Binod Das Baul is singing with friends in an ashram. There is no audience. The Bauls transmit knowledge to each other in this way.
Sunday 13 May 2007
Saturday 12 May 2007
Words like "God", religion and spirituality might give associations to crusades, war, black-coats, hypocrisy, superstition, fear, constraint, gloom and joylessness. No wonder that many westerners turn away from their religious patrimony, even if there is actually nothing wrong with Jesus.
But still, there is the longing for Something Else. Who wants to identify oneself as an isolated consumer in an increasingly totalitarian consumerist society? Where is the joy in that? One might console oneself with Art, it gives some joy. But as art is a mirror of society it tends to get as meaningless and hopeless as consumerist society. God have mercy!
The encounter with the Bauls, the singing mystics of Bengal, became an inspiration to me. The Bauls are often poor, of low cast and, in a conventional sense, uneducated people but they can rise to a level where a rich and well educated westerner will fall short and have much to learn. My encounter with the Bauls was a knock-out in the first round.
It happened at a Baul celebration. A lot of people, most of them Bauls, were sitting squeezed together on the straw covered floor of a tent. They all had various instruments and were accompanying the Baul in the middle who was singing and dancing. There were hand made lutes and flutes and many kinds of drums, cymbals and other rhythm instruments. One after another the Bauls were performing with bells on their feet, singing and dancing on the limited space and at the same time accompanying themselves on one or more instruments. The simultaneous capacity of the Baul is amazing. The visual impression was the strongest. I had never seen such beautiful people before. The poor Baul was transformed into something royal like, transformed into a god. The impression of beauty was partly due to the radiation of joy, freedom of expression, self esteem and control of the body and partly to their way of dressing and adorning themselves. They wore loose garments in resplendent orange or made of multicoloured patches. They had shawls with mystic signs and some had their foreheads painted with divine signs. They adorned themselves with huge necklaces made of beautiful stones or seeds. Some had orange coloured turbans around their heads with the loose ends hanging down their backs. Others had their long hair flowing free or tied in an artistic top knot. They were all different, every one had their special style. They reminded of rock artists - only more beautiful. I did not know the language and consequently could not understand what their songs were about. But even if I did not understand a word I could understand that they were words of importance. To the extent that I have now spent ten years of my life in Bengal to try to understand more.
One of the most sympathetic traits of the Bauls is that the movement has no organization. There is no leader, no canon, no book, no temples for Bauls. There is only a living tradition transmitted from one human being to the other.
Most of the Bauls come from a Hindu background and they do not repudiate their old religion. Even if they are still Hindus the rites and temples and the formal does not mean that much. God can only exist in the human being.
There is an equivalence among those coming from Muslim background - the Sufis, who are called Fakirs in Bengal. It is principally the same movement apart from their different cultural and religious background. The Bauls and the Sufis live separately but sometimes they have singing celebrations and festivals together. Neither Bauls nor Sufis respect differences in cast, religion or nationality - it´s "The Man in the heart" (moner manush) that counts.
The singing celebrations usually take place in big tents raised for this purpose and there might be hundreds or thousands of Bauls and Fakirs participating. Often they go on for several days. During that time the participants and visitors get everything they need - food, tea, ganja, hair oil and even money for the journey. There are no entrance fees for the visitors - everything is free. The whole thing is financed by begging. Some Bauls make begging rounds before the mela and ask for voluntary contributions. People love their Bauls and many people contribute - both the poor and the rich make donations for the Baul celebrations. "Human service" (manusher seba) is important to the Bauls and to offer food is essential in the serving of humans.
The Bauls are called both saints and madmen by ordinary people. Madman -"khepa" in Bengali - is also the word of address that the Bauls use with each other. The word
"baul" itself is propably from sanskrit "vatul" meaning "mad by the wind".
