Fakir Lalon Shai

Courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalon_Fakir

Early life
The details of Lalon's early life are controversial and impossible to verify.
Lalon also recorded very little information about himself, as he considered
his spiritual endeavors to be a private matter. As a result, accounts of Lalon's
life are often contradictory and unverifiable. However, a general backstory of
Lalon's early life exists in the popular culture.
Around the age of sixteen he was found floating by the bank of Kaliganga
river, suffering from smallpox. He was taken to the home of Maulana Malam
Shah and his wife Matijan, who brought him up. Lalon was in a near
comatose state for many months and when he recovered lapsed into
complete amnesia from which he never recovered in life.
Though Lalon's origins are unclear, it is believed that he had no formal
education and lived in extreme poverty[1].

Philosophy
Lalon left no trace of his birth or his 'origin' and remained absolutely silent
about his past, fearing that he would be cast into class, caste or communal
identities by a fragmented and hierarchical society. Despite this silence on
his origins, communal appropriation of this great politico-philosophical figure
has created a controversy regarding whether he is 'Muslim' or a 'Hindu' -- a
'sufi' or a follower 'bhakti' tradition -- a 'baul' or a 'fakir', etc. He is none, as
he always strove to go beyond all politics of identities. Lalon Fakir sang,
“People ask if Lalon Fakir is a Hindu or a Mussalman. Lalon says he himself
doesn’t know who he is.”
Lalon does not fit into the construction of the so called 'bauls' or 'fakirs' as a
mystical or spiritual types who deny all worldly affairs in desperate search for
a mystical ecstasy of the soul. Such construction is very elite and middle
class and premised on the divide between 'modern' and 'spiritual' world. It
also conveniently ignores the political and social aspects of Bengal's spiritual
movements and depoliticizes the transformative role of 'bhakti' or 'sufi'
traditions. This role is still continued and performed by the poet-singers and
philosophers in oral traditions of Bangladesh, a cultural reality of Bangladesh

Fakir Lalon Shai

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalon_Fakir
that partly explains the emergence of Bangladesh with distinct identity from
Pakistan back in 1971. Depicting Lalon as 'baul shomrat' (the Emperor of the
Bauls) as projected by elite marginalizes Lalon as a person belonging to a
peripheral movement, an outcast, as if he is not a living presence and
increasingly occupying the central cultural, intellectual and political space in
both side of the border between Bangladesh and India (West Bengal).
To understand the Baul, is to understand the state of nothingness associated
with his rejection, by which it is not to be construed, as a willing suspension
of disbelief, nor a reckless abandonment of responsibility or that of becoming
inordinately fatalistic. It is a living quest to go back to the dynamics of where
it all began: to our infancy as much as the first moments of creation. It is a
quest we cannot undertake without some prodding assistance, albeit to our
well charted ‘roots’, if we have one? Clearly, life is a blessed moment of
procreation and an extension of the continuous cycle of Mother Nature which
rolls on over, when we know all too well, it is also a process that simply
cannot be rolled back.
It is in context of looking for meanings to living, versus that of death which is
as an instant, if not completely the end of reasoning, and the probabilities of
a life devoid of answers to the future and where it ultimately places us, is the
harrowing spectre Man is condemned to life in his living. This premise of not
knowing where ‘everything’ if ever ends is one that significantly dilates the
implication and importance of NOW.

Works
Lalon composed numerous songs and poems which describe his philosophy.
Among his most popular songs are khachar bhitor auchin pakhi, jat gelo jat
gelo bole, dekhna mon jhokmariay duniyadari, paare loye jao amay, milon
hobe koto dine, aar amare marishne maa, tin pagoler holo mela, etc.
The songs of Lalon give subliminal exposures to the reality/truth that lies
beyond our material plane/realism. They give a feel of the indescribable. To
an engrossed listener, his songs briefly open and close a narrow passage to
peep through to the other world beyond the opaque glass ceiling of this
world. Lalon sublimates the findings of the principal oriental philosophies and
mysticism, foremost of which would include a) Achinta-vedavedbad of Lord
Chaitanya (the anitonomous realism of individual soul and Supersoul, both of
which eternally coexist. The yarning of the individual soul to unite with the
Supersoul, both of whom reside within the same individual body, which we
are all gifted with. This eternal journey strives to achieve the infinitesimal
proximity between the two, and as it progresses it becomes difficult to
distinguish the journey itself from the salvation/mokshya/nirvana); b) sufism,
c) Kundalini Yoga (transcending of the individual soul through the six
chakras), d) the mirroring of microcosm and macrocosm in all dimensions of
the spiritual domain; and e) panentheism . Lalon has demonstrated ultimate
dexterity of literary minimalism.

