Kamali and the Leper

One day a leper came to Kabir’s house. Only Kamali was at home.
“Is Saint Kabir at home?” he asked.

“No,” said Kamali. “He has gone out for satsang.”

“When will he return?”

“No, no,” she said. “You don’t understand. When Papa goes for
satsang he doesn’t tell us where he is going or when he is coming
back. He doesn’t return for one day, two days, three days, a month.
No one can tell. This time he’s been missing for the last three days. I
don’t know where he is or to which village he has gone. I just stay
here. But what have you come for?”

“I am a leper, as you can see,” he said. “I have been afflicted for the
last thirty-two years. I am hurt. I’ve lost my fingers. I’ve lost my toes.
I’ve lost my nose. I’ve lost my ears. My eyes are nearly blind now.
And someone told me, ‘You go to Kabir and he will cure you.’”

“Oh, for that purpose you need not wait for my Papa,” said Kamali. “I
can do it for you. Wait. Wait. You utter the name of Ram twice, that’s
all. You utter the name of Ram twice.”

He did, and he was instantly cured. The disease was completely
gone and he was now very handsome. No sign of the thirty-two years
of leprosy at all.

So he left the house very happy and grateful.

Now, he had never seen Kabir before. After going a short distance he
saw many people gathered together, singing bhajans and clapping
their hands.

Pointing to the leader he asked someone, “Who is that man?”
“He is Kabir,” was the reply.

So the former leper went up to Kabir and prostrated before him.
“Who are you?” asked Kabir.

“I was a leper, sir,” he answered. “I have just returned from your
house. I went there to find you because someone told me that you
can cure even the dead, not to mention all diseases, by the strength
of the name of Ram. So I came to see you.

“You were not at home, sir, but there was a seven-year-old girl there.
She told me, ‘You need not wait for my Papa. I will do it for you.’”
“What did she do?” asked Kabir.

“She told me to utter the name of Ram twice. I did and immediately
became all right. I am very good now. So I have come to touch your
feet. Your daughter has done it.”

Kabir got very upset.

“Come with me!” he said. “We must go to my house! Something is not
right. It seems that my daughter is an atheist! She has no faith in the
strength of Ram, which I have been living and breathing and teaching
day and night all my life!”

Ram means your own Self. Ram is one name of the Self. You can
call it atman, Brahman — it has many names.

“I cannot understand it,” said Kabir. “Why did she make you repeat it
twice? Once was enough. How could she be so unfaithful? This is
something I simply cannot understand. It seems I cannot even teach
my own children. Please, come with me.”

When they arrived at Kabir’s house, Kamali was sitting on the ground
outside, playing marbles.

“Kamali, come here,” said Kabir. “This man was a leper —“
“Yes, yes, Papa,” she said. “He was a leper.”

“You cured him. What did you do?”

“I told him to utter the name of Ram twice. He did and he was cured.”

“Twice?” asked Kabir. “Why twice? Have you no faith in the name of
Ram?”

“Once was not enough,” she answered.

“What do you mean? Once is certainly enough!”

“No, no, Papa,” she said. “His karma was such a dirty karma! He has
been doing such heinous crimes for millions of years, he had to be
born as a leper not only in this life, but in his next life as well. So,
since he has come, why not cure him for the next life also?”

Kabir kept quiet. What could he say?