Nabani Das Baul 1954 Suri Birbhum W Bengal

This photo is to all those who think Baul is simple and it is not about YOGA.. Nabani Das Khyeppa Baul was a Master of Yoga & Tantra as he was an adept and Avadhuta @ Tarapith which today is totally a change place....photo taken by Richard Lannoy in 1954... in Suri Birbhum Bengal. Nabani Das was the Baul inspired Rabindranath Targore and whom Tagore Named Kheppa and Nabani named Tagore Ravi Baul ..

 Nabani Das Khyeppa Baul.. the Baul who was best friends and inspired Rabindranath Tagore to Baul.... Tagore gave Nabani the name Khyeppa & Mirror of the Sky... Nabani called Tagore Ravi Baul

Photo by British Photographer Richard Lannoy 1954 Suri Birbhum W Bengal

First Baul Concert at Council Hall Switzerland 80's

First Baul Concert at Council Hall Switzerland 80's
First Baul Concert at Council Hall Switzerland 80's

Babukishan Das baul, Karima Sengupta, Mother Manju Das Baul & Father Baul Samrat Purna Chandra Das

Old Photo's of Baul Saint Nabani Das Khyeppa Baul, the Baul that inspired Rabindranath Tagore.

This photo was taken by Rabindranath Tagore, Nabani Das Khyeppa Baul was probably one of the last real Bauls to walk on earth... Being a Baul back then was a very difficul t life in Bengal, if anybody thinks it is difficult today, back in Nabani's time it was super difficult. 

Even in the last 50 years during Babukishan time he was telling how difficult to educate people about Baul back in the 1960's to now... they traveled and made arrangements all over the globe by mail.. If not for Purna Das Baul his father nobody would know what or who a Baul is because it was him who traveled and sang for the past almost 80 years. It is easy to sit on the side line and criticize who is Baul and what has happened to the Baul of Bengal but remember if you can do something instead of talking and criticizing it would be most appreciated.

There are very few people today who understand what and who the Bauls are. I often get oh the Bauls do not speak sanskrit.. that is completely wrong they did speak Sanskrit and were the biggest Sanskrit Scholars in the Oral Tradition the young generation and when I say young I mean the people who have only observed the Bauls for the past 30 or 40 years do not know who the Bauls are because the ones that have come after this time period do not speak Sanskrit, most do not even know who wrote what song or the discourses behind the songs, Baul is really being sold as something it was never meant to be.. Sad but True and all Ok this is the way of the world.

Nabani Das Khyeppa Baul was legendary in India, he never left India, it was Purna Das Baul and Laxshman Das Baul his 2 son's who were the first Bauls to leave India on their fathers advice to Sally Grossman and her husband Albert B Grossman and Allen Ginsberg. You have to know that no Baul had ever been out of India expect Purna Das Baul in the 1950's he went to Russia..

Manju Dasi and Babukishan, also worked endlessly trying to preserve the Bauls, doing concerts around the world, teaching at Universities and giving Baul some respectability. It may seem like it was easy but it was not as their English was weak and there were no computers or telephones from India to the world.. it was very expensive..they gave up their life to preserve the Baul of Bengal.

Others Bauls have followed or tried to follow in their foot steps. Babu and his family opened the doors for all Bauls whether they have tried to do the same and have been successful who knows, it seem today people are more confused today. This lineage family of Bauls has been traveling for more that 70 years.. Babukishan for more than 40...

Purna Das Baul was given the title Baul Samarat by the first President of India
Rajendra Prasad (1884-1963) he was given the award because he was India's first Vocal singer outside of India to win a Gold Metal for his vocal performance at the Russian Youth Festival which included participants such as Indian Cinema super star Raj Kapoor, Nagis.. ect..He was the first Gold Metal for Bengal from a Baul, nobody knew what a Baul was.. ...he did not give himself this title, it was an honour bestowed upon him and yes he has it on the outside of his house and he should be proud as he was given many, many titles, awards and honours over his almost 80 years, he is a great singer. After this so many politicians he sang to including Russian President, American President and in India at every political function in India.. Purna Das Baul brought Baul to an international platform... before this Baul was no where just in the Village. He was very close to Indira Gandhi and he received his second Presidents Award for 'Lifetime Achievement and International Cultural Ambassador for India" from Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, Babukishan knows he was there and was totally dedicated to his father along with his mother Manju Das. No Baul or singers has achieved or come close to what he has achieved. Nabani Das his father was the great illusive Avadhuta Baul who was written about and respected by great Poets and Authors of his time, just because the young people do not know or remember, does not mean it was so.. Nabani Das was not only a Sadhaka he also was a freedom fighter and gave up so much to his country.

If any other Baul can accomplish what these Bauls have done on their own merit please let it be so but that does not change history. Babu is preserving this lineage because this is the only Bauls that have made a platform for Bauls and Bengal Culture making an international platform from the village to the World..

