The Mirror of the Sky: Songs of the Baul's of Bengal

by Bhattacharya, Deben

• ISBN13: 9780934252898
• ISBN10: 0934252890
• Edition: Disk
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-05-01
• Publisher: Scb Distributors

Summary

Throughout their 600-year history the Bauls of Bengal, India have kept no official scriptures. Their esoteric spiritual teachings on the use of breath, sex and devotion are encoded in the words of their songs/poems. This is a translation of 204 songs, including an extensive introduction to the history and faith of the Bauls, and the composition of their music. Includes a CD of authentic Baul artists, recorded over the last forty years -- an exquisite presentation of a rarely documented genre.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	xix
INTRODUCTION	1	(42)
Outlines of the Historical Background	8	(3)
The Baul Faith	11	(14)
Songs of the Bauls	25	(18)
THE SONGS	43	(163)
Scanning the cosmos	43	(1)
The mirror of the sky	44	(1)
All of us	45	(1)
Attested by your own heart	45	(1)
Your form is composed	46	(1)
Whom will you regard	47	(1)
The ways of the tortuous river	48	(1)
Only an adept	49	(1)
Mad, mad	50	(1)
The rites of spring	51	(1)
According to the views of the world	52	(2)
Nothing has happened	54	(1)
Commit yourself to the earth	55	(1)
Come if you wish to meet	56	(2)
Raise the torch of love	58	(1)
...The potter	59	(1)
Omy senseless heart	60	(2)
When a girl leaves	62	(1)
Lust is iron	62	(1)
You must be single-minded	63	(1)
Planting the tree of hope	64	(1)
The Vedas bear a wealth of wisdom--	64	(1)
What dealings	65	(1)
...He is watching the path	66	(1)
Dear love	67	(1)
What color is your cottage	68	(1)
If you wish to board an airplane	69	(1)
That astounding engine	70	(2)
Who gave shape	72	(2)
O, my heart	74	(1)
The heart, a lotus	75	(1)
The essence of love	75	(1)
Each fruit is open to	76	(1)
Let ripeness appear	77	(1)
The milk of the lioness	77	(1)
Human limbs	78	(1)
The Master of the universe	79	(1)
My worries continue	80	(1)
My unknowing heart	81	(1)
You are free to act	82	(1)
If love's green foliage	82	(1)
Never plunge	82	(1)
Go to the home	83	(1)
To find nectar	84	(1)
My soul cries out	85	(1)
The eyes see	86	(1)
My life is a little oil lamp	87	(1)
As the dumb one sings	87	(1)
What is the use of calling someone who does not respond	88	(2)
I often repeat the word "I"	90	(1)
Judge your public	91	(1)
That enchanting river	92	(1)
The leaves are bejewelled	92	(1)
God has reversed the acts	93	(1)
Sown on a slab of stone	94	(1)
Do not forget	94	(1)
The man who breathes	95	(1)
When the confluence	96	(2)
Where is the home	98	(1)
Reaching for reality	99	(1)
Unaware of its essential spirit	99	(1)
The rites of violent love	100	(1)
I am forbidden to reveal	101	(1)
Those who are dead	102	(1)
Will the day ever dawn	103	(1)
Free impulses	104	(1)
He who knows	105	(1)
The energy of impulse	106	(1)
When life, mind, and sight	106	(1)
How can you walk	107	(1)
On the other shore	108	(1)
Release the sensation of taste	109	(1)
Worship God if you wish	109	(1)
That boat, like a racer	110	(1)
Light has burst	111	(1)
My lord is not a broken wheel	112	(1)
My heart is saturated	113	(1)
I am fulfilled	114	(1)
How can I capture the man	115	(1)
Blind one	115	(1)
Pour out the cloudy fluid	116	(1)
I plunged into the water	117	(1)
Look, look for him	118	(1)
Tribeni	119	(1)
Plowman	120	(1)
Shame on you	121	(1)
On the dangerous currents	122	(1)
If you fail to recognize	122	(1)
The body of man	123	(1)
Have faith	123	(1)
The primeval man	124	(1)
Gay and glorious	125	(1)
