India 4: How will you know who the father is if you don't ask the mother?

"How will you know who the father is if you don't ask the mother?" is a line I've been crediting to Ganesh Baba for years. Now I know that he was quoting a song by the great Baul singer, Lalon Shah.

One evening in Dehradun we watched a very beautiful Bangladeshi film Lalon, which, unfortunately, is not likely to make its way to the West any time soon. How I wish it would. Such stunning cinematography, such fine use of Lalon's songs to tell the story and to pass on the teachings, and such delightful caricatures of the people who didn't understand Lalon.

The Bauls are the wandering folksingers, singing sadhus, of Bengal. Their lineage, practice, and philosophy crosses the lines of traditional Hinduism and Islam, closer in some ways to Sufism, but a unique variant. Like all Tantric lineages, the Bauls believe that the way to God is through the human body.

I found it a tremendous relief to see the film after days of exploring the differences between belief systems rather than the commonalities. Here, among such poetic images and terms, I found myself sitting on my own magic carpet once again.