They started off so poverty stricken, it was Sitaram Das Omkarnath who suggested to Purna Das Baul to sing on the trains... there is a whole story about this, before Purna Das Baul ..NO Baul sang on the trains of India. Nabani was a wandering Sadhu and Avadhuta Tantric and gone all the time. The times were different, he did not stay home until Babu was born and left in his care and he named Babu Krishnendu Das Baul... these were the 8 years Babu was attached at Nabani's hip, in some ways it was one of the biggest Grace's of his life.

And may I add that Babukishan is the first Baul to ever be educated with a BA and MA from Calcutta University.. he is the first Baul to be a Music Composer, Film Maker and Producer he is the first Baul to Live in North America, he made it easier for the new Bauls all the traveling and interviews on TV books and education.. he is the first Multi talented Baul and he is a Baul and has done it all on his own merit.. no help from his family and no complaining. He is first Baul to record Baul and produce. His contribution is astronomical time wise and devotion wise.

He still has all the songs of his lineage inside of him as his memory is like a lazer... he remembers every story, every detail.... Why I suspect because he learned Sanskrit in the Oral Tradition.. The Bauls today do not know this so they say ..oh it is against Baul to know Sanskrit we just love and talk about Tantric Sex... that is the biggest load ever heard.. The Bauls spoke Sanskrit just because they do not today because they are extinct does not mean they didn't.. There is so much garbage on the internet being spread.. I mean Bengal needs to face it that the Bauls are extinct, for whatever reason?? Don't blame ... do something about it, if you want to complain about it, simple do something..

And Please donate generously to the Bauls in Bengal, the ones in the village who are struggling if you are making documentaries, they really need understanding and help. It will take a village no one person can do it all. Babukishan has been trying to help for 50 years only to have everything he has done destroyed. It would be great to support his vision rather than criticizing.

The idea Babukishan had when he created the Guduri was Love, Peace and Unity between all people. As the Ektara or Gopi Chand is the symbol of Love Peace and Unity so should their dress express this as they traveled to festivals around the world..

At first Babukishan was endlessly criticized about it when his Dad first started wearing it, but then many fell in love with it and Babukishan received many compliments from people such as Dr. Ananda Shankar Roy, Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Pranab Mukerjee and Mrs Subra Mukerjee now the President of India.. Tv Producer Abhijit Das Gupta, Jyoti Basu W Bengal former chief Mininster, Diretor General of India Radio.. Dr Bhupeen Hazarika, Mithun Charabhorty, Bapi Lahari.. MF Huissen, Amarta Sen, Chuni Goswami and Allen Gisnberg... all Babu's well wishers and they all loved his design.. the design the new Bauls are wearing and do not even know where it came from.

Guduri, this patchwork dress that the Bauls are wearing today was created by Babukishan in the 1970's, as an attractive dress for Purna Das Baul. This costume was on record covers, magazines covers and festival performances all over the world. He created this multi coloured dress for a symbol of oneness, unity and peace for the world. A Symbol of no caste, no creed, all colors in one, multi-cultural.

Babu created this dress for his dad because in his mind he wanted to preserve Baul and while they were attending all the festival, concert hall, and doing lectures this dress would draw to what Baul was a multi coloured lineage.

Most Baul performers are wearing this dress today without even knowing who the master minded behind it is. Babukishan would go around to all the tailors and collect bright colors and his mother Manju Das would sew them together by hand creating this bright Baul costume.

Babu wanted this  dress to promote his father Purna Das Baul at all festivals around the world including Poush Mela. No matter what most Bauls follow this lineage, they sing the songs from this lineage, they sing Purna Das Bauls songs, they sing songs written by Nabani Das Baul and Babukishan and all their relatives.. and they even dress like this lineage... without even knowing where things came from..

Beloved Radha & Krishna of the Vaishnava Bauls of Bengal they have been worshiping them for thousands of years. The Vaishnava Bauls of Bengal are "The Rasa Lila Mystics" ancestors of Sri Nityananda (Nitai) of Ekkchakra Bengal India. Sri Nityananda was the elder best friend of Sri Chaitanya and one of Chaitanya's Guru's...


Some of the Lineage is as follows, (Nabani Das Baul took Gosai off of their name because he did not want anybody touching his feet, he said, touch your own feet, bow down to the divine within yourself.)

1. Sri Nityananda,
2. his son Birbhadra (Gosai),
3. Advaita Gosai,
4. Khepa Chand Gosai
5. Rasaraj Gosai,
6. Ananto Gosai,
7. Okkur Gosai & Triguna Das,
8. Phuru Dasi,
9. Nabani Das & Brajabala Dasi,
10.Annapurna Dasi, Radharani Dasi, Purna Das, Lakshman Das, Chakrdhar Das...
11. Krishnendu Das Baul who is the eldest of the new generation of Bauls and probably the last trained in the oral tradition of Sanskrit. (I will add more in time..)

