20DEC12: Mac Haque Dear Ranojit thanks for your message and inputs. I am certainly open to questions - but the confines of space in Facebook will make it unreasonable for a 'public debate' as most of your points will have been, or have been answered in my book due early next year. I do not claim what I say is the 'last word' on Bauliana, Nevertheless to your points :
1. I do not see any vast difference in interpretation of the epigram that you have quoted and I have mentioned. Yours is a rather scholarly interpretation while mine may best be called a 'lay mans'.
2. I have believed it is very easy to be complicated and hard to be simple and I have taken a simplistic approach for easier understanding of the curious who may or may not be informed of the 21 plus meanings of the word Sharia. The zaheri and bateni aspects of Sharia again is mind boggling and there cannot ever be an 'all encompassing one glove fits all' description.
To Lalon Shaiji's pod/kalaam:
ইসলাম কায়েম হয় যদি শরায়/কি জন্য নবিজি রহে পনেরে বছর হীরা গুহায়
Islam kayem hoi jodi shorai, ki jonyo nobiji rohey ponero bochor Heera guhai
If Islam was formed on the basis of Sharia,why then did the Prophet spend fifteen years in the cave of Mount Heera
পঞ্চবেনায় শরা জারি/মৌলভীদের তম্বি ভারী
ponchobenai shora jari/moulovi der tombhi bhari
on five Pillars the Sharia was imposed,and Moulavi’s scream this in arrogance
নবিজি কি সাধন করি নবুয়তি পায়/
Nobiji ki shadon kori nobuyoti pai
What penance did the messenger profess before he became a Prophet?
না করিলে নামাজ রোজা/হাসরে হয় যদি সাজা
na koriley namaaz roza/Hashore e hoy jodi shaja
If I do not say my prayers or fast/and consequently punished at Hashr
চল্লিশ বছর নামাজ কাজা করেছেন রসুল দয়াময়
chollish bochor namaz kaja korechen rasul doyamoy
Missed his prayers for forty years my compassionate Prophet
কায়েম উদ দ্বীন হবে কিসে/অহর্নিশি ভাবছি বসে
kayem ud deen hobey kisey/ ohonishi bhachi boshey
How would you be the great implementer of faith/I think about it night and day
দায়েমী নামাজের দিশে লালন জানায়
dayemi namajer dishey Lalon Janai
in continuous prayers, Lalon informs
If Makkah was/is the physical representation of Sharia - then the Caves of Heera was where Ma'arifa evolved. The 'simplistic' 4 stations that is popularly used to describe Tasawwuf - i.e Shariat, Hakikat, Tarikat and Marifat (Ma'arifa) and the super Ma'arifa - Wil'ayet ...therefore gets boiled down to the egg or chicken - and what came first debate The 'ponchobena' or five pillars likewise, also have been challenged by Fakir specifically in the order they are presented by the orthodoxy. More in the book.
3. On deho tottyo again no last word here, as there are no last words on physiology or anatomy if you we are going to branch them within the new domains of contemplative science, or yet unexplained phenomenon of para-psychology/spirituality - and what you say is very true. There are more detailed explanation on the same in the book.
4. There is a vast difference between the word Nobi and Rasool and the various pod/kalaam are available in the public domain under their distinct categorization in Bangladesh.
