Bauls

Who has originated bauls? Please explain.

PEOPLE LIKE BAULS ARE NEVER ORIGINATED. Religions like the Baul religion are more like happenings. Who originated the roses? Who originated the songs that the birds go on singing every morning? No, we never ask that question. It has always been there. Philosophies are originated; you can find the originator. 'Isms', dogmas, creeds are originated. The Baul is not a creed, it is a spontaneous way of life. People have always lived that way. People who have ever lived have always lived that way. People who have ever been alive have been alive in no other way. Whether they were known as Bauls or not is immaterial. The name may have some origin somewhere; I'm not concerned with it. The word simply means 'the madman': madly in love with existence, madly in love with life -- but this madness has always been there. And it is good that a few…

The bauls celebrate their lives in their bodies. Could you say more about this? Americans cherish their bodies with health food, rolfing, massage, etc. But I don't think this is the same as the bauls. Could you please comment?

Money and the neighbors seem to be the only criterion to decide everything: their cars, their houses, their paintings, their decorations. People are having sauna baths in their bathrooms not because they love their bodies, not necessarily, but because it is the 'in' thing -- everybody has it. If you don't have it you look poor. If everybody has a house in the hills, you have to have it. You may not know how to enjoy the hills; you may be simply bored there. Or you may take your t.v. and your radio there and just listen to the same radio you were listening to at home, and watch the same t.v. program as you were watching at home. What difference does it make where you are sitting, the hills or in your own room? But others have it. A four-car garage is needed; others have it. You may not…

Who is a baul? Please tell us the definition.

IT should have been asked in the beginning; now this is going to be last. But in a way, it is good. If in the beginning you had asked about the definition of a Baul, it would have been almost impossible to say anything. Not that now I can define, but at least now I can say it is indefinable. The Baul is not a metaphysics, the Baul is a mystique. I can invite you to participate in that mystery, but definition is not possible. So I am not going to define. Instead, I will tell you a story. Maybe that will give you a definition; but you will have to find it yourself. I have heard.... Once upon a time, an angel came to earth to see man and his world, because he had heard so many stories of man's splendor that he could not resist his curiosity. The…

Question: THE MILK OF THE LIONESS IS SEEN AT ITS BEST WHEN STORED IN A GOLDEN CUP. WORSHIPPING PROSPERS IN A PROPER CONTAINER. THE LOVER WHO WHOLLY LOVES, CAN REACH REALITY, COMPREHENDING THE UNATTAINABLE MAN. THE SECRETS OF DEATH ARE REVEALED TO HIM WHILE HE IS FULLY ALIVE. WHAT DOES HE CARE FOR OTHER SHORES OF LIFE...? The methods of the Bauls are very simple. They say that if you can dance, many blocks will disappear from your being -- because when a person dances and really moves into dance, and becomes movement, then he becomes liquid. Have you not seen it? If you have seen somebody lost in dancing, can't you see it? that he is no longer solid? He is flowing. The solidity is gone; he has become liquid. This liquidity melts the blocks. So dancing is the Yoga of the Baul; he dances for hours together.