Poetic Rendering
If I harden my heart, I lose the way
so I keep the highest seat within me empty,
awaiting the Jangama’s arrival.
Only by leaving space for You
can I hope to merge into Your presence.
If I stand rigid before the Jangama,
my body this drying cow-dung cake
on life’s burning brick
will crumble before it ever touches grace.
Stubbornness steals the chance to unite with You.
And why this pride?
A fleeting taste of the divine
makes me raise a little shrine of ego
a serpent-temple built over a moment’s warmth.
But such conceit only bars the path
my own body longs to walk toward You.
Let me never act in ways
that block my journey to the divine.
For You, O Kudalasangamadeva,
are the triple flame
anga, linga, and jangama
and all I can do
is serve You with whatever strength I have.
Basavanna examines the subtle ways the ego obstructs spiritual union.
He says the heart must always keep a “throne of emptiness” ready to receive the divine in the form of the Jangama. Stubbornness, pride, and even the ego born from brief spiritual experiences can cut off the seeker from grace. Recognizing life’s fragility, he prays to remain humble, receptive, and free of actions that create barriers. Ultimately, he dedicates himself to serving Kudalasangamamanifest as body, linga, and jangamawith sincerity and openness.
Spiritual Context
Core Spiritual Principle: Humility as the essential vessel for grace. The ego, in all its formshardness, stubbornness, spiritual prideis a barrier that grace cannot penetrate. The highest spiritual practice is the cultivation of emptiness, softness, and receptivity, creating an internal space where the Divine can descend and take its rightful place.
Cosmic Reality Perspective: This vachana describes the necessary condition for the union of Shiva and Shakti. Shakti (the individual soul) must be receptive, soft, and yielding like a fertile field to receive the seed of Shiva’s consciousness. A hardened, rigid, or prideful Shakti is like barren, rocky ground; the seed cannot take root. The “triple flame” signifies the non-dual reality where the seeker (Anga), the sought (Linga), and the process of seeking (Jangama) are all recognized as one divine fire.
Historical Reality (Anubhava Mantapa Context): This vachana served as a crucial internal guidance for the Lingayoga community, preventing the spiritual arrogance that can arise in close-knit spiritual groups. It ensured that sharanas remained humble and open to learning from each other, especially from the wandering Jangamas, who were living embodiments of the divine will to be received, not judged.
Interpretation
“I keep the highest seat within me empty, awaiting the Jangama’s arrival.” The “highest seat” is the core of one’s identity and will. To keep it empty is the practice of nirahara (fasting of the ego), constantly vacating the throne so that God may occupy it.
“my bodythis drying cow-dung cake on life’s burning brickwill crumble…” This is a powerful metaphor for human fragility. The cow-dung cake is used as fuel but must be pliable to be placed on the fire. If it dries and hardens (becomes stubborn), it crumbles uselessly. This signifies that a rigid ego cannot withstand the fire of spiritual transformation.
“a serpent-temple built over a moment’s warmth.” This is a brilliant image for spiritual pride. A small, transient spiritual experience (“a moment’s warmth”) is inflated by the ego into a grand, permanent monument (“a serpent-temple”). This temple does not honor God but the ego’s own achievement, blocking the path forward.
“You… are the triple flameanga, linga, and jangama” This is the culminating non-dual insight. The distinction between the servant, the served, and the act of service dissolves. All is seen as the play of the one Divine Consciousness.
Practical Implications: The practitioner must vigilantly watch for the three traps: hardening of the heart (unforgiveness, judgment), rigidity (unwillingness to learn or change), and spiritual pride (boasting of experiences, comparing). The daily practice is to cultivate softness, openness, and the attitude of a humble servant.
The Cosmic Reality
Anga (Human Dimension): The Anga is the “cow-dung cake” and the potential “temple-builder.” Its sacred purpose is to remain soft and pliable, to be a fuel for the divine fire, not a monument to itself.
Linga (Divine Principle): The Linga is the “highest seat” and the “fire.” It is the reality that seeks to occupy the heart and transform the individual.
Jangama (Dynamic Interaction): The Jangama is the process of keeping the seat empty, the act of remaining soft, and the service that is offered. It is the dynamic of receptive humility that allows the union to occur.
Shata Sthala
Primary Sthala: Prasadi (Recipient of Grace) The entire vachana is a prayer from the Prasadi stage, acknowledging that one’s own ego is the final obstacle and that grace is needed to cultivate the humility required to receive more grace.
Supporting Sthala: Bhakta (Devotee) The sincere Bhakta is the one who, aware of their own fragility and tendency toward pride, earnestly practices the cultivation of an “empty throne” and engages in simple, dedicated service.
Practical Integration
Arivu (Awareness Practices): Practice “Throne Awareness.” Several times a day, check inwardly: “Who is sitting on the throne of my heart right now? Is it my ego, my pride, my opinions? Or is the throne empty, awaiting the Divine?” Consciously dethrone the ego.
Achara (Personal Discipline): Make softening the heart a core discipline. Practice active listening, readily admitting when you are wrong, and seeking feedback. Avoid rigid positions and judgments.
Kayaka (Sacred Action): Perform all service as an offering to the “triple flame.” See your work not as your own achievement but as a small part of the divine activity, using the “strength you have” without pride.
Dasoha (Communal Offering): In community, value humility above spiritual accomplishment. Honor those who are soft-hearted and receptive, and gently help those who are building “serpent-temples” of pride to see their error.
Modern Application
Our culture celebrates assertiveness, certainty, and personal brandingall forms of egoic hardening. In spiritual circles, this manifests as teachers with cults of personality, practitioners who boast of their experiences, and rigid dogma that leaves no “empty throne” for genuine revelation.
This vachana is a radical call to counter-cultural spiritual maturity. It liberates us from the pressure to be certain, impressive, or spiritually advanced. It invites us into the power of vulnerability, openness, and not-knowing. This is the path to a deep, authentic, and resilient spirituality that is not easily shattered by life’s inevitable challenges.
Essence
Keep a throne empty, soft the heart,
Lest like dry dung, you break apart.
No temple build from pride’s brief light,
That blocks your own soul’s holy flight.
For You are Fire in threefold name,
I serve with all my fragile frame.
The Deeper Pattern: This vachana describes the fundamental principle of a quantum system: the observer effect. The ego is the “observer” that, by its very activity of claiming, hardening, and building (the “serpent-temple”), collapses the wave function of potentiality into a fixed, limited particle of personal identity. This prevents the system from existing in the super positional state of “empty throne,” which is the state of maximum potential and receptivity to the divine “signal.” Humility is the practice of non-observation, allowing the system to remain in a state of coherent potential until it is collapsed by the Divine Observer itself.
In Simple Terms: It is like a cup that wishes to be filled with a precious liquid. If the cup is already full of itself (hardened, rigid, or filled with the dirty water of pride), the new liquid cannot enter. The cup must first be emptied and cleaned. The practice of humility is the process of emptying and cleaning the cup of the self so that it becomes a perfect vessel for grace.
The Human Truth: We are afraid of emptiness and vulnerability, equating them with weakness. We build fortresses of identity, achievement, and opinion to feel safe. The timeless truth here is that our greatest strength lies in our capacity to be empty, soft, and receptive. It is in this state that we are most open to the transformative power of grace and most capable of genuine union with the Divine. The throne of the self is only truly secure when it is occupied by God.
Views: 0