Summary
Basavanna remembers that Kudalasangama Deva sent His Sharana into the mortal world, and by that remembrance he lives in quiet ease. Yet he does not stop with this comfort. He asks why the Sharana was sent and for what purpose.
The answer comes through seeing the Sharana’s conduct. By seeing and seeing again how the Sharana lives, Basavanna’s eye opens. The teaching is direct: the Sharana’s presence is not merely to be remembered; his conduct must be seen.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The sending of the Sharana into the mortal world is the first movement of the vachana. Basavanna treats this as an act of Kudalasangama Deva, and the remembrance of it gives him ease.
The repeated question gives the vachana its searching movement. Basavanna asks the reason for the Sharana’s coming. He does not assume the answer before seeing.
The conduct of the Sharana is the central image. The word does not point to speech alone, doctrine alone, or outer identity alone. It points to the way the Sharana lives.
The opening of the eye completes the vachana. Basavanna’s seeing becomes clear through the Sharana’s conduct. Before Kudalasangama Deva, the purpose of the Sharana’s coming is understood through lived conduct.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, the relevance of this vachana lies only in the movement given by the source: remembering that Kudalasangama Deva sent His Sharana, asking why he was sent, seeing the Sharana’s conduct, and having the eye opened through that seeing.
Editorial Commentary
The water held in the hand is the governing image: nearness or possession does not become fulfilment without inward assimilation. Basavanna contrasts temporary pleasure with the true quenching of desire in Sayujya and the Samarasa-bliss of Kudalasangama Deva.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Pranalingi Sthala Vachana 635 — The Weaver Bird and the Restless Monkey
Pranalingi Vachana 635 supports this vachana by showing devotion that remains unstable, formal, or comfort-seeking because it has not truly known Shiva. Sharana Vachana 5 carries that concern forward by showing how true recognition arises: not through unstable display, but by seeing the conduct of Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharana. What remains ungrounded in Pranalingi becomes clarified in Sharana through lived conduct.
Advancing Vachana
Aikya Sthala Vachana 1084 — The Revelation Within the Karasthala
Aikya Vachana 1084 advances this teaching by carrying seeing into fuller realization. In Sharana Vachana 5, Basavanna’s eye opens by seeing the conduct of Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharana. In Aikya Vachana 1084, the Sharanas are beheld within the Karasthala-Linga, and the distinction between inner and outer disappears. Thus the eye opened by Sharana-conduct advances into Aikya as vision beyond division.
