The ultimate Truth, or God, can be found only if our longing is intensely one-pointed. Even a flicker of distraction takes this experience out of our feeble grasp. The poet Panju Shah declares in this song that he seeks only the feet of his guru. That is his sole purpose for taking birth. He challenges the guru, who bears the name of compassionate, to prove his compassion by giving him, Panju Shah, the gift of his feet. (Click on Settings for subtitles in English & Bengali transliteration. Click ‘B’ on keyboard to remove the black background in the subtitles.) 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. Her tears flow freely in this song while she sings of this longing, and embodies it so intensely. Yet, often, she breaks out into laughter right after weeping through a whole song. She shows us what it might mean to hold that elusive intensity of longing within oneself. 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 currently lives in Trivandrum, Kerala. (www.parvathybaul.srijan.asia) This is one of a series of upcoming uploads for Ajab Shahar, a webspace dedicated to mystic poem and song, currently under construction by the Kabir Project team (www.ajabshahar.org; www.kabirproject.org) Song Credits: Ektara, Duggi and Vocals: Parvathy Baul Translation: Vipul Rikhi Translation Support: Arnab Basu & Puja Kaul Video Credits: Cameras: Smriti Chanchani & Aarthi Parthasarathy Editing & Sound: Aarthi Parthasarathy Sub-Titling: Vipul Rikhi Collection: The Kabir Project Date of Recording: September, 2011

• published: 19 Feb 2015
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