Fakir Lalon Shai

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalon_Fakir
Lalon always kept silent about his origin so that he does not get typecast into
any particular religious group. He was observant of the social conditions
around, and this reflects through his songs which spoke of day to day
problems, in his simple yet deeply moving language. It is said that he had
composed about 10,000 songs of which 2000-3000 can be tracked down
today while others are lost in time and hearts of his numerous followers.
Most of his followers could not read or write and so unluckily for the lovers of
Baul, very few of his songs are found in written form. Lalon had no formal
education as such but his songs can educate the most educated of minds
throughout the world. Long before free thinkers around the globe started
thinking of a classless society, Lalon had already composed around 1000
songs on that theme.
Lalon's songs tersely refute any absolute standard of 'right and wrong' which
claims to pass the test of time. His songs show the triviality of any attempt
to devide people both materially or spiritually.

Legacy

Lalon's shrine.
Poet Rabindranath Tagore in his 1933 London Hebart Lecture first applauded
Lalan Shah as a mystic poet who discovered "soul" and the meaning of
"man". Tagore said: "I discovered that 'man' from the songs of Lalon who
said that "(ai manushe ase se mon....) "....) the 'man' is within yourself where
are you searching Him." [3]
Lalon's philosophical expression was based in oral and textual traditions, and
expressed in songs and musical compositions using instruments that could
be made by any rural households from materials available at home: an
ektara (one-string musical instrument) and a dugdugi (hand drum). The texts
of the songs was explicitly written to engage in the philosophical discourses
of Bengal continuing since Tantric traditions of the subcontinent, particularly

Fakir Lalon Shai

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalon_Fakir
Nepal, Bengal and the Gangetic plains. In Lalon critically re-appropriated the
various philosophical positions emanating from the legacies of Hindu, Jaina,
Buddha and Islamic traditions, developing them into a coherent discourse
without falling into the mixes of being syncretic.

Influence
Lalon Shah had a perceptible influence on the poet Rabindranath Tagore,
who introduced the Baul tradition of Bengal to the world. His own music had
been influenced by the diversity of Baul tradition.
In 1963, a mausoleum and a research centre were built at the site of his
shrine, the place of knowledge-practices. Thousands of people come to the
shrine known in Bengali as akhra twice a year, Dol-Purnima, in the month of
Falgun (February to March) and in October, on the occasion of the
anniversary of his death. During these three-day song melas, people,
particularly fakirs and bauls pay tribute to Lalon.
American poet Allen Ginsberg was inspired by Lalon Shah in writing his poem
After Lalon, included in the poetry collection "Cosmopolitan Greetings."
Ginsberg adopts a poetic style similar to Lalon's own style, frequently
repeating his own name within the poem.
Among the modern singers, Farida Parvin has recorded over 300 songs
composed by Lalon Shah.
Another notable exponents of Baul music is Shehnaz Baily, whose recorded
works are rare but available in Bangladesh.

Gallery

Fakir Lalon Shai

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalon_Fakir
References
1. ^ "Lalon Fakir: Songs (19th Century)".
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/fakir.
html.
2. ^ "Charm of Bishar Blues".
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?
page=article&contentid=2008070920080709025351701273cbb4f&sectid=5
7.
3. ^ (Folkore, II, Calcutta, 1961)

External links
• Lalon Fakir: Saint Lalon by Machizo Documentary on Lalon's Life and
Philosophy. (UnnayanTV)
• Lyric of pabe samanye ki tar dekha in Manipuri translated by
Konthoujam Suranjit
• After Lalon video of a reading done by Allen Ginsberg
• [1] Farhad mazhar on Fakir Lalon Shah

Fakir Lalon Shai

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalon_Fakir