BaulOlogy

Some very revealing facts regarding my just-released book on ‘BaulOlogy’:

Why Bauls & Fakirs Are Addicted to ‘Ganja’ (Hemp/Marijuana/Cannabis)?

The human brain needs continuous positive stimulation in terms of ‘rewards’. It has a very prominent ‘reward circuit’ which is hungry for stimulation. We feel rewarded when we have something nice to eat, when somebody appreciates us, when we listen to a good piece of music, when we read a good book, or get a love letter, and, of course, when we indulge in sex – even when we masturbate in the absence of a sexual partner; and, do not get a shock, when a constipated person has excellent movement of bowels. The reward chemical is nothing else but ‘Dopamine’ which today exists in the vocabulary of many enlightened persons as in many families there are Parkinson’s patients who get the disease being deprived of or deficient in ‘Dopamine’ and the medicine prescribed is a synthetic Dopamine supplement like ‘L-Dopa’.

Any addiction is due to incessant hunger for ‘Dopamine’. Most interestingly, 50 percent of the ‘Dopamine’ is released in our brain whereas the balance 50 percent are secreted in our digestive system (namely, the ‘Second Brain’ or the ‘Enteric Nervous System’. (References 1 & 2)

Addiction for anything like alcohol, nicotine and spicy food are all dirty games played by ‘Dopamine’, Read the book under ‘Reference 2’ where psychiatrist Dr Anna Lebke starts with the case study of a patient who is addicted to sex. I found the case most weird and interesting as Dr Lebke’s patient had invented a ‘Masturbation Machine’ which he would use before his marriage and even after his marriage when he would be on business tours. I admired the patient’s ingenuity.

Amongst psychotic diseases ‘Obsessive Compulsive Disorder’ (‘OCD’) and ‘Schizophrenia’, researchers say, have got something to with excessive ‘Dopamine Hunger’.The addiction to ‘ganja’ (‘hemp’/’marijuana’/’cannabis’) is, of course, a sign of ‘Dopamine Hunger’.

The Bauls & Fakirs have a simple lifestyle. They don’t get any ‘kick’ from sumptuous meals (as they go on ‘madhukaris’ begging for food), their clothes are either plain and simple or tattered, or with multiple stiches, they live in bamboo-built ‘akharas’. From their mendicant-like lifestyle, they do not earn any ‘Dopamine’. One of the ways for them to earn ‘Dopamine’ is when they get appreciated for their singing and dancing; but unfortunately, that is not a regular affair. They earn ‘Dopamine’ from their ’Jugal Sadhana’ when they perform ‘Tantric Sex’ with their ‘sadhan sanginis’. But that is also not regular enough to quench their thirst for the ‘Reward Molecule’. So, they go for habitual ‘ganja smoking’.

I would like to share here a very interesting case study. Late Gour Kheypa (1947-2013) was not that highly literate (I’m not sure up to what standard he had studied), yet he was a deep thinker and very well-versed in Baul-Fakir philosophy. He had gone to Europe & USA a few times on lecture-demonstration tours including at top US universities. If you want to read about his first few visits to France with Paban Das Baul, please read Mimlu Sen’s beautiful book “The Honey Gatherers” (Reference 3). In her book, she narrates her experience of the incessant ganja-smoking habit of the most talented Baul who had his own signature singing style. He was so much addicted to hemp-smoking that when the renowned film director Peter Brooks offered him a role in his film version of ‘The Mahabharata’, he refused as Brooks said he cannot take his hemp pipes and hemp tobacco to USA for shooting. Just imagine how much he was dependent on ‘ganja’.I regard it as absolutely rubbish when the ganja-smokers claim that they smoke because they worship Lord Shiva who was a habitual ganja-smoker. They forget that all the Hindu gods and goddesses like the ancient Greek & Egyptian gods and goddesses are products of human imagination.

Now, I will break an amazing news! Gour Kheypa had trained quite a few students in singing Baul songs. But he had only one real shishya in his lifetime, who is an admirer and ardent follower of mine. His name is Sanat Das Baul. Sanat has shared with me something his Guru Gour Kheypa had told him absolutely privately and requested him to keep it confidential. He had said: “Sanat! It is my ardent request to you that please don’t take to ‘ganja’ all your life! Please be free from it!” Can you imagine!

Now, the point that I want to highlight is that if you are a creative person – creating a song, or a piece of art, or writing an original book like I do, you automatically earn the ‘Reward Molecule’ ‘Dopamine’. You do not need any external input like spicy food, nicotine, alcohol, too many cups of tea or coffee or carbonated drinks and, of course, narcotics for ‘Dopamine’ release in your First & Second Brains. Pt. Ravi Shankar was a non-smoker and teetotaller and had opted for vegan dietary habit after his middle age. He has more than 30 Ragas to his credit which he himself had composed leaving aside his remarkable background music direction for Satyajit Ray’s immortal ‘Pather Panchali’. I understand, Fakir Lalon Shah was also a vegetarian and non-smoker. He had composed thousands of songs – not to speak of poet Rabindranath Tagore who was addicted only to his passion – creative writing!!

Dr Siddhartha Ganguli, PhD

[References:

1. Daniel Z. Lieberman & Michael E. Long, “The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity – and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race”, Dallas, Texas, BenBella Books, 2018.

2. Dr Anna Lebke, “Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence”, Dreamliners, 2022

3. Mimlu Sen, “The Honey Gatherers: Travels with the Bauls: The Wandering Minstrels of Rural India”, London: Rider, 2009.]