A perfect Master is a primary necessity on the spiritual path. Without his guidance a seeker can never realize God nor, without his grace, can he escape from the clutches of the negative power. The Master initiates the seeker into the way of spiritual practice, connects his soul with the Word or Shabd and helps him to develop the inner faculties of hearing and seeing — surat and nirat. The physical faculties of hearing and seeing are essential in daily life on the physical plane; even more so are surat and nirat needed on the soul's spiritual journey towards its original home.

Speaking of the greatness of the perfect Master, Kabir says that the Master's power and might cannot be conveyed in words; even an entire lifetime devoted to enumerating the aspects of his greatness would not be sufficient.

Whose colour is colourless,
Formless whose form,
How can He be seen?
You will see Him within
When your surat and nirat awake
Through the Master's grace.

K.S.S., p. 4:41

Pundits read and ponder
In order to find God;
They toil to exhaustion,
But without the Master
Knowledge cannot be gained,
And without knowledge
There's no release.
The true Word of the Master
Is the only way.

K.S.S., p. 4:42

K.S.S., p. 6:71

In the wheel of species
I would have revolved,
Never could I have found release;
But all the misery
Of my wandering ended
When I met the Master
And he blessed me
With his love and grace.

K.S.S., p. 6:72

The deadly ocean of the world
Is made tumultuous
By the tempest of desires;
Mind finds neither rest nor relief.
But I met the Master,
Powerful and loving —
He took Kabir across the sea.

K.S.S., p. 10:117

Without the Master
No one can be saved,
You will sink again and again
In the dreadful sea;
From the torment
Of its battering waves
Only the Master
Can hold you by the arm,
Only he can save.

K.S.S., p. 10:120

K.S.S., p. 3:35

The Thing lies somewhere,
Elsewhere you go in its quest;
How can you obtain
The precious jewel?
Says Kabir: Only when you seek
In the company of the one
Who is conversant with its secret,
This treasure will you gain.

K.S.S., p. 5:59

When I took with me
The master of the secret,
He revealed the jewel;
The path that was
A million lives long,
In a twinkling
I covered it and reached
My destination.

K.S.S., p. 5:60

This body is a creeper
That bears poisonous fruits,
The Master is a reservoir of Nectar;
Even in exchange for your head
If the Master you gain, Kabir,
It is a cheap bargain.

K.S.S., p. 6:62

K.S.S., p. 11:124

If one lights sixty-four lamps
And brings fourteen moons
Within his house,
Yet how can there be light
In the home
Where the Master is not?

K.S.S., p. 16:9

To dispel the darkness of night,
Even if a million moons
Simultaneously rise,
The man without a Master
Will still be a man without sight.

K.S.S., p. 16:10

In the depths of the firmament
Reigns His dazzling radiance,
Which a man without the Master
Will never attain;
But he who has a Master
Will gain a lasting abode
In the mansion of the Lord.

K.S.S., p. 16:11