Summary
In this vachana, Basavanna says that through the company of Kudalasangama Deva’s Mahānubhāvas, his body became pure, his mind became pure, his wealth became pure, and his whole being became pure.
The purification is complete. It does not remain only in one part of life. Body, mind, wealth, and all the limbs of being are brought into purity through the company of the realized ones.
Basavanna then says that through the grace of Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharana Prabhudeva, a greatness came to him. He asks how such greatness can be compared or described.
The teaching is that true Sharana-sanga purifies the whole person. This purification is not self-made. It arises through the grace of the Mahānubhāvas and through the grace of Sharana Prabhudeva.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The vachana begins with company: the company of the Mahānubhāvas.
Mahānubhāvas are those of great experience and realized being. Their company is not ordinary association. It is living nearness to those whose presence carries the path.
The first purification is of the body. This means embodied life, action, and conduct are purified.
The second purification is of the mind. Thought, intention, and inner movement become clear.
The third purification is of wealth. What was held as possession becomes purified in its use and relation.
The fourth purification is of the whole being. Basavanna says his entire body or all limbs became pure. No part remains outside the transforming effect of Sharana-sanga.
The comparison that follows should be read as an image of purification through contact. Something previously unclear or impure becomes clarified through the touch or nearness of a purifying force.
The final movement is grace. Basavanna does not say, “I purified myself.” He says that through the grace of Sharana Prabhudeva, a greatness came to him. This greatness exceeds comparison.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana teaches that purification is not partial.
Body, mind, and wealth must all be brought into the path. If the body remains unpurified, action is divided. If the mind remains unpurified, awareness is unstable. If wealth remains unpurified, possession continues to govern life.
Through Mahānubhāva-sanga, these three become purified together.
For Prasadi Sthala, this is important. Prasada is not only something received; it is a transforming grace that purifies the receiver. In this vachana, the grace of Sharana Prabhudeva brings Basavanna into a greatness that cannot be measured by ordinary comparison.
Editorial Commentary
The sequence: body purified, mind purified, wealth purified, and the whole being purified.
The word Mahānubhāva, means one of great Anubhava, a realized being whose presence carries lived experience of the path.
The vachana attributes the transforming greatness to the grace of Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharana Prabhudeva.
The final question is not rhetorical ornament. Basavanna is saying that the greatness received through this grace cannot be adequately compared or described.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Maheshwara Sthala Vachana 995 — The Company of the Sharana as Life Itself
Maheshwara Vachana 995 supports this vachana by teaching that the company of Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharanas is supreme joy, while separation from them is anguish like separation from life itself.
In Vachana 990, the company of the Mahānubhāvas purifies body, mind, wealth, and the whole being. Both vachanas show that Sharana-sanga is not ordinary companionship; it is the living field in which the seeker is sustained, purified, and transformed.
Advancing Vachana
Pranalingi Sthala Vachana 991 — Transformed Through the Touch of Grace
Pranalingi Vachana 991 advances this teaching by showing the seeker transformed through grace-touch, established in the primordial path, made steady like Vrushabha, and absorbed into the vast radiance of Sharana-presence.
In Vachana 990, purification arises through the company of the Mahānubhāvas and the grace of Sharana Prabhudeva. In Vachana 991, this matures into Pranalingi transformation: the seeker is not merely purified, but reconstituted within the living stream of Sharana grace.
