www.babukisha.org (copyright 2018 -2030)

www.babukisha.org (copyright 2018 -2030)
WWW.BABUKISHAN.ORG Copyright, All Rights Reserved, Do not copy these stories or part of these stories, for your books or blogs, All Rights Reserved. 2010 -2030

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Baul Akhara

BabuKishan.org

https://indiafolkheritageofbengal.weebly.com

Copyright, no poaching!

Baul Akhara is a secret place that the initiated Baul adepts used to meet at in the evenings to discuss their songs and Kirtan's in the languages of Sandhya Bhasa, Sanskrit discussing their poetry and  ways of converting the poems into simple vernacular Birbhum Bengali so that the villagers would be able to understand. It was not a place for visitors or spiritual seekers. Each word was loaded full of many meanings and stories.

The Baul Akhara's are secret esoteric places only for the initiated. Bauls did not want other people around them. The had Mahastavas for other people to all be together cook and eat together.

Akhara's are not open to the public, they were private places. An Akhara it is not a place of business, donations, fundraising or for people who are just interested in Baul, they can go to an ashram, akhara's are completely different. 

An Akhara it is not a gathering place, except for those initiated by a particular Baul Guru who is alive and present. 

There are no Baul Akhara's left, there may be Ashrams, but not Akhara's, but then again Bauls never had ashrams either.

An excerpt from our new book to be released this year. 

"The Baul Guru would explain the words and discourses, they would use Vaishnava related Sanskrit words and Sandhya Bhasa language to translate into simple Birbhum Bengali so that people of the villages would understand.

Baul Akhara's are completely private, not for any profit, no collection of people or donations was included anywhere near the akhara's. Baul never collected people, devotee's or students. 


Akhara's were not meant for the collection of students or random or spiritual tourists. 


Akhara is not a business, not for donation, not for outsiders. 


The Akhara contains large amounts of shakti energy, regular people can not even digest this shakti, that is why the people of the Akhara kept themselves separate and secret. Bauls went to others in the villages to teach, they were the spiritual newspaper before newspapers and other media sources.


Bauls create an akhara as a pithastan (a place for the particular Baul family) a shakti peeth (a place of power or shakti). Nabani Das Khyapa Baul created many Akhara's then gave the places of shakti to build hospitals or schools, so that humanity can thrive in a good energy. He never kept them or used them as ashrams, he never collected money from people by donation or otherwise. 


The shakti (powerful energy) Nabani would create was so intense that those in the Akhara would have to leave and move to another place, where Nabani would create that energy again and again before moving on again, he kept on the move, he gave his akhara's away for the benefit of humanity. 


Through Baul songs, fire puja and mantra he created a huge shakti (power) lived at the Akhara for a while, gave away the akhara for others to create what society needed and helped humanity. Nabani did not keep anything for himself. He fed people, did what he could with no reward.


At an ashram anybody can come, attend to learn or have darshan (paying respect), however, the Akhara does not include new comers, it is only for adept of the Akhara. 


First one has to know the languages and the songs (who the poets are) and the deep discourses and deep meanings of each word. Baul is not a beginners path. Akhara is not a beginners place. 


Ashram can be in the business of teaching for money or donations, a place of beginning teachings. Akhara is not for any type of business, it is secret not for spiritual tourists.


Akhara is not the place of teaching, it is the place of those who already know the teachings to discuss and debate, a review for the day ahead mostly in the evenings after a day of teaching as Baul Guru's around the villages. a


Today this is extinct, people take pictures and hope someone will come next year through internet advertising, this is not the way of Baul, that would be an ashram not an akhara? They say come and join us?


Today there is no need for any Akhara’s because Baul is extinct, no one can even handle the authentic Baul, the authentic Baul is way beyond. There is no one who knows the language, they do not know the words or have the mystical ability, it is all copy and paste of listen to the songs of this lineage, previously recorded, take their names off and say Baul does not care who the poets are? Watering down and reductionism to fundraise for their own lives?


It is insidious but it appears in this 'post truth era' people love fake and love fake fame. Today it is just copy and paste as we have seen many of the stories and words are copied from our writings and names taken off and slyly copied onto other web sites and used in documentaries.


I guess they think we do not notice, it has become a comedy show who can act the most authentic? 


The Bauls of today learn from books, from previously recorded albums, from youtube even if they go out of their way to say they don’t, it is a fact all copy and paste. They learn from the internet, mostly reading Babu Kishan’s work which they name drop and change using queue words, by scouring our web pages?


Copyright 2023 Do not copy, name drop, take names off, do not tell these stories, no poaching. No reworking, taking bits and pieces and using anything from this blog or this post.


All rights reserved by Babu Kishan






Monday, February 6, 2023

Baul History

 Baul history with Indian Cinema!

Babu Kishan is the the first Baul to have a tangible long time history with Indian Cinema on all levels.

Some have sung a line or two in a film and make a big deal about it.

Babu Kishan aka Krishnendu Das is the only Baul who has had a history in Indian Music.

He created Baul Fusion since the early 1970's long before, decades before any Baul Singer can even get close too. 

BabuKishan.org

One Story:

Babu Kishan has been one of the very few who have been in Lata Manghaskars Music room and of course he was a monk in the Ramakrishna order in Calcutta for 12 years. Notice that Lata has a huge photo of Vevekananda and a smaller one of Ramakrishna above her altar.

