Summary
In this vachana, Basavanna addresses the human being directly and warns against desiring what fades.
Time passes. Moonlight changes. Wealth does not remain steady. These cannot give lasting standing.
He then points to the unfailing rank: worshipping Kudalasangama Deva without forgetting. The vachana teaches that true dignity is not gained through passing conditions, but through steady remembrance.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
Time is the first sign of instability. It moves onward and cannot be held by human desire.
Moonlight is the second image. It appears bright, yet its fullness changes. Its beauty is real, but not permanent.
Wealth is the third example. It may seem powerful, but its stability cannot be trusted.
Against these, Basavanna places the “rank that does not fall.” This is not worldly status, public honor, or possession.
It is the standing of one who worships Kudalasangama Deva without forgetfulness.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, the Anga must learn where to place desire. If desire rests in what changes, awareness becomes unstable.
Time, moonlight, and wealth show three forms of passing attraction: duration, beauty, and possession.
The practice required here is remembrance without lapse. Worship becomes the seeker’s true position.
Lingayoga matures when the practitioner no longer seeks rank from the world, but stands in unbroken relation to Kudalasangama Deva.
Editorial Commentary
This vachana redefines rank.
Basavanna shifts dignity from outer possession to unfailing remembrance.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Vachana 163 — The Parrot and the Cage
Vachana 163 shows that false security cannot protect the seeker when Māyā strikes. Vachana 165 continues the correction by showing that time, moonlight, and wealth are also unstable supports.
Advancing Vachana
Maheshwara Vachana 22 — The Cry for Causeless Joy
The unfailing rank of Vachana 165 advances into the causeless joy of Maheshwara Vachana 22. What is sought here as standing beyond change becomes, in the next movement, joy that does not depend on time, wealth, or outward condition before Kudalasangama Deva.
