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
