Summary
Basavanna says that when one sees a Shiva-bhakta and takes refuge through that seeing, the sin of seven births leaves and goes away.
He then says that if one touches and bows at the feet, it is as though the body itself has been offered. It is like the touch of the touchstone. The company of the Sharanas of Kudalasangama Deva does not allow one to enter again into the garland of becoming.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The sight of the Shiva-bhakta is the first movement. The vachana does not speak of ordinary seeing. The seeing becomes refuge.
The sin of seven births is the burden that falls away. Basavanna gives the result directly: when the Shiva-bhakta is truly seen and refuge is taken, accumulated sin leaves.
The touching of the feet is the second movement. It is not treated as an empty gesture. When one touches and bows at the feet, it is as though the body itself has been offered.
The touchstone image gives the vachana its force. A base substance touched by the touchstone is transformed. Basavanna uses this image to show the transforming power of contact with the Sharana.
The company of Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharanas completes the teaching. Such company does not return the seeker to the garland of becoming. Sharana-sanga is therefore not casual association; it is transforming nearness that prevents return to the cycle of repeated birth and worldly existence.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, the relevance of this vachana lies in the movement given by the source: seeing the Shiva-bhakta, taking refuge, bowing at the feet, and entering the company of Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharanas.
The practice-point is direct: the seeker should seek the company of the Sharanas and bow with full offering, because such contact transforms and does not lead back into the garland of becoming.
Editorial Commentary
This vachana should be read as a teaching on the transforming force of Sharana-sanga. Basavanna does not describe the Sharana merely as an example to admire. The sight, feet, touch, and company of the Sharana are shown as transformative. The explanation should remain with the source images: seeing, refuge, bowing, touchstone, and freedom from return to bhava-māle.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Prasadi Sthala Vachana 842 — Transformative Antidote
Prasadi Vachana 842 supports this vachana by showing that one reality removes its opposite: knowledge removes ignorance, light removes darkness, truth removes falsehood, and the touchstone changes base metal. It then asks that bhava be destroyed by the strength of the Anubhava of Kudalasangama’s Sharanas. Sharana Vachana 140 carries the same teaching into direct Sharana-sanga: seeing the Shiva-bhakta, bowing at the feet, and entering the company of the Sharanas removes the burden of births and does not allow return to the garland of becoming.
Advancing Vachana
Aikya Sthala Vachana 876 — The Feet as the Supreme Beyond Word, Vision, and Reach
Aikya Vachana 876 directly advances this teaching by carrying the touchstone image into the realized transforming power of the Sharana’s feet. In Sharana Vachana 140, seeing the Shiva-bhakta becomes refuge, while touching and bowing at the feet transforms the seeker and prevents return to bhava-māle. In Aikya Vachana 876, speech, sight, and hand are identified as distinct transforming faculties, but the feet of Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharana are declared to be pāda-paruṣa—the embodied touchstone itself. Thus the transforming nearness of Sharana-sanga advances into Aikya as direct transformation through the living feet of the Sharana.
