Vaishnava Baul's are thousands of years before any of the modern Vaishnava groups coming out of Bengal India.

Vaishnava Baul's are thousands of years before any of the modern Vaishnava groups coming out of Bengal India.

In Bengal Vaishnava Baul's have been around for thousands of years before any of the modern book traditions or Vaishnava reform groups, they are one of the oral traditions of Vaishnava from Bengal India. This one and only lineage of Vaishnava Bauls are the original Hare Krishna singers and dancers from Bengal India.

Bauls are Mysitical wandering spiritual Bards or Minstrels. They are storytellers, poets, philosophers, musicians, dancers, singers. Baul is based on Indian Philosophy and they are masters of that, the Vedas, Upanishads and Tantra, they have created their own Baul Philosophy both dual form and non-dual formless. 

Baul is so simple but so complex and almost impossible to understand. Baul has to be experienced to get a glimpse. They are extinct today as all indigenous cultures of this world the roots are being broken. Baul is always about Sadhana without sadhana there is no Baul, some are more Bhakti poetic and some are Avadhuta meditation Mantra yantra tantra Yogi's. 

This lineage of Vaishnava Baul carry Radha and Krishna in their hearts this is where the rasa lila dance takes place, on the altar of the heart. Bauls are polytheistic in 3 wasys as they also, worship Shiva and Kali / Bramha and Saraswati. 

They worship all Devata are worshiped and are Shakti worshipers as the Feminine Divine hold the upper most importance whether it is Radha or Kali. 

In the village would be a Ratha Yatra Cart sitting beside a Kali Temple. Bauls never talked badly about anybody. 

Nabani Das (Gosia) Baul was a well known wild sadhaka, Nabani is the Baul who inspired Rabindranath Tagore. There were two parts to him he was a Tara/Kali sadhaka at Tara Pith and he was also a Vaishnava Baul, he deleted the Gosai off his name because he didn't want anybody to touch his feet. Nabani said, ‘worship yourself touch your own feet’

Nabani was a deep healer and had invisible help that manifest food for the villagers during mass starvations caused by the British in the 1940’s. He helped thousands of people through his lifetime and was legendary in those days he passed away in late 1969. Nabani is KD Babukishan's beloved Grandfather, Guru Boro Baba.

Vaishnava Baul is very similar to a hummingbird small and delicate souls that accept all, Love all, they sing joyfully twirling and whirling in ecstatic movement humming with a heart full of love. 

They fly about from place to place n a trance like state of great rapture or delight. Their body is their temple, they bring the essence of the divine inside drinking like a Hummingbird drinks the nectar from a flower. 

Baul pulls the nectar inside and distills the essence of the divine into a beautiful honey or Rasa Juice, they play with this divine essence in their bodies and grind the essence into honey of songs for humanity to create love, unity and peace among all of humanity. Humble, Mercy, kindness, devotee of humanity and Vishnu, these are the biggest qualities of Vaishnava Baul. 

Bauls are Pure Bhakti Yogi's now almost extinct like most indigenous people who lived off the land and nature, they are the soul and soil of Bengal, they are not temple builders or book pedalers. Sri Nityananda of Ekkchakra was clearly a Baul as told in the oral tradition. He was also an ancestor of Babukishan's families lineage, Babu was born there he should know not some foreigner. 

The stories have been totally told wrong by new age groups who came after. God/dess is watching just remember they see's everything. You can not own what does not belong to you.. You may enjoy for a while but the truth eventually comes out. This is Kali Yuga the age of backwards..

Baul Temple in Kenduli where the Bauls worship Joydev the sanskrit author of the Gita Govinda on January 14th....Photo by KD Babukishan in the 1980's

Then came Gaudiya Vaishnavism and later the Gaudiya Math with all their British educated Vaishnava reformers who were book people not oral tradition people. Whom I call new age Vaishnavism a "born again group". Bhaktivedanata whose guru rejected Gaudiya Math instructing his devotee's to stay away from Gaudiya Math, but he took all Gaudiya Math information to the west? He said, his God brothers were jealous of him? His God brothers who passed on all their Vaishnava knowledge to him? This is well documented in their files and easily researched.

How would this Guru that came to the west know anything if it were not for Gaudiya Math. Oh by the way he also knew all about this Baul lineage of Vaishnavism and he knew both of Babukishan's grandfathers Nabani Das Baul and Jogesh Dash, there are many stories to tell. When Purna Das Baul and Laxshman Das Baul in 1967 came to the west they did a Baul performance for Bhaktivedanta in New York, so he knew them very well but always spoke badly against his spiritual roots? You can see Purna and Laxshman on the cover of Bob Dylan's, John Westley Hardin's album from that time.

Out of the Gaudiya Math came the new age group yes they are called IskCon and they completely made a mess of what Vaishnavism in Bengal is and destroyed many peoples lives. Vaishavavism was never meant to be something you hit people over the head with (preaching), it was never meant to be about hurting women and children and it most certainly was never meant to be monasitic for the general public.

