Men of Heart

One of a small Bengali religious sect known as the Bauls, found in Bangladesh and India's West Bengal, Baul Muhammad Islam Shah travels down the Padma River in Bangladesh - with nothing but his instrument, a knapsack and an umbrella. Satyananda Das Baul dances ecstatically in Calcutta. The word Baul derives from the Sanskrit term Vatula - meaning insane. Living in a land dominated by Hinduism and Islam, Bauls reject all religious orthodoxy and worship the human being. Baul Azmal Biswas Shah sings at a gathering of Bauls in Faridpur, Bangladesh. Bauls have neither temples nor priests, nor rituals, nor any scriptures or holy books. Their songs are their prayers and the repository of all their philosophy. The Bauls and their philosophy are deeply rooted in the Bengali countryside - a place dominated at various time by orthodox Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, and also influenced strongly by mystical currents such as Sufism, the Tantra and the Sahaj. Although the Baul rejects all these paths as misguided, each has has left an imprint on his spiritual vision. Blind Baul Kanai Das sings to the sound of his ektara. For the Baul, the human body is God's abode and his temple. Satyananda Das Baul sings in the village of Kenduli in West Bengal. The Bauls hold that God is present within every person, and one must search for him within one's own heart. A village woman listens to Bauls sing in the village of Lohagarh, West Bengal. Tun Tun - a Bangladeshi Baul - in Calcutta. Though today some people appreciate Baul music as art, it was not conceived with aestetics is mind but rather as a means of teaching and imparting knowledge and as a tool to aid the Baul in his quest for the Absolute. Peasants in the village of Lohagarh in West Bengal. With their roots in the Bengali village, the Bauls' message is often expressed in simple language, and using village metaphors understandable to the peasant. Satyananda Das Baul at Kenduli in West Bengal. The Baul's goal is knowledge - not merely faith or belief. The Baul seeks direct mystical experience of the Absolute, of God, which can be found only within. Rural Bengal. Debdas Baul smoking ganja. Most Bauls use intoxicants, usually marijuana and sometimes also hashish as an aid to attain the mystical knowledge they seek. Bauls at a village festival in Pathacharpuri, West Bengal. In the past Bauls lived on the alms they received singing in villages. However, today the alms system has broken down, and most Bauls sustain themselves by singing at village fairs and festivals. Some also perform at concerts and make recordings. In West Bengal some bauls also earn money busking on trains. Here two Bauls sing, while an elderly man begs for alms. Using the metaphor of the village, Bauls sing of self-cultivation as the way to realize the divine that exists within every human being. Khaiber Fakir - a Baul from West Bengal. Alchemy is another metaphor employed by the Bauls to convey the idea that the way to God is through the refinement of oneself, of one's own heart, to transform it from something impure into pure gold. Bauls often refer to God as "The Man of the Heart." - stressing that the divine is inside us all and can be sought only within through self-knowledge, refinement, and self-cultivation.