquiries and then goes to the forest with 
a few friends in search of his son. On reaching the forest, he finds Kamal standing in 
the thick of grass tall enough to reach his shoulders. It is wrong to say that he is 
standing, he is actually dancing with the dancing plants. The wind is dancing, the 
plants are dancing and Kamal is dancing with them. 
 
His eyes are closed and he is wholly absorbed in the dance. Kabir finds that he has not 
chopped a single blade of grass for the cattle. So he gently puts his hands on his 
shoulders and asks, "What have you been doing, my son?" 
 
Kamal opens his eyes and looks around. He tells his father, "You did well to remind 
me," and then picks up his sickle with a view to his assigned task. But he finds it is 
already dark and not possible to cut any grass. 
 
The people with Kabir asked him, "But what have you been doing for the rest of the 
day?" 
 
Kamal says, "I became just like a grass plant; I forgot I was a man or anything. I also 
forgot this was grass I came to chop and take home to my cattle. The morning was so 
beautiful and blissful, it was so festive and dancing with the wind and the trees and the 
grass, it would have been sheer stupidity on my part not to have joined the celebration. 
I began dancing, forgetting everything else. I didn't even remember I was Kamal who 
had come here to collect food for my animals. I am aware of it again only now that you 
come to remind me."