One is not born as a Baul. You have to undergo a training (sadhana) for many years with a master - a guru. The training is the same for men and women. The sadhana consists of, besides serving the guru, yoga and tantric practices. To that comes song and musical training. The goal is joy or bliss (ananda). Through sadhana what is unnecessary drops away and only bliss is left. The Bauls also call themselves
"sahajia" which means natural, simple.
The Baul combines spiritual knowledge with knowledge of the body. The Bauls do not underestimate the body. Body is vanity but as long as it exists it is the temple of the divine. The whole universe is in the body, they say. The human body is something very enviable - even the gods take human shape and take the opportunity to enjoy the senses. The Bauls make themselves beautiful, adorn themselves and like to use perfume. They are practically oriented - they are not interested in theoretical discussion and speculation. They cultivate the "Man in the heart".
The Baul teaching is not vast - it could be hold in a nutshell, my Master says. First you have to outwit the six enemies (ripu) who want to overpower the human being. My Master usually calls them crocodiles. The six crocodiles are Lust, Wrath, Greed, Sloth, Pride and Envy. Unfortunately these crocodiles can not be defeated once and for all. You will have to deal with them as long as you live. They are very cunning and they are always lurking in the reeds under the surface of the water, sticking up their ugly faces when you least expect it. Strictest watchfulness must be observed. For the rest you only have to keep the flower of the heart open. If the flower of the heart is closed God can not enter.
Devotion and love is what makes a human being human. It does not matter if you can read and write and if you are on a high intellectual level. Without devotion and love you are nonhuman.
The Bauls are not supposed to have children (though many of them have). Having children means worldly bondage - the need of money for food, school and clothing. The Baul should stand free. Before the Bauls were wandering around living from alms. When they nowadays have children they tend to settle and as monetary society develops it gets more difficult to live from alms. To beg for food is one thing - to beg for electricity- and telephone bills is more difficult. The trend is that the Bauls become less mystics and more regular artists who sing and play for a fee. Perhaps the real Bauls are singing their swan song, so to say.
But even if family life is hard to combine with Baul mysticism the relation man-woman is essential in Baul sadhana.
The number of songs seems infinite and every song is a jewel. Some are hundreds of years old but new songs are made all the time. The Bauls have excellent memory and some have thousands of songs on their repertoire. Until now almost nothing has been written down. In the hot, humid climate of Bengal what is written on paper gets mouldy and perishes faster than what is stored in human memory. In the songs the theory is formulated. Most of the songs are about what it is to be a human being - about the body and the six enemies and how to keep the flower of the heart open for love and joy and about ageing and death. The songs are often on different levels simultaneously and with symbols that are not understood by the uninitiated. They could be about sadhana and the Bauls shortcomings in sadhana.
The body is often compared to a house. Here an example of a strophe from a song (in rough translation without rhyme not making jusice to the song):
"There is a house of bone with a roof of skin
put together with joints
The guards of this house
are a gent bumble bee and a lady bumble bee
playing amusing games
Why do you deceive and fight yourself?
What kind of house are you building?"
The house is the body. The gent bumble bee and the lady bumble bee are the heart (mon) and the breathing (pran).
In the songs the woman is compared to a river and the man to a boat. At best the man has a consiousness i.e. the boat has a steersman. The river is considered extremely dangerous, full of crocodiles, deep and with whirl pools where a boat could easily capsize. Example:
"In the bends and turns of that river
packs of crocodiles turn up
If they get a chance they grab
Smear your body with the turmeric of discrimination
Are you not heading for the other shore, young boatsman?"
The turmeric of discrimination refers to an ingredient in the secret teachings of love that holds ones own against passion. Sex is here a means of controlling lust and passion that lead away from the "Man in the heart". The man does not want to drown in the river but reach the other shore. A male Baul must be able to control his semen. He must turn the flow and instead of ejaculation direct semen to the top of the head to the sahasrar chakra where it serves him better.