It is just very sad that they became bullies on the block, cyber bulling anybody that tells the truth. They have probably pulled off one of the biggest ID theft in the history of Bengal, Das and Dasi were always Baul names, yes others had this name but not everybody and especially hardly anybody from Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

To the Vaishnava Bauls the Ektara (the one stringed instrument) signifying LOVE, UNITY and PEACE for all humankind. Ektara is called the Gopi Chand or Gopi Yantra. Thus 'Tantra Mantra Gopi Yantra'. The Bauls were the great spiritual messengers of Bengal going back thousands of years. Bauls sing for love, the true Baul loves, Bhakti Yoga of Bengal, Baul of Bengal go hand on hand.

Can you imagine how it would feel if everybody took your last name and then did not respect that name. Many have given respect but many have committed horrible crimes against women and children while carrying that name Das or Dasi, I have no idea why the Guru of the new age Vaishnavism gave everybody the Baul names? He did not live in a bubble he knew both of Babu's grandfathers and we have many stories to tell of his life before he ever came to the west.

 Babu's aunt Radharani Dasi and her husband Gopal Das Baul, was the first Baul of Bengal to play the dotara he was the son of the head Pujari at the Nityananda Temple in Ekkchakra Bengal India which by the way is where Nabani and Purna Das Baul were born and all their ancestors.

Babu loved Gopal Das Baul he was the best sweet maker and disciple of Sri Nabani Das Khyeppa Baul.The lineage Bauls are direct descendant of Sri Nityananda from Ekchakra Bengal, there is a lineage map showing the direct lineage. They are the original Das and Dasi Gosai of Bengal India, the original Hari Krishna singers and dancers.

Everybody has a right to Vaishnavism and a true Vaishnava never hurts or destroys anybodies faith. To be Vaishnava is to have mercy and to never be pedantic. 

A Vaishnava does not disturb anyone is as in Gaudiya Math's words “A Vaishnava is humbler than a blade of grass’.

 

This one and only Lineage of Baul were sanskrit speaking in the oral tradition of storytelling they have been around for thousands of years. Poets, storytellers, Mystics, Vaishnava Baul originating in Ekachakra Birbhum Bengal. 

Their ancestor was Sri Nityananda from Ekkchakra Bengal India Nita was a Baul he was a Baul Avadhut and from this lineage, if you view all the pictures of Nitai he has white skin, he did not. 

Sri Nabani Das Baul and his son Purna Das Baul, Nabani Das Bauls father was Akur Gosai Das. Nabani Das Baul took the Gosai part of their name off because he didn't think people should touch his feet, he always said touch your own feet honor yourself. 

Bauls do not build temples, or sell books they sing in ecstatic devotion to the divine, they are extinct. Babukishan aka Krishnendu Das preserved his one and only lineage decades ago. What you see today is only Baul singing and the ones who are claiming that they are from a lineage of Baul are lying and cheating because they are not. 

They are following this lineage but taking the names of this legendary lineage and putting on new names, they are dancing and singing Nabani Das Khyapa Baul style, singing our songs and water down and reducing this lineage by their false narrative. Dread Locks (jata) do not make a Baul. 

They say they are Baul singers that is it, tourist attractions, trying to do something but this is cultural appropriation, when one makes things up, as an example, when she says, Baul does not come from family, or Baul are of 4 types or copies the chapter of Purna Baul Das's book and what one will teach or saying they never heard of any Baul that wrote a book, Babu Kishan wrote 3 books now all out of print before you were born, it goes on and one. 

They would say, Baul is from Buddhist the Vaishnava, then Turkey? All the while raising money, fundraising to preserve Baul, which is already recorded and preserved by Babu Kishan?

Oh Ma when does it stop, when will the theft stop??

copyright 2012 Trishula Productions all rights reserved.

Joydev Mela - the cradle of baul history and their biggest gathering - the wandering minstrels themselves seem outnumbered. "The mela has been taken over by kirtanias. Only three out of 10 singers today are bauls.

BabuKishan.org

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/music/news-and-interviews/Know-more-about-Baulmusic/articleshow/11576950.cms

From the Joydev Mela to psychedelic pubs, strains of the dotaraand beats of the dubkiare creating a common refrain. Baulmusic, just like the bauls, is travelling - and how!

Khyapa ke jabi aye, Joydev-er melaye...It's six in the morning and Kenduli presents a template of schizophrenia. It's biting cold, but the holy dip in the Ajay river is in full swing. Thousands are milling about; local villagers rub shoulders with foreigners. And there's the music - maddening and raucous. The kirtanias are at it, drumming on their khols and chanting "Hare Krishna". Loudspeakers blare songs of the soul, promising divine bliss. But at Joydev Mela - the cradle of baul history and their biggest gathering - the wandering minstrels themselves seem outnumbered.

"The mela has been taken over by kirtanias. Only three out of 10 singers today are bauls. Everyone gathers here - devout crowds, drug peddlers, vagrants, pickpockets. It's impossible to sit at Tamaltala now. It's been taken over by outsiders," says Kartik Das Baul, who's travelled the world with baul music and has been coming to the mela for three decades.

