The Bauls locate the divine not in temples or scriptures but within the human body itself, where an 'unknown bird' or 'man of the heart' dwells and must be sought through bodily and emotional practice. Worship is therefore turned inward toward the self rather than outward toward external idols or institutions.
Baul songs personify the divine as the 'moner manush' (man of the heart), an inner companion who is intimately present yet perpetually slips away, so that longing itself becomes the primary mode of relationship. The seeker is kept in a permanent state of near-encounter rather than possession.
The Bauls deliberately reject the formal boundaries of both Hindu and Muslim orthodoxy, drawing on each without belonging to either, and express this through a life of homeless wandering and begging. Their social marginality is presented as inseparable from their spiritual stance.
Because the Bauls distrust written doctrine, their theology survives only as sung verse passed between singers, making the song performance rather than the text the carrier of meaning. Treating these pieces as songs rather than poems reveals that their sense depends on melody, breath, and the moment of singing.