Summary
In this vachana, Basavanna questions the value of learning that remains only verbal. A parrot may recite, but when the cat comes, it does not know how to save itself.
He then gives the image of the eye. It can see the whole world, yet it cannot see itself.
Basavanna applies this to those who speak about others’ qualities while not knowing their own. Before Kudalasangama Deva, true knowledge must become self-recognition.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The parrot is the first image. It can repeat what it has heard, but repetition is not understanding.
The cat represents the moment of testing. When danger arrives, borrowed speech cannot protect.
The eye forms the second image. Its power is outward sight, yet it cannot turn directly upon itself.
This exposes the limitation of outward knowledge. One may see, judge, or describe others, while remaining unknown to oneself.
Basavanna’s final criticism is therefore precise. Knowing others’ qualities is incomplete when one’s own condition remains unseen.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, words must ripen into awareness. Recitation alone cannot steady the Anga before Linga.
The parrot image warns against practice that remains imitative. The test comes when inner danger, fear, or attachment appears.
The eye image asks the practitioner to turn attention inward. Seeing others is easy; recognizing one’s own condition requires discipline.
Practice matures when knowledge becomes self-seeing before Kudalasangama Deva.
Editorial Commentary
This vachana tests knowledge at the point of danger and self-recognition.
Basavanna’s concern is not learning itself, but learning that never becomes inward sight.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Vachana 122 — Untasted Fruit, Unspent Gold
Vachana 122 teaches that value must become lived experience. Vachana 123 applies that principle to learning: words have no fruit unless they become awareness.
Advancing Vachana
Maheshwara Vachana 85 — The Linga in the Palm, the Animal Within
The outward seeing criticized in Vachana 123 advances into the mirror of the self in Maheshwara Vachana 85. What is lacking here as self-recognition becomes, in the next movement, the necessity of seeing one’s own inner condition before Kudalasangama Deva.