We are sipping chai with the singer when talk turns to baul philosophy - their sadhana. Kartik, who calls himself a griha baul, says, "I have to think of my children's future. I can't give up on my family." The times are changing fast for the baul community. The philosopher-poet-singer - epitomized by someone like Nabani Khyapa, the father of the legendary Purna Das Baul - is giving way to the performer.

This has raised questions about the authenticity of many donning the saffron attire. So, who is a true baul, the mystic or the regular performer? And what about baul sadhana, which is based on dehatatva, or the community's secret sexual practises? "You can be an accountant and still be a baul," says sadhak Gourhari Das in his akhra. The idea is to remain focussed on sadhana, while music is "like formula to remember the maths". As he sits there to discuss dehatatva, all his disciples listen in rapt attention. "To unravel the mysteries of man and Nature, you need to devote four hours a day over 12 years. I have heard in the cities men are faced with sexual problems post-40 and thrive on tablets. It can be dealt with easily through sambhog sadhana."

His disciple, Subal Das, says, "I am coming to the mela for 31 years now. I have been singing mahajani pad from even before. But so far, I haven't come out with a single cassette." Subal and others like him spend the year singing songs of the soil. But isn't money a serious concern? "When I am singing, I am not worried about anything else. Yes, if someone likes the performance, he gives money." Subal has sung in Sonajhuri recently, and the show earned him a lot of praise. He is also aware that there's a good market for baul music in Kolkata. "I have my wife and daughter to look after. But even for them I could not cross over to the city." Marriage, did he say? "We do not believe in taking seven rounds of the sacred fire. For us mala-chandan is more than good. It is to make the woman feel that the man is yours."

For someone like Kartik, the Joydev Mela is walking down the memory lane. He recalls how in 1985 he was chosen to fly to the US with a group of artistes from this mela, a turning point in his career. "My throat was choked, but yet I managed to sing the lines, "Bhola monti amar, khyapa monti amar gurur choroney smaran jeno thake". Prabir Guha, whom I call kaku, would give me 5 after every show. But that day he called me aside to ask whether I would like to travel abroad. Before the show, I even performed for Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi."

Before his exposure abroad, Kartik used to sing in trains and buses to eke out a living. Born to a rickshaw puller in Guskara, he first came in close contact with Ananda Das Baul during the 1978 flood. A year later, he was featured in one of the first baul documentaries, "Le Chant des Fous", by Georges Luneau.

Listeners, Kartik says, have grown in numbers but there are more singers than listeners. "There are many who have come down to be part of the fair. But are they keen to get a flavour of baul music? While some have come here to take a bath, others feast their eyes on those taking a bath." But there's no denying that Kolkata has given bauls the muchrequired platform to showcase their talent. "However, I doubt how many good programmes are organized. Also, when a band is singing the same number, who is going to pay us 10,000? Even then, there's more money in the city. For the past three years, I have stopped performing in villages."

It's only after taking part in a channel's programme that has got him known as a performer in his own village. It's something that hasn't stopped paining Kartik. While the bauls he has worked with have often accused him of grabbing the lion's share of payments, outside his village he is often referred to as "baul-er dalal". "Bauls have more ego than other folk artistes across India," he asserts.

In this mad scramble for money, fame and recognition, life has come full circle for the legendary Gour Khyapa. He was once friends with Bob Marley and feted for his singing across the world, but Gour now lives in a small shack in a bamboo grove away from the hullabaloo at the mela. Sitting in his akhra, he asks, "Amader Duranta Express ke?" The answer comes next, "mon". Just singing songs doesn't make one a baul, he feels. "Anyone can buy a flute. But not all can be Hariprasad Chaurasia. Ajkal guru dhore keu sekhena, nijerai guru hoye gechhe." He goes on to sing, "O mono re" - playfully holding up a bottle of rum, something he has named "Rakkhushi".

Sadhan Das Baul, whose Moner Manush akhra is the talking point of the mela, concurs, "Baul gaan is reaching out to the masses, but what about the baul philosophy?"

While it's essential to get into the tatva, equally important is to make sure that baul songs which are passed down from guru to shishya through word of mouth, don't get diluted in the process. New-age baul Goutam Das, son of Sudhir khyapa, who has been to "India's Got Talent" and even performed for Dharmendra, apart from sharing the same stage with Bickram Ghosh, says, "Baul ta baul-er jaygatei rekhechhi. Gaan gai jate duto pet cholte paare..." He adds that there is no room for rearranging baul music or singing it on electronic instruments. "Ami keyboard bajiye baul gaan gaibona."

But does that stop baul music from being commercialized? Nityagopal Das, son of Biswanath Das Baul, who often comes to the city to perform, says, "It wouldn't be fair to just criticize people. After all, we are getting to eat a square meal because people are listening to baul music." Nityagopal, who came to the mela 30 years back for the first time, has seen a time when baul performers got 1 for their music. Now, apart from the money, city life has opened up new vistas for them. Does that mean he too would someday give up singing at rural fairs? "I can sing at Writers' Buildings and also under a tree. I am a baul," he stresses.

Zinia Sen & Deblina Chakravorty

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