বাংলা 
English 
To teach how to take a guru or murshid in order to become a true human being, the mystic sage Lalon Shah worked all his life. In his songs the mystic sage Lalon Shah said, 'Leaving mankind, O mad one, you will lose the root; serve man and you will become a golden man.' In another song he said, 'The one who is the murshid is the rasul; there is no mistake in this - even God is He; Lalon does not say this, the Quran says it.'
On the occasion of the 128th Tirodhan Dibas of the mystic sage Lalon Shah (16, 17 and 18 October), a three-day Lalon Smaran Utsab begins on Tuesday at the Lalon Academy grounds in Cheuria, on the bank of the Kalinadi river near Kushtia town. Before the memorial festival begins, most of his disciples and devotees have already arrived. Over the three days of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, this Tirodhan Dibas will be observed with a fair of guru-disciple reunion, exchanges of devotion and reverence, and a series of other events.
The essence of the songs he wrote is the inner relationship with the Creator and devotion and reverence to the guru. The words written by the mystic sage Lalon Shah still awaken in his devotees' hearts a longing for love of the Creator. In this memorial festival Lalon devotees will gather, with tears in their eyes, to offer devotion and love to the guru. According to Lalon's philosophy it is said: when the bound creature of a man takes the guru's initiation, only then is he human. Truth is established for the disciple through devotion and service to the guru. On the first of Kartik his devotees offer deep devotion with the nectar of tears for the guru. In their view, the unseen great Creator is pleased only when the visible guru is pleased. To exchange thoughts with the guru by taking his initiation, his devotees hold this reunion fair at Lalon Shah's home in Cheuria, Kushtia. The mystic sage Lalon Shah, throughout his life, observed a memorial festival every year on Dol Purnima with his followers. And now, on the Bengali first of Kartik, on the occasion of Lalon's Tirodhan Dibas, his disciples and devotees observe another.
Alongside this, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the Kushtia district administration, the Lalon Academy has been organising events twice a year: one on Dol Purnima and the other on the first of Kartik, Tirodhan (death anniversary) Day. Around these two events, hundreds of thousands of people gather every year at Lalon Shah's home in Cheuria, by the Kalinadi river near Kushtia town. For this festival people come in groups from the far corners of the country, even from abroad.
Each day of the three-day event will have, as usual, discussion meetings, a rural mela (fair) and scheduled cultural programmes. Meanwhile, the stage on the akhra premises is already ready for the discussions and cultural events. For the festival, the akhra bari is now dressed in festive decoration. Countless sadhu-devotees have begun arriving from far and wide, and traders are setting up shops of all kinds of goods around the mela grounds and along the banks of the Kaliganga river.
The administration has taken all kinds of preparations to ensure the safety of the Lalon followers and visitors coming to the event. Today, Monday, Kushtia's Deputy Commissioner Md. Aslam Hossain and Police Super S M Tanvir Arafat PPM inspected the security arrangements.
Meanwhile, Lalon Academy president and Kushtia Deputy Commissioner Aslam Hossain said that at the inaugural ceremony on 16 October the chief guest will be Kushtia-3 constituency MP and joint general secretary of the Bangladesh Awami League Mohammad Mahbubul Alam Hanif. On the second day the chief guest will be Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu MP, and on the closing day the chief guest will be Khulna Divisional Commissioner Lokman Hossain Miah. Besides, each day there will be songs from thousands of Lalon follower artistes arriving from across the country. The Lalon Mela will also have CCTV cameras and alternative power arrangements.
About the mystic sage Lalon Shah it is known that at the very time when the cruel oppression of the British rulers was poisoning the lives of ordinary village people, it was then, on the path of truth, teaching mankind to take the guru's initiation, that Lalon Shah appeared at Cheuria near Kushtia town as a guide of humanity. Though there are various opinions about Lalon Shah's birthplace, the mystery of his birth remains unknown to this day. He had no children. He could not receive any formal education, but he was educated through self-learning. It is known that in his youth he set out on a pilgrimage to earn merit, and it was then that the transformation of his youth and his entry into the life of sadhana took place.
During the pilgrimage, when he was stricken with smallpox, his companions abandoned him. Later, after regaining his life under Molom Shah's shelter, in the company of the sage Siraj Shah he came to be known as a guru-sage. At first he engaged in sadhana under a mango tree in the deep forest of Cheuria village in Kumarkhali; later he received help from the local Karikar community. Lalon devotee Molom Shah donated sixteen bighas of land for building the reunion fair of guru and disciple. On that donated land the Lalon Akhra was established in 1823. At first a large thatched house was built there for Lalon's dwelling and sadhana. It was in that house that his sadhana and devotion continued. From the founding of the Cheuria akhra until his death he remained surrounded by disciples and devotees. He wrote nearly a thousand songs. On the morning of 17 October 1890 this mystic sage Lalon Shah passed away, and he was buried within the house of his sadhana.
