Vaishnava Baul is most importantly about Love and Respect... preserving an ancient oral living lineage.
http://bhavaproject.weebly.com/
Baul is a Guru tradition a sanskrit tradition.
The songs were later sung in Bengali to keep it simple for the people who did not know Sanskrit (ie) similar to Tulsi Das who composed in a common language so that villagers who did not speak Sanskrit could understand what he was composing)..
Nabani Das (Gosai) Khyappa Baul was a major reformer a oral lineage of Sanskrit-ists he was a poet as were most in this lineage of Vaishnava Baul, Poets and Philosophers of Hinduism, Buddhism, Tantra and Sufi.
When one is learning or singing a Baul it is important part of the Guru relationship that one learns who wrote the poetry, where did the poetry come from, everything comes from somewhere. A authentic Baul will know all the details.
Did Lalon Fakir write the poem or did Nabani Das Khyappa Baul who was a prolific poet and most Bauls are singing his songs and his tunes without even mentioning it or perhaps they do not know. Or most Bauls are singing Lalon Fakir songs with tunes that have been composed by Babukishan, also many Baul tunes from this lineage have been composed by Babukishan and were recorded many decades ago through this lineage by Babukishan.
Some are even written by Babukishan because he is a prolific poet in Bengal from age 9, the only reason I bring this up is because we are trying to preserve the Baul songs and it does not help when other new Baul singers, sing the songs making up lineages but the songs they are singing are from this lineage.
A real Baul Guru should educate the disciple in who wrote the songs or poems and the disciple should state this when posting on the internet... Guru disciple relationship is very important Baul and so is respect.
Baul songs are not folk songs they are spiritual sadhana songs, and all Bauls should know who wrote them and give credit and respect to the poets because the world has changed and survival of everything is that much more important, Bauls are almost extinct. You can tell who is a real Baul and who is just a new Baul singer by the respect and knowledge they have about who wrote the Baul songs.
Correct that Bauls do not like rules and regulations, however there are certain tenants that go without question and that is "Love and RESPECT""..... that includes respect for the ones that walked before..
One may ask why would I be going on about this??
1) we are preserving this lineage which is not an easy thing to do, we do not want to have to copyright this lineages "Poetry" songs they are for all to sing. However, the songs will be copyrighted, because more and more modern Baul singers are calling these songs and tunes their own repertoire when in fact they are from this lineage, there is no respect in that. It is important that one does not distort or water down or create more reductionism it destroys this beautiful ancient lineage.
2) people are making up lineages but singing only songs from this lineage songs written by Nabani Das Baul and other ancestors of this lineage ... so if one is singing songs from this lineage songs written by Nabani Das Baul then it only makes sense that they come out of this lineage not a made up lineage, again RESPECT and if you do not know where the song originates please do not claim it as your own... and make up lineages ....
Baul is about sadhana, it is about RESPECT and LOVE... Jai GURU JAI NITAI
http://bhavaproject.weebly.com/
Baul is a Guru tradition a sanskrit tradition.
The songs were later sung in Bengali to keep it simple for the people who did not know Sanskrit (ie) similar to Tulsi Das who composed in a common language so that villagers who did not speak Sanskrit could understand what he was composing)..
Nabani Das (Gosai) Khyappa Baul was a major reformer a oral lineage of Sanskrit-ists he was a poet as were most in this lineage of Vaishnava Baul, Poets and Philosophers of Hinduism, Buddhism, Tantra and Sufi.
When one is learning or singing a Baul it is important part of the Guru relationship that one learns who wrote the poetry, where did the poetry come from, everything comes from somewhere. A authentic Baul will know all the details.
Did Lalon Fakir write the poem or did Nabani Das Khyappa Baul who was a prolific poet and most Bauls are singing his songs and his tunes without even mentioning it or perhaps they do not know. Or most Bauls are singing Lalon Fakir songs with tunes that have been composed by Babukishan, also many Baul tunes from this lineage have been composed by Babukishan and were recorded many decades ago through this lineage by Babukishan.
Some are even written by Babukishan because he is a prolific poet in Bengal from age 9, the only reason I bring this up is because we are trying to preserve the Baul songs and it does not help when other new Baul singers, sing the songs making up lineages but the songs they are singing are from this lineage.
A real Baul Guru should educate the disciple in who wrote the songs or poems and the disciple should state this when posting on the internet... Guru disciple relationship is very important Baul and so is respect.
Baul songs are not folk songs they are spiritual sadhana songs, and all Bauls should know who wrote them and give credit and respect to the poets because the world has changed and survival of everything is that much more important, Bauls are almost extinct. You can tell who is a real Baul and who is just a new Baul singer by the respect and knowledge they have about who wrote the Baul songs.
Correct that Bauls do not like rules and regulations, however there are certain tenants that go without question and that is "Love and RESPECT""..... that includes respect for the ones that walked before..
One may ask why would I be going on about this??
1) we are preserving this lineage which is not an easy thing to do, we do not want to have to copyright this lineages "Poetry" songs they are for all to sing. However, the songs will be copyrighted, because more and more modern Baul singers are calling these songs and tunes their own repertoire when in fact they are from this lineage, there is no respect in that. It is important that one does not distort or water down or create more reductionism it destroys this beautiful ancient lineage.
2) people are making up lineages but singing only songs from this lineage songs written by Nabani Das Baul and other ancestors of this lineage ... so if one is singing songs from this lineage songs written by Nabani Das Baul then it only makes sense that they come out of this lineage not a made up lineage, again RESPECT and if you do not know where the song originates please do not claim it as your own... and make up lineages ....
Baul is about sadhana, it is about RESPECT and LOVE... Jai GURU JAI NITAI