[Reader-list] song of the baul part V

[Averee Chaurey]

The Song of the Baul: Part V

Friends, as I sit down to write the script of my play, I realise that I am 
going deeper and deeper into the lives of these wandering minstrels.

For a Baul/Baulani, ‘Nishkam Sadhana’, or removal of passion is very 
essential. To regulate one’s own inner intents, self-discipline and will 
power is a must to be exercised. According to them, “ Where lust dwells, 
love is not attained”. This reminds me of a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, who 
spun the same thought round many of his poems.

“Not for me is the love that knows no restraint, but like the foaming wine 
that having burst its vessel in a moment would run to waste.
Send me the love, which is cool and pure like your rain that blesses the 
thirsty earth and fills the homely earthen jars.
Send me the love that would soak down into the centre of being,
And from there would spread like the unseen sap through the branching tree 
of life, giving birth to fruits and flowers.
Send me the love, that keeps the heart still with the fullness of peace” 
(Geetanjali)

The Bauls often differentiate between Kam (desire) and Prem (love). Love 
(Prem) for a Baul implies retention of semenand therefore no procreation. 
For an ordinary human being desire (Kam) is associated with continuity (of 
the lineage). Accordingly, ‘While the love which is Kam (desire) leads to 
separation, the love which is Prem binds’. (“Kamer priti hay chirachiri, 
premer priti hay jorajori).

Desire for the Baul means separating one from oneself, splitting off and 
creating children. There is also the notion of a lack of unity and intimacy 
with one’s partner. ‘Love (Prem) does not disrupt the self (Atma), it unites 
the male and female who separate.’

Having children for a staunch Baul is a mistake. According to Sanatan Baul, 
‘due to a fundamental mistake I had children and spend time other than in 
joy’ (anand)’.

The chapter on ‘Women’ or ‘Nari’ by Satis ( a handwritten text) contains a 
host of rebuttals: “ woman is the creator of all. Without her and if used 
her, nothing would exist. Because of man’s lust she suffers the pain and 
dangers of childbirth. Sometimes he even abandons her when she is pregnant. 
She takes enormous trouble to rear her child, feeding and cleaning him. That 
very son whom she tended with such loving care grows up and proclaims-‘woman 
is the gateway to hell’. Men wrote the scriptures opportunistically which is 
why men have all the freedom and women all the bondage. They dominate women 
and make them subordinate. If women had written the scriptures, they would 
similarly have framed the rules for their own convenience. (Translated by 
Jean Openshaw in her book, ‘Seeking the Bauls of Bengal’).

‘Women are not tigresses but giver of joy’. These lines and other references 
show that women have been held in high esteem in Baul philosophy are found 
in ‘The History of Bengali Literature’ by Asit Kumar Bandyopadhyay. Large 
number of old manuscripts, especially in the signature of the songs, both 
Baul and Baulani existed, which definitely shows that men and women worked 
at par. Raj-Rajeshwari, Yadu-Bindu (composer Yadav and his partner Bindu) to 
name a few.

The present generation of Bauls does not use the name of the Baulani along 
with theirs. But of course woman is ‘shakti’ power for them. They worship 
women in the form of ‘Madhurya Bhav’ (as a lover), unlike Ramkrishna 
Paramhansa who worshipped in the state of ‘Vatsalya’ (reversion to 
childhood). Here we should not misunderstand a Baul. His worship does not 
express lust (Kam) but love (Prem).

A Baulani does not have a caste. ‘I am a woman. And woman has no jat. Only 
men have jat’.

It is interesting to note in most of the Bhakti poetry, which includes Baul 
songs, somewhere Sufi poetry too merges. The longing of the devotee for a 
total identity with god. This mysticism of identity gave rise to an image of 
total union between the lover and the beloved.

‘Where lust dwells love is not attained’. This philosophy bears a universal 
appeal. This is when one ponders why there is so much of hatred and 
bloodshed all around. Can’t a Baul or a Sufi saint spread this message 
around through their music? I always feel music reaches the heart quicker 
than any other form of message.

But when Sanatan Baul says that he made a mistake by having children this 
makes me think. Children are a source of love and if the Baul philosophy is 
love then why not have children. Can’t they attain their goal then? Is the 
Baul not interested to further their community? I do not have an answer.
Are children only born out of lust? Isn’t love a part of it?

A woman is held in high esteem in the Baul community, yet the woman yearns 
within herself to hear the word ‘mother’ from her child. Are women only 
companions to see that the Baul reaches his ultimate goal and therefore has 
to give up her own wishes? I get a strange feeling that the Baul philosophy 
is male centred. But when I talk to them I do not sense that. There may be 
something deeper, which I cannot fathom.

Averee Chaurey