Who is Baul?
Once upon a time, an angel came
to earth to see man and his world, because he had heard so many stories of man's splendor that he
could not resist his curiosity. The beauty of the world overwhelmed him: the sunlit mountain peaks and
dark forests, the whining winds and tossing, rainbow-colored valleys, the dew-kissed soil, the soil's lusty
smell, the animals, fierce and gentle. Everywhere there was such beauty. But when the angel saw man he was
awed, for he heard the music of the human heart and the song of the human soul. He fell in deep love with
human mystery. Dusk came, but he lingered on. Man and man's earth had so moved the angel that he hesitated
to leave. But finally, his time finished, he had to go with tears in his eyes.
And tremendously encircled,
enriched by this adventure on the earth, by this experience, before going out, before going back to his own
world, just out of sheer joy he wanted to help some of us on our way. He looked about, saw four persons
walking together. He approached them and said, "I have come to grant you each one wish." As luck
would have it, they all were spiritual aspirants.
The first one spoke up, "I
have striven incessantly after distant divine truth -- nothing but struggle, struggle, struggle. Give me
spiritual peace!"
"But struggling is one of
the joys of life," said the angel, not understanding the first seeker's
wish.
"I would like peace!"
insisted the man.
This being his wish, the angel
changed the youth into a cow that chewed the grass of a distant pasture
quite contentedly.
A bit disturbed, the angel turned
to the other aspirant.
"God is pure but I am
not," said the other. "Please rid me of all impurities, of passions,
emotions, desires."
"Are not they the very fount
of life?" asked the angel.
"But I don't want life, I
want purity!" insisted the second man. He then closed his eyes and waited
for his transformation. In a split second
he disappeared, and in a faraway temple, a marble statue appeared in his likeness.
Then the third one said,
"Make me perfect; anything less will simply not do." He vanished but
did not
reappear anywhere, for nothing on
earth is perfect or can be perfect.
The angel turned to the fourth,
"And what is your wish?"
"I have no wish,"
replied this happy man.
"No wish at all?"
"None -- except to be human,
fully human and alive."
A near-smothered joy began again
to stir within the angel. He looked longingly upon this blessed man, and then leaned over and embraced
him with a deep love. The fourth man continued on his way singing the glory of life, dancing the joy of
life.
This fourth man is the Baul.
