Summary
Basavanna separates spoken expression from direct realization. What has been spoken belongs to those who speak. Words may point, name, or explain, but they do not by themselves attain the truth.
He then states the limit plainly: without Anubhava, it is not possible. What is to be truly known cannot be reached through verbal knowledge alone. Realization must become lived experience.
The final line gives the transformation. Through Kudalasangama Deva’s Anubhava, Basavanna’s bhava has become nothing. The movement of becoming ends not through speech, but through the Lord’s lived realization.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The spoken word is the first image. Basavanna does not deny speech, but he places it within its proper boundary. Speech remains with the speaker; it cannot substitute for realization.
The phrase “not possible without Anubhava” is the center of the vachana. Anubhava is not explanation, interpretation, or mental certainty. It is direct lived realization.
The contrast between word and Anubhava gives the vachana its force. Word belongs to expression; Anubhava belongs to realization. When the two are confused, the seeker mistakes speaking for knowing.
The ending of bhava is the final image. Bhava here refers to the movement of becoming, the continued condition in which the seeker remains separate and unfinished. Basavanna says that through Kudalasangama Deva’s Anubhava, this movement has become nothing.
The vachana therefore moves from speech to its limit, from knowledge to lived realization, and from becoming to its cessation before Kudalasangama Deva.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana teaches that sacred language must not be mistaken for realization. The practitioner may speak, study, or understand, yet still remain outside Anubhava.
For Sharana Sthala, the practice-point is direct: the Sharana does not rest in words alone. Speech must yield to lived realization, and knowing must become Anubhava.
The ending of bhava shows the maturity of the teaching. When Kudalasangama Deva’s Anubhava becomes living truth, the movement of becoming no longer governs the seeker.
Editorial Commentary
The key terms are Anubhava and bhava. Anubhava means lived realization, not merely intellectual knowledge. Bhava here should be read as the movement of becoming or separative condition. Basavanna’s point is that speech cannot end this movement; only Kudalasangama Deva’s Anubhava can.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Pranalingi Sthala Vachana 910 — The Inseparable Grace
Pranalingