I'M HARUN BAUL SPEAKING (8)

কই হলো গুরু পদে মতি তোমার কই হলো।

আজ হবে কাল হবে বলে কথায় কথায় দিন ফুরালো।

কি করিতে এসে ভবে কি কর্ম সবে করিলো

লালন বলে সকল তোমার যজ্ঞের ঘি কুত্তায় খেলো।

Koi holo guru pode moti tomar koi holo.

Aj hobe kal hobe bole kothai kothai din furalo.

Ki korite eshe vobe ki karma sobe korilo

Lalon bole sokol tomar jagner ghee Kuttai khelo.

(You came to pay off the vows you made to the voters. But you passed your time saying 'tomorrow, not today'. You have done things contrary to what you ought to have done. Lalon says that people like you often offer ghee to dogs).

Besides the Baul's way of population control (www.bangladesh-web.com dated September 21, 2001), Bangladesh stands to do it in another way. We hear that in the pre-Islamic Arab baby girls were buried alive. The post 1996 Bangladesh has seen the killing of thousands of Bangladeshis. Oppression on women rampaged. The party in power was hardly active against all sorts of crime. They made the law of the country ineffective against crimes and oppression. They only promised to do better in the future without assessing the public attitude - their sustainer. Bauls warned them singing:

মন রে তুই ভরুয়া বাঙাল জ্ঞান ছাড়া,

সাদারি কাজ ক্রো ভালো, পাছ বাড়িতে নেই বাড়া।

কন কনাই কি হচ্ছে ঘরে

এক দিন ও তা দেখলি না রে

পিতৃধন তোর নিলো চোরে, হলে রে মন ফোকতারা। - লালন

Mon re tui varua bangal jnan sara,

Sadare kaj koro valo, pas barite nei bara.

Kon konai ki hosse ghare

Ek din o ta dekhli na re

Pitridhon tor nilo chore, holi re mon foktara - Lalon.

(You appear foolish, like a remote villager. You do apparently good in one part of your duty neglecting the other. You never tried to see reality. You have now lost your father's capital and become an insane.)

The people of Bangladesh have shown retaliation against the wrong doings of the political party in context. They have used their 'votes' as the invisible weapon. This is the way of the Baul's esotericism.

ধরো চোর হাওয়ার ঘরে ফাঁদ পেতে - লালন

Dhoro chor haoar ghore fa(n)d pethe - Lalon.

(Arrest the thieves into the trap of invisible).

The followings of the party-elect have already started to show the counter-action to the ghee eater dogs. Shearing has started indiscriminately. Maybe this is the way of 'Islam' as depicted worldwide by some factions of its follower. The Bauls utterly hate this. Bauls have other ways of treating the political sinners within the framework of religion. Bauls' secular Islam can encounter problems and beget socio-political and economic sustainability without any violence. Bauls advise the party-elect to avoid violence.

রিপু ছয়টা করো বস

ছাড়ো বৃথা রঙ রস

কাজে তে হইলে অলস, পরে রইবি পার ঘাটে।

সেরাজ সাঁই বলে রে লালন

বাইদিকে ভূলো না মন

একনিষ্ঠ মন, করো সাধন

বিগার তুমার যাবে ছুটে।

Ripu soy ta koro bosh

Saro britha ron(g)o rosh

Kajete hoile olosh, pore roibi par ghate.

Seraj Sain bolere Lalon

Baidike vulo na mon

Eknistha mon, koro sadhon

Bigar tumar jabe sute.

(Control you six egos. Avoid superfluous lifestyle. Idleness in doing your duty will abandon you at the crossing point. Seraj Sain advises Lalon not to believe in the Scriptures only. Be contemplative and give up temptations).

Bauls respect individual freedom - freedom of opinion and freedom of religion. Should a political party in power desire to reflect their own religious beliefs through their political activities, they must first seek to learn how to do it without affecting others freedom. It has been firmly proved that the major living religions of the world have miserably failed to acquire this religious quality. Islam, after Mohammad (sm.), is no exception. Many believe that many leaders of Islam have gone too bestial to call them religious leaders. This has disqualified Islam as a religion of peace or religion of brotherhood any more. Bauls sing strongly supporting this view. They respect Islam of the inner Quran and inner Sunnah, and strongly discard the falls Sahih Hadiths, and erroneous and misleading interpretations and practices of the exoteric Ulama.

Bauls sing to the religious political parties in Bangladesh:

না হলে মন সরল কি ফাল হবে কথ ধুঁরে

হাটে হাটে বেরাও মিছে তওবা পড়ে।

Na hole mon sarala ki phal hobe koth dh(n)ure.

Hathe hathe berao mise tauba pore.

(If the mind is not simple, no result is generated out of searching, even everywhere. It is useless to go to the superiors and repent for your past bestiality).

Bauls think that without acquiring the inner truths of religion, it is impossible for the religious parties to acceptably integrate religion into politics. It will be like what Bauls frequently sing:

না জেনে মইজো না পিরিতে।

জেনে শুনে করগে পিরিত, শেষ ভালো দাঁড়াই যাতে।

পিরিতে যদি হয় বাসনা

সাধুর কাছে জেনে নে না

লোহা যেমন পড়ছে সোনা, হবে সেই মোটে।

এক পিরিতের দুই ভাগ চলন

কেউ স্বর্গে কেউ নরকে গমন

দেখে শুনে বলছে লালন, এই জগতে।

Na jene moijona pirite.

Jene shune korge pirit, Shesh valo da(n)rai jate.

Pirite jodi hoy basona

Sadhur kase jene ne na

Loha jemon porshe sona, hobe sei mote.

Ek piriter dui vag cholon

Kew sarge kew narake gomon

Dekhe sune balse Lalon, ai jogote.

(Do not make friendship to an object without properly knowing it. Do a thing where the end result is positive. Learn from a Sadhu (complete man) how to make friendship. Friendship has two folds - heaven or hell. Lalon says after seeing occurrences in this world)

The bestiality of the last few days by the following of a political party-elect has enough evidence to support the Baul view in this context. Bauls think that if this sort of religious wilderness continues, the religiouus parties will be buried forever.

মিছে মায়ায় মদ খেয়ো না

এবার গেলে আর হবে না

প্রাপ্ত পদ ভুলে যেয়ো না, পড়বি কয় যুগের পাঁছে। - লালন

Mise mayai mod kheo na

Ebar gele ar hobe na

Prapta pod vule jeo na, porbi koy juger pa(n)che. - Lalon.

(Do not be intoxicated with religious falsehood. Your failure of this time will vanish you forever. And forgetting the position that people have given to you will be put in the pitfalls of time).

Bauls have a panacea to enable the party in power to gain sustainability to stay in power for the full term and return back. Indicative suggestions in this regard were given in 'I'M HARUN BAUL SPEAKING -2' (www.bangladesh-web.com dated February 7, 2001). Re-excavation of our silted and silting fresh water bodies would beget sustainability for the 'sheaf'. Overhauling of NGOs were suggested with the 'scale' of our culture to help them make working for sustainable development - not for acculturation. Bauls and many of their followings at home and abroad have expertise as to how to do these two most important tasks for the sustainability of Bangladesh. They are always happy to lend it to the party in power.

Bauls are also concerned about the number of ministries. For a country like Bangladesh where corruption is rampant, it is calculated that only 7 ministries are the optimum for the country. Ministry for foreign affairs should integrate import and export including manpower export. Information ministry should be comprised of media, films, women affairs, religion and culture. Energy, environment, forest, agriculture, food, water, and rural development can be integrated into a new ministry calling Sustainable Development ministry. Defence, home, law and employment should be integrated to combat crime. Education, research, science and technology, and city administration may be under one ministry calling R&D ministry. Transport, communication and industry in one. The rest in one other. Bauls suggest that to welcome one or two of the ministers from the opposition parties would be a noble task.

Too many ministries will only depict the scenario of berai khet khaoa (crops to be eaten by the fence itself). If this is not the intention of the party-elect in power to repeat the (hi)story of giving ghee to dogs, the number of ministries must be reduced and integrated, not otherwise. The clever and honest MPs would find lots of interest and job satisfaction to work in a ministry of his interest and aptitude without the now-unpopular title 'Montri or Minister. Bauls believe that the term Montri has generated so much hatred in the minds of the common people of Bangladesh that in future the voters will caste their votes to any candidates except a (previous) Montri.

Harun Baul suggests that before the party-elect begins functioning, the relevant parliamentarians are required to get 3-4 weeks intensive education/training on sustainable development for Bangladesh and sustainability of political party. Some of the reputable universities abroad have specialisation in these areas. Some of them have Bangladeshi scholars, who will be happy to contribute to this effect, if contacted.

Dated 13/10/2001 www.bangladesh-web.com

Md. Amzad Hossain

a.hossain@curtin.edu.au