The love teachings are, as I said, secret but that much can be told that the fluids of the body are involved. The word for juice or fluid in Bengali "ras" (pronounced rosh) is central in these teachings. The word is used in many ways in Indian languages. The gent bumble bee and lady bumble bee in the example from the song above could either be said engaging in "amusing" games or literally "juicy" games.
"Ras" could also mean elixir, essence, sperm, the inner meaning, humor, strong attraction, pleasure, taste, aroma. It is a common word in the Hindu Krishna worship. I think you must keep all these meanings in mind when you try to understand the concept.
It is easy for a westerner to accept the Baul´s expression of joy and love, their song and music and independence from conventions. They seem anti authoritarian, liberal and very emancipated. But to become a Baul the absolute authority of the guru is a must. The relation guru-disciple is fundamental. Without a guru it is impossible. For twelve years the disciple should serve his/her guru. You must never get angry with or question the guru because then the whole sadhana is jeopardized. There is only one attitude possible towards the guru - unconditional love and surrender. Example from a song:
"My body was like petrified
The guru gave such a mantra
it turned into a flower garden"
For a westerner, who does not believe in any authorities and is trained in critical thinking, it is difficult, not to say impossible, to respect the guru in the right way. Of course it is not easy for an Indian either. To serve the guru implies annihilation of the ego. The annihilation of the ego is the most difficult thing there is. This the Bauls have in common with all other mystic movements.
There is a story about the relation guru-disciple that I heared a Baul tell:
"A guru and his disciple are out wandering. They come to a river they have to cross.
There is no boat. The river is deep and violent. It is too violent to swim over. The guru tells the disciple to cross the river walking on the surface. The disciple is in despair. He kneels down and asks to be spared. No one can walk on water, it is impossible, he says. But the guru tells him - If you have faith in the guru nothing is impossible. Go!
The disciple has great love and confidence in his guru so he goes out on the river. And see! He walks on the water! He crosses the violent river and reaches the other shore. There he sits down and waits for the guru.
The guru on the other hand drowns in the whirlpools."
This story tells that it is the quality of the disciple and his veneration of the guru that helps him to cross the river - not the quality of the guru.
There are thousands of gurus but true disciples there are only one or two, says my Master.
But still, there is the longing for Something Else. Who wants to identify oneself as an isolated consumer in an increasingly totalitarian consumerist society? Where is the joy in that? One might console oneself with Art, it gives some joy. But as art is a mirror of society it tends to get as meaningless and hopeless as consumerist society. God have mercy!
The encounter with the Bauls, the singing mystics of Bengal, became an inspiration to me. The Bauls are often poor, of low cast and, in a conventional sense, uneducated people but they can rise to a level where a rich and well educated westerner will fall short and have much to learn. My encounter with the Bauls was a knock-out in the first round.
It happened at a Baul celebration. A lot of people, most of them Bauls, were sitting squeezed together on the straw covered floor of a tent. They all had various instruments and were accompanying the Baul in the middle who was singing and dancing. There were hand made lutes and flutes and many kinds of drums, cymbals and other rhythm instruments. One after another the Bauls were performing with bells on their feet, singing and dancing on the limited space and at the same time accompanying themselves on one or more instruments. The simultaneous capacity of the Baul is amazing. The visual impression was the strongest. I had never seen such beautiful people before. The poor Baul was transformed into something royal like, transformed into a god. The impression of beauty was partly due to the radiation of joy, freedom of expression, self esteem and control of the body and partly to their way of dressing and adorning themselves. They wore loose garments in resplendent orange or made of multicoloured patches. They had shawls with mystic signs and some had their foreheads painted with divine signs. They adorned themselves with huge necklaces made of beautiful stones or seeds. Some had orange coloured turbans around their heads with the loose ends hanging down their backs. Others had their long hair flowing free or tied in an artistic top knot. They were all different, every one had their special style. They reminded of rock artists - only more beautiful. I did not know the language and consequently could not understand what their songs were about. But even if I did not understand a word I could understand that they were words of importance. To the extent that I have now spent ten years of my life in Bengal to try to understand more.
