বাংলা 
English 
At Cheuria in Kushtia, the 129th Tirodhan Dibas observance of Baul Samrat Fakir Lalon Shah has come to an end. Under the slogan of Fakir Lalon Shah's spiritual saying - 'In Arshinagar near my home there dwells a neighbour' - the three-day Lalon Smarana Utsab held at the Lalon Akhrabari in Cheuria, Kumarkhali, Kushtia, on the occasion of the 129th Tirodhan Dibas, has concluded.
On Friday night, Khulna Divisional Commissioner Mohammad Lokman Hossain Mia formally declared the close of this vast festival. Speaking on the occasion as chief guest at the night's discussion on the main stage of the Lalon Academy, he said: let birth be as it is, let the deed be good. Because the deeds of Baul Samrat Fakir Lalon Shah were good, people all over the world remember him today. Whatever work I do, you do, or you all do, if that work is good, the people of society will remember you and me. To that end, as long as we have to live on this earth, we must give priority to our own deeds and build a drug-free society. Saiji never asked anyone to take intoxicants; for those who are devotees of Lalon, taking intoxicants is not right either. Come, let us all together build a drug-free society; let us say no to drugs. He said further: the one leading Bangladesh at present is the daughter of Bengal, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina; under her leadership the country is moving today towards prosperity and progress. All the flicker of light that you see around you at today's festival is the contribution of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Presided over by Kushtia's Deputy Commissioner and president of the Lalon Academy Mohammad Aslam Hossain, the chief discussant at the time was Professor Dr Mohammad Harun-ur-Rashid Askari, Vice-Chancellor of the Islamic University. He said: Lalon, the wonder-man who appeared upon the earth, was gifted with many-sided talent. He is also known as Fakir Lalon, Lalon Sai, Lalon Shah, Mahatma Lalon and so on. He is called a mystic sage as well as Baul Samrat Fakir. At once he was a spiritual baul sage, a humanist, a social reformer and a philosopher. When he fell ill with smallpox during a pilgrimage, his companions rejected him. Later, having regained his life through the kindness and shelter of a Muslim, he became a sage-fakir. Lalon composed the verses of his songs orally. When a new song arose in his mind, he would call his disciples and say: 'A shoal of fish fry has come.' Lalon would sing it out, and Fakir Manik and Moniruddin Shah would write that song down. Even within Lalon's lifetime his songs won wide popularity. Taking part as special guests were Minal Kanti De, Deputy Director of Local Government, Kushtia; Lutfun Nahar, Additional District Magistrate of Kushtia; government pleader Advocate Akhtaruzzaman Masum; district Jasad president Alhaj Golam Mohsin; and others. The speakers said: in the belief of Lalon's disciples, the number of his songs is more than ten thousand. But in reality so vast a number of songs cannot be found. It is heard that after the death of some of Lalon's disciples, their song notebooks were buried in their graves. Besides this, many devotees took away song notebooks and never returned them. Lalon Sai saw the people of all classes and religions of society as one till the end of his life.
After the discussion, the artists of the Lalon Academy performed the spiritual songs of Fakir Lalon on the main stage. Meanwhile, leaving the festival, most of the sadhu gurus have gone back to their own destinations.
It is worth noting that, since the death of the subcontinent's most influential sage, Baul Samrat Fakir Lalon Shah, on the 1st of Kartik of 1297 of the Bengali era, the Lalon Academy and the district administration have been holding this Lalon Smarana Utsab in his memory. This time too, to remember the path-shower Lalon and to purify the obstinate mind, thousands of Lalon followers, devotees and sightseers from home and abroad took their places at this akhrabari. According to Lalon's tradition, with the adhibas on Wednesday evening, the balya rite the next morning and the full seba at noon, the sadhu sanga concluded and the followers began to leave the akhrabari. The space below the auditorium, where the Lalon followers sit in scattered groups to take part in sadhu sanga, is now almost empty. Still, outside the akhrabari, on the bank of the Kali river, the baul mela (fair) will run until tonight. To keep this historic festival trouble-free, the administration imposed a strict, many-layered security arrangement.