This whole lineage goes back thousands of years but I started listing it from the beginning of Gaudiya Vaishnavism...late 1500's

Vaishnava Bauls lived a vegetarian, Sanskrit oral traditional Vaishnava life that was spontaneous and natural. The had one wife, one husband all their life, and if they had more than one it was with great respect, they did not sleep with other people wives as stated by the new age Vaishnavism and some were even sanayas all their life.
(I only qualify this part because there is a huge misconception because of one British born Vaishnava reformer wrote something back in the 1800's and it is still being passed around in certain circles as pure ignorance.)

Today Bauls are almost extinct and they are like any indigenous group of original people on this planet who are not being supported, who can not survive in this world and today they have to modernize or die, if you are modern why not the Bauls.

The real Bauls are sweet and innocent ecstatic lovers or the love. Radha and krishna live in their hearts as Sita and Ram lives in Hanuman's heart. Bauls love all Devata. A true Vaishnava always has mercy,Respect for all living things and they never irritates others or call others names. They are about Peace, Love and Unity, accepting all.

Baul is simple but it is not a beginners path they have been around for thousands of years, they are not a new movement as is written by some scholars only because they are not from inside the tradition and can only speculate. Most people who write about the Bauls have never had any connection to this lineage or the oral lineage of Vaishnavism in Bengal.

Baul is the path of the Avadhuta beyond all cultures, caste and creed. Bauls believe in both Duality and Non Duality. They are an ocean..

Bauls areTri Devata including Radha/Krishna, Kali?Shiva and Brahma/Saraswati. As Buddhism flowed into Bengal naturally they added the Rasa of Buddhism, and as Sufi entered Bengal they as added the Juice or essence of Sufi. However, it should always be understood Bauls are based on Indian Philosophy, Santan Dharma. Bauls are also Tantric (techniques of the macro and mircro cosmos.) Again I must qualify because not all Bauls are Tantrics at Tara Pith this is rare for a Baul from this lineage as Nabani Das Baul and Babuksihan are the only ones in this lineage. A Baul must experience everything, they have different Guru's to learn different things... in Babukishan's case he learned the Oral Tradition of Baul for almost 30 years before he taught... He also was a monk in the Ramakrishna Order for 12 years.. he has 50 years of experience and to this day is really not teaching.. There quest is for the divine and it takes many years experience in the world as the Avadhuta traveling India learning from nature, the Baul now travels the world learning.

Sanskrit-ists they now sing in Bengali because that is the language of the villagers.

It takes at least 12 years if not a life or many life times to really become a Baul. Bauls are Guru's, and Acharya's they are Masters in all Indian Philosophy, Bhakti Yoga, and Tantra and should be able to answer any question if they want. They do not collect devotee's and are mysterious and illusive. It is not easy to get anything out of a Baul, it takes years of trust first. Perhaps that will change because of the time. Babukishan is the first and only Baul to live in North America.

The Untold stories from the forgotten Oral Tradition.
The Vaishnava Bauls have a great Respect and Love for the Feminine Divine and they always Puja's Radha first. They are natural and spontaneous God intoxicated Mystics who say everybody and everything is Divine.

The Ektara their one stringed Indian Folk instrument is their symbol of Peace Love and Unity they call the Ektara "the Gopi Chand." Bauls of Bengal accept all rejected people as Divine.

Originally Sanskrit Speaking people, now almost extinct..
In 2005 UNESCO declared, the Bauls of Bengal:

'A Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible History of Humanity'

Not your regular Baul, 
Nabani Das Baul was a Wild Kheppa Baul, a Sadhaka, A wandering sadhu, yogi, siddha Baul...
A well known sadhaka @ Tarapith... 

Yes, also Vaishnava but each and everyone has our own path and in Baul this is allowed. 
Bauls are not pedantic, they are lovers of Love, pure Bhakti Yoga....and lovers of all the Divine..


"MEMOIRS OF THE LEGENDARY NABANI KHYAPA. LITTLE KNOWN TO THE WORLD AS THE MAJOR SPIRITUAL GUIDE TO TAGORE."

Nabani Khepa sat in his asana and began his daily ritual: he packed his panchamukhi chillum with a fine mixture of tobacco and hashish. When it was ready, he dabbed it with snake venom, which he kept in a tiny mother of pearl casket. Silence reigned supreme.

Suddenly a morol, an elder with a voice in the village's affairs, burst in on Nabani: "Father, get ready to leave for Bakreswar immediately!" ... "There has been a death in the village. It is our custom that when someone dies on the day of Nabanya, all of us must accompany the body to the cremation in Bakreswar, and then bathe in the Jivanakund to be prified.

So saying, the man left. Nabani turned to his wife, Brajabala : "We are leaving this village this instant".

His tone made the children realise the gravity of his statement. As they left, Nabani lit his five-headed pipe and sucked on it, crying "Jai guru!"

After a long time, Brajabala turned to Nabani: "Why did we leave the village?"

The response was simple. "How can a Baul live among people who expect him to run after a corpse?"