One of the most sympathetic traits of the Bauls is that the movement has no organization. There is no leader, no canon, no book, no temples for Bauls. There is only a living tradition transmitted from one human being to the other.
Most of the Bauls come from a Hindu background and they do not repudiate their old religion. Even if they are still Hindus the rites and temples and the formal does not mean that much. God can only exist in the human being.
There is an equivalence among those coming from Muslim background - the Sufis, who are called Fakirs in Bengal. It is principally the same movement apart from their different cultural and religious background. The Bauls and the Sufis live separately but sometimes they have singing celebrations and festivals together. Neither Bauls nor Sufis respect differences in cast, religion or nationality - it´s "The Man in the heart" (moner manush) that counts.
The singing celebrations usually take place in big tents raised for this purpose and there might be hundreds or thousands of Bauls and Fakirs participating. Often they go on for several days. During that time the participants and visitors get everything they need - food, tea, ganja, hair oil and even money for the journey. There are no entrance fees for the visitors - everything is free. The whole thing is financed by begging. Some Bauls make begging rounds before the mela and ask for voluntary contributions. People love their Bauls and many people contribute - both the poor and the rich make donations for the Baul celebrations. "Human service" (manusher seba) is important to the Bauls and to offer food is essential in the serving of humans.
The Bauls are called both saints and madmen by ordinary people. Madman -"khepa" in Bengali - is also the word of address that the Bauls use with each other. The word
"baul" itself is propably from sanskrit "vatul" meaning "mad by the wind".
One is not born as a Baul. You have to undergo a training (sadhana) for many years with a master - a guru. The training is the same for men and women. The sadhana consists of, besides serving the guru, yoga and tantric practices. To that comes song and musical training. The goal is joy or bliss (ananda). Through sadhana what is unnecessary drops away and only bliss is left. The Bauls also call themselves
"sahajia" which means natural, simple.
The Baul combines spiritual knowledge with knowledge of the body. The Bauls do not underestimate the body. Body is vanity but as long as it exists it is the temple of the divine. The whole universe is in the body, they say. The human body is something very enviable - even the gods take human shape and take the opportunity to enjoy the senses. The Bauls make themselves beautiful, adorn themselves and like to use perfume. They are practically oriented - they are not interested in theoretical discussion and speculation. They cultivate the "Man in the heart".
The Baul teaching is not vast - it could be hold in a nutshell, my Master says. First you have to outwit the six enemies (ripu) who want to overpower the human being. My Master usually calls them crocodiles. The six crocodiles are Lust, Wrath, Greed, Sloth, Pride and Envy. Unfortunately these crocodiles can not be defeated once and for all. You will have to deal with them as long as you live. They are very cunning and they are always lurking in the reeds under the surface of the water, sticking up their ugly faces when you least expect it. Strictest watchfulness must be observed. For the rest you only have to keep the flower of the heart open. If the flower of the heart is closed God can not enter.
Devotion and love is what makes a human being human. It does not matter if you can read and write and if you are on a high intellectual level. Without devotion and love you are nonhuman.
The Bauls are not supposed to have children (though many of them have). Having children means worldly bondage - the need of money for food, school and clothing. The Baul should stand free. Before the Bauls were wandering around living from alms. When they nowadays have children they tend to settle and as monetary society develops it gets more difficult to live from alms. To beg for food is one thing - to beg for electricity- and telephone bills is more difficult. The trend is that the Bauls become less mystics and more regular artists who sing and play for a fee. Perhaps the real Bauls are singing their swan song, so to say.
But even if family life is hard to combine with Baul mysticism the relation man-woman is essential in Baul sadhana.
