'To understand an 'ulat' poem is like a trial,' says Parvathy Baul

'Everybody is not ready to receive this knowledge. It is not meant for everybody. One must work hard to understand these songs. The meanings cannot be made available casually. When you get it so easily it becomes mere information. It is not a trial.' - Parvathy Baul

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If there is an embodiment of intensity, Parvathy is it. As our friend, as an advisor, as a fiery challenger, she has brought us into deeper touch with ourselves. This recording was made as part of our week-long immersion with Parvathy at her home and akhada on the outskirts of Trivandrum in September 2011. She warmly welcomed us, housed us, fed us, sang for us and spoke to us with great depth and insight about the Baul path and about life itself. An experience that we still carry with us.

Parvathy Baul is a Baul singer and saadhika, painter and storyteller from Bengal and has been a disciple of Shashanko Goshai and Sanatan Das Baul. She divides her time between her home in Trivandrum, Kerala and the Baul ashram she has built near Shantiniketan in Bengal. (https://parvathybaul.com/)

This is one of a series of uploads for Ajab Shahar, a webspace dedicated to mystic poem and song, created by the Kabir Project team (http://www.ajabshahar.org ; http://www.kabirproject.org).

(Click on Settings for subtitles in English and Hindi)

Translation Credits:
Hindi translation: Prashant Parvataneni, Shabnam Virmani

Video Credits:
Cameras: Smriti Chanchani & Aarthi Parthasarathy
Editing & Sound: Aarthi Parthasarathy
Sub-Titling: Prashant Parvataneni
Collection: The Kabir Project

Date of Recording: September, 2011