jOI gURU Alek sHAI /\
20DEC12: Ranojit Dasgupta · Friends with Aditya Kabir
Mac Bhai, Joy Guru. Since you are open to questions and debates as you've told my friend Aditya Kabir , I too would like to point out a few things: the epigram you quoted যাহা কিছু আছে ভ্রম্মে তাই আছে এই ব্রহ্মান্ডে would actually be 'যাহা কিছু ব্রহ্মাণ্ডে তাহা আছে দেহভাণ্ডে।' বর্তমান কথা! This human 'body' is a blueprint (নকশা) of the cosmos. Also your observations on the bauls' interpretation of the 'Sharia' is too simplistic. In Lalon's words 'আগে শরিয়ত জানরে মন বুদ্ধি শান্ত করে'. Only their interpretation of the Sharia is very different from the orthodoxy. But as they always reiterate শরিয়ত আগে হাসিল না হলে মারিফত কখনই হাসিল করা যাবে না or to quote Lalon again 'আইল ড্যাঙ্গায়ে ঘাস খাবা?' সেইটা না-মুমকিন! Also, apart from 8 'kuthuri's and 9 doroja's in this body their are 18 "mokams" and 24-1/2 'chandra's or 'tattva'-s, which you haven't mentioned. I have heard a different rendition to the Lalongeeti you have mentioned "ভজো মানুষের চরণদু'টি/নিত্যবস্তু পাবে খাঁটি"। সহজ মানুষ-টিকে ধরলে, তার ভজনা করলেই, একমাত্র তার থেকে 'গুরুবস্তু' পাওয়া যাবে, অন্যথা নয়। 'নিত্যবস্তু হবে খাঁটি' কথাটা vague, অনুমান। Finally, your informal categorization of Lalongeeti also seems a bit questionable to me। নবীতত্ত্ব আর রাসুলতত্ত্বে পার্থক্য কোথায়? দয়া করে পদের নমুনা দিয়ে বুঝিয়ে দেবেন? They can be broadly categorized into দৈন্য, রাগদৈন্য আর শিক্ষা। স্থূল-প্রবর্ত-সাধক-সিদ্ধ দশাগুলির ভাগ ঠিকই আছে, কিন্তু বাউল-ফকির সাধুগুরু-রা বলেন একই পদ ভিন্ন ভিন্ন দশায় ভিন্ন ভিন্ন অর্থ বহন করে আনে। তাই একটা পদের সম্পূর্ণ অর্থ ভেদ করতে ১২ বছর কেটে যায়! হক্ মুর্শিদ!!
19DEC12: Mac Haque Aditya interesting questions
1. Bauls are not a sect/cult or even a community. Best one may say - it is a loose fraternity. As far as I am concerned there is a Baul in each human crying to break free. Its only when you hear the cry, respond to the stimuli and work on it for liberation of your Soul, is the time when the Baul within you is awakened. Since Bauliana is not even an institution - there is nobody on earth who can certify who a Baul is - or isn't. Yes, for those interested and are willing to go under the full time tutelage of a Guru, there are induction rites - if not rituals and may vary with each and every Guru in question.
2. Very badly I am afraid, for Bauls have always challenged the prevailing status quo notions of 'belief' that has genetically infected us for hundreds of years. It is the radicals interpretation of 'holy text' and rituals that Bauls have put a spoke into for centuries, which has earned them the ire on the one hand of the bigoted, and at the same time endeared them to mass of our thinking populace. Since 1995 - there has been an worldwide explosion of curiosity about Bauls and their belief system.
3. This is a tricky question and I have addressed them in details in my book. Essentially the popular social construct of Bauls would most unfortunately imply as they being a people who live a 'mystical,spiritual' life - revolving in some 7th Heaven close to God. That is completely untrue, for they have always lived within our society, and from taken their positions of strength and overall acceptance have done a yeomen service by dispelling prevailing notions about life and living as we know it or are possibly attuned to. They are not to be even considered 'aliens' as some uninformed urban constructs would seem to infer on them
4. In the Lalonist school of thought his verse/pod or kalaam are informally bunched in the following 12 'curriculum' for understanding, contemplation and appreciation. They are :
Tri-Tottyobad (1.Noor Tottyo, 2. Rasool Tottyo, 3 Nabi Tottyo .)
Pancha Leela (4.Krishna Leela, 5. Goushtho Leela, 6. Nimai Leela, 7.Gouro Leela, 8.Nitai Leela)
and Chotur Desh (9. Shtulo Desh, 10.Proborto Desh, 11. Shadhok Desh and 12.Siidhi Desh)
Thanks for your kind interest. jOI gURU /\
19DEC12: Aditya Kabir a few questions:
1. how can someone become a baul? is there any induction ritual?
2. how do orthodox religions perceive bauls?
3. is there a true bauliana or are all mystic singers of bengal essentially bauls?
4. is there any system/method/structure to baul parampara?
p.s. Osho-r ekta boi paisi on bauls - "the beloved". a beautiful book that mostly agrees to your narration.
18DEC12: Mac Haque Syed Safiullah Sir, am extremely delighted with your kind comments. Indeed I personally feel Bauliana philosophy is the only available option we have out of the socio-political quagmire that we have been most unfortunately been subject to in recent times. The rest of the book is coming on in a torturously slow yet positive manner. I hope this proves useful to many in the days ahead. Your book serves as an invaluable reference material for my research. Kind regards.
18DEC12: Syed Safiullah Mac,you rightly deserve appreciation for explaining the baul philosophy in detail.i have tried to do the same from a scientist's point of view in the preface of my book"from the begging bag of the baul".in these turbulent times baul thought may make a critical contribution to conflict resolution.
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