Babu Kishan has also, recorded and composed music for Lata, her sisters Usha and Asha Bhosle who was married to RD Burman.

RD Burman was Babu Kishan's Indian Cinema Music Guru for over 12 years.

Notice the Gopi Yantra aka Baul Ektara in the corner of Lata's music room against the wall. Gopi Yantra comes only from this one and only lineage.

Lata did not allow just anybody into her music room, you may have been in house, but very few were allowed in her music room.

Monday, January 2, 2023

A Tribute to one of Babu Kishan's Sanskrit teachers, Dr Roma Chaudhary!

BabuKishan.org

https://indiafolkheritageofbengal.weebly.com

Babu Kishan aka Krishnendu Das Baul learned oral Sanskrit from his grandparents Nabani Das Khyapa Baul and Brajabala Dasi the last living Bauls on this earth.

He learned Classical Sanskrit reading and writing, manuscripts at the Ramakrishna Mission outside of Calcutta, he spent 12 years total at the Ramakrishna Mission living in the hostel as a Monk.

With a BA in Indian Philosophy and a Masters degree in Indian Music and studied Classical Sanskrit at University of Calcutta. Sanskrit has been a passion all of his life. He has told me stories of when the other Vaishnava would visit his Nabani Das Khyapa Baul and Brajabala Dasi that they would spend hours going over Sanskrit words, telling stories. Not only was his lineage Sanskrit but his Grandmother Brajabala was from the great Vaishnava Sanskrit poet Narottama Das lineage. In particular he remembers his grandmothers relative Hari Das whom he said was huge.

Nabani also, associated with many highly educated souls like Dr. Kaligoti who was the PHD in Bengal regarding Ayurveda, they would spend all their time together talking about indigenous Ayurveda, herbs and alchemy. 
Dr. Kali Goti is the Ayurvedic Doctor who saved Babu life because he was born premature with crooked limbs. Dr Kali Goti being one of Nabani's close friends was always there to help. It is sad that many of these people are long forgotten, they were Masters.

He went on to study deeper meanings of Sanskrit and the stories behind the words with many advanced Indian scholars including Dr. Roma Chaudhary.

Dr Roma Chaudhary 


The First indian Women to obtain a PHD from Oxford University in England.


Babu Kishan always invited Dr. Roma Chaudhary and studied with her for years at her huge home that had wall to wall books.. He would visit her often at her home, his descriptions of that home were incredible. More personal stories to come in his book,  


Dr. Roma Chaudhary was very dear to Babu, he was like the son she never had. She did not have any children and spent her life after her husband passed away living in a huge house by herself. They both had a deep passion for Sanskrit.


Babu wants her remembered because today, there is very little about this incredible woman, while many Sanskritist men are remembered such as Gopi Nath Kaviraj who Babu Kishan knew well.


She was a Sanskritist and Principal and head of Philosophy at Lady Brabourne College for 30 years, she was Vice-Chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University in Calcutta and the Founder Secretary of Prachyavani and Institute of Oriental Learning.


DR. Chaudhary is the first Indian woman to obtain a PHD from Oxford University.


These photos are not very clear because they are old photos' both pictures are taken by Babu Kishan in Calcutta.


Baul is an Oral Sanskrit Lineage, they sang in vernacular Birbhum Bengali singing for the villagers. Just as Tulsi Das wrote the Hanuman Chalisa in the language of the villagers to keep it easy and understandable.

Most writers and scholars or modern Baul singers do not understand that the designation from Unesco in 2005:

"A Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity." 


Baul is Sanskrit and vernacular Birbhum Bengali both songs and Baul Kirtan. Baul is not Urdu or Bangladeshi vernacular Bengali, and only one with a trained ear can tell the difference.


Baul is not from Persia, Urdu or Bangladeshi or Assama or nor is Baul their folk songs, Baul is not Bangladeshi water folk songs or any of these vernacular sounding languages?

 Baul is not Muslim which Sai, Shah, Fakir Dervish are. Baul accepted all. Bangladesh cheated the Bangladeshi official wrote a long dissertation saying Baul is a Persian name, come from Persia and most of the Bauls are in Bangladesh. This Bangladeshi official lied and collected 9 million or more funding for himself, to preserve Baul and disappeared, now everybody is going for the same jackpot, using Baul including others who know nothing about Baul and are trying to make more fake wrong documentaries about Baul.

False narrative, this Bangladeshi United Nations official pulled a fast one, using Baul for his own personal jackpot, and disappeared. Baul is not a bunch of men sitting around smoking ganja, come on there is more to Baul than that, today ganja (pot) is legal and every Grandma is using it for pain relief, it is not cool anymore. Baul is not Tantric sex either, many used this to attract people? 

Bauls are not deviant, they were the highest in everything, now extinct they attract everybody who has no where to call and they are self titled Baul without authentic Baul Guru's that is why Baul is extinct, they only sing songs, copy the songs, dress and everywhere this lineage goes but they have not put in the work to become a Baul through Sadhana.

This lineage is the only Lineage of Baul, they are the pioneers of bringing Baul to India and the world, once they popularized Baul all the cheaters and looters including scholars and fake Bauls came out of the wood work to create their career singing Bangladeshi Folk songs and Bengali folk songs. Baul is not folk music it is spiritual music.