Carriers of Popular Indian Culture
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in the Indus Valley Civilization indicate the existence of similar sects even prior
to that. It is, therefore, quite possible that sects similar to the Bauls have existed
all along the history of the soil by different names.
Lokayata, Jain, and Buddhist traditions developed between 600 and 500
B.C. and Bhakti and Sufi movements spread all over India between the twelfth
and seventeenth centuries. These new religious traditions denied authority of the
scriptures, ignored orthodox practices of Hinduism and Islam, and changed the
meaning and content of religion. Religion became a common phenomenon and
came within an easy grasp of the lower castes and marginal groups. Many sects
similar to the Bauls emerged that emphasized direct communion with God
within the human heart without interference from Brahmins and Mullahs. Those
sects also emphasized that all mysteries of the world were located within the
human body and needed to be identified and searched there. The leaders of the
new sects were common people from lower rungs of the society who had
attained self-realization and were closer to the Supreme.18
The above developments impacted the Bauls and yet they were able to
retain their particular beliefs and practices. Today one sees in the Baul tradition
glimpses of the earlier tantric, yogic, mystic, and bhakti practices as well as their
own beliefs and practices. The following seven factors should be kept in view
while understanding the Baul tradition today: 1) the existence of tantric, yogic,
mystical, and bhakti practices prior and during the Vedic times and their
permeation into all other religious traditions; 2) the emergence of Lokayata,
Jain, and Buddhist philosophies and practices between 600 and 500 B.C. and
their manifold interaction with the Vedic philosophy and practices; 3) the spread
of Bhakti and Sufi movements throughout India between the twelfth and
seventeenth centuries and changes that occurred in the meaning and content of
religion; 4) the presence of potent folk culture in India throughout its history and
its influence on mainstream religious traditions; 5) the loosening of some caste
restrictions in the Middle Ages under the influence of Bhakti and Sufi
movements, 6) the popularity of the “Mother Goddess” concept all over India,
and 7) the urban and western influences on the Indian culture since the
eighteenth century onward and developing new emphases on secularism,
materialism, formal education, achievement orientation, urbanity, and other
western beliefs and practices.
The Sadhana
The Bauls continue to have considerable flexibility in their beliefs and
practices. Two major components of their sadhana (spiritual effort) are: 1) their
emotionally charged devotional songs and dancing that they offer to the moner
mamish situated within the human heart, and 2) the tantric rites they practice to
unite female and male universal forces within the human body (shakti and shiva)
back to their primordial mode of motionless non-duality.
The devotional songs of the Bauls are sincere, sensitive, and melodious.
A couple of examples are:19