The number of songs seems infinite and every song is a jewel. Some are hundreds of years old but new songs are made all the time. The Bauls have excellent memory and some have thousands of songs on their repertoire. Until now almost nothing has been written down. In the hot, humid climate of Bengal what is written on paper gets mouldy and perishes faster than what is stored in human memory. In the songs the theory is formulated. Most of the songs are about what it is to be a human being - about the body and the six enemies and how to keep the flower of the heart open for love and joy and about ageing and death. The songs are often on different levels simultaneously and with symbols that are not understood by the uninitiated. They could be about sadhana and the Bauls shortcomings in sadhana.
The body is often compared to a house. Here an example of a strophe from a song (in rough translation without rhyme not making jusice to the song):
"There is a house of bone with a roof of skin
put together with joints
The guards of this house
are a gent bumble bee and a lady bumble bee
playing amusing games
Why do you deceive and fight yourself?
What kind of house are you building?"
The house is the body. The gent bumble bee and the lady bumble bee are the heart (mon) and the breathing (pran).
In the songs the woman is compared to a river and the man to a boat. At best the man has a consiousness i.e. the boat has a steersman. The river is considered extremely dangerous, full of crocodiles, deep and with whirl pools where a boat could easily capsize. Example:
"In the bends and turns of that river
packs of crocodiles turn up
If they get a chance they grab
Smear your body with the turmeric of discrimination
Are you not heading for the other shore, young boatsman?"
The turmeric of discrimination refers to an ingredient in the secret teachings of love that holds ones own against passion. Sex is here a means of controlling lust and passion that lead away from the "Man in the heart". The man does not want to drown in the river but reach the other shore. A male Baul must be able to control his semen. He must turn the flow and instead of ejaculation direct semen to the top of the head to the sahasrar chakra where it serves him better.
The love teachings are, as I said, secret but that much can be told that the fluids of the body are involved. The word for juice or fluid in Bengali "ras" (pronounced rosh) is central in these teachings. The word is used in many ways in Indian languages. The gent bumble bee and lady bumble bee in the example from the song above could either be said engaging in "amusing" games or literally "juicy" games.
"Ras" could also mean elixir, essence, sperm, the inner meaning, humor, strong attraction, pleasure, taste, aroma. It is a common word in the Hindu Krishna worship. I think you must keep all these meanings in mind when you try to understand the concept.
It is easy for a westerner to accept the Baul´s expression of joy and love, their song and music and independence from conventions. They seem anti authoritarian, liberal and very emancipated. But to become a Baul the absolute authority of the guru is a must. The relation guru-disciple is fundamental. Without a guru it is impossible. For twelve years the disciple should serve his/her guru. You must never get angry with or question the guru because then the whole sadhana is jeopardized. There is only one attitude possible towards the guru - unconditional love and surrender. Example from a song:
"My body was like petrified
The guru gave such a mantra
it turned into a flower garden"
For a westerner, who does not believe in any authorities and is trained in critical thinking, it is difficult, not to say impossible, to respect the guru in the right way. Of course it is not easy for an Indian either. To serve the guru implies annihilation of the ego. The annihilation of the ego is the most difficult thing there is. This the Bauls have in common with all other mystic movements.
There is a story about the relation guru-disciple that I heared a Baul tell:
"A guru and his disciple are out wandering. They come to a river they have to cross.
There is no boat. The river is deep and violent. It is too violent to swim over. The guru tells the disciple to cross the river walking on the surface. The disciple is in despair. He kneels down and asks to be spared. No one can walk on water, it is impossible, he says. But the guru tells him - If you have faith in the guru nothing is impossible. Go!
The disciple has great love and confidence in his guru so he goes out on the river. And see! He walks on the water! He crosses the violent river and reaches the other shore. There he sits down and waits for the guru.
The guru on the other hand drowns in the whirlpools."
This story tells that it is the quality of the disciple and his veneration of the guru that helps him to cross the river - not the quality of the guru.
There are thousands of gurus but true disciples there are only one or two, says my Master.
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