Let your heart be a caring home	126	(1)
Poison that kills a man	126	(1)
Those who judge by caste	127	(1)
Formless	127	(1)
What blame may I heap	128	(1)
And as yet	129	(1)
Never in my life	130	(1)
Silence makes its nest	131	(1)
A thief in my own home	131	(1)
No words can describe	132	(1)
Watch out for blunders	133	(1)
This land offered me	133	(1)
I have no knowledge	134	(1)
My heart is not	135	(1)
Can I ever again be born as a man	136	(1)
I wish to go to Kashi	137	(1)
How long shall it be	138	(1)
My heart	139	(1)
Please, Kanai	140	(1)
What is the color of your love	141	(1)
Do not count on your breath	141	(1)
Poison and nectar	142	(1)
Who can you call your own	143	(2)
A man unknown to me	145	(1)
The scriptures will teach you	145	(1)
He talks to me	146	(1)
As the man and the woman in me	147	(1)
The moon is enriched by moons	148	(1)
Pandemonium broke loose	149	(1)
The day I become a resident	149	(1)
The key to my home	150	(1)
Could I ever forget him	151	(1)
Sixteen gangsters	152	(1)
I am afraid	153	(1)
Search the banks	154	(1)
Frightened since birth	154	(1)
How the days drag	155	(1)
The road to you is blocked	156	(1)
The sea of life is full of treasures	156	(1)
Even if you forbid	157	(1)
The subterranean stream	157	(1)
O cruelly eager one	158	(1)
I shall not open my eyes again	159	(1)
The so-called lovers	160	(1)
All can see	160	(1)
Your heart	161	(1)
Hopes filled my heart	161	(1)
Religion rests	161	(1)
A lover who labors	162	(1)
The act of loving	162	(1)
Groping for the river	163	(1)
Plunging deep into the sea	164	(1)
Why do you fail to visit	165	(1)
Cry for the unknown	165	(1)
Brothers	166	(1)
How can the rays of the sun	166	(1)
Strike your Master hard	167	(1)
My heart is eaten away	167	(1)
The shapes you have formed	168	(1)
Life constrained by birth and death	168	(1)
With a beggar's humility	169	(1)
Speak nothing	170	(1)
What good is there	171	(1)
That astounding flower	172	(1)
If love should ever dawn	172	(1)
He who has seen the beauty	173	(1)
Heaven does not lie	174	(1)
When the clouds burst into blossom	174	(2)
You cannot plow land	176	(1)
The pedantic scholar	176	(1)
He who knows the ways	177	(1)
I wished to turn myself	178	(1)
God has signalled	178	(1)
You have exposed yourself	178	(1)
From the distance	179	(1)
The moon rises at high noon	179	(1)
My eyes are drowned by shadows	180	(1)
Not one single branch grows on that tree	181	(1)
Having walked the pilgrim's path	181	(1)
Do you wish to visit	182	(1)
Will the man of love	183	(1)
O my heart	184	(1)
In vain do you worry	185	(1)
That secret of feeling	186	(1)
I, a Collector in a broken-down village	186	(1)
What makes you think	187	(1)
You may hurt me, my lord	188	(1)
A leper does not fret	188	(1)
Ants wishing to fly	189	(1)
Can the weak become weaker	189	(1)
The act of finding	190	(1)
A rutting elephant repels control	190	(1)
Prepare your heart	191	(1)
Have you tallied	191	(2)
O my heart	193	(2)
Explore the nature	195	(1)
While desire	196	(1)
That man is living in man	197	(1)
Strange are the ways	198	(1)
Now is the time for you	199	(1)
My heart is eager enough	200	(1)
Scholar	201	(1)
Build a bridge	201	(1)
The nectar of the moon	201	(1)
My plaited hair	202	(1)
My heart	203	(1)
An urn of butter	204	(1)
The senseless seldom gains wisdom	204	(1)
A creature of lust	205	(1)
When swindlers hold a market	205	(1)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES	206	(9)
BENGALI BIBLIOGRAPHY	215	(2)
ENGLISH BIBLIOGRAPHY	217	(2)
DISCOGRAPHY	219	(1)
APPENDIX A: Notation of a Song by Lalan	220	(11)
APPENDIX B: Song Lyrics for CD	231	(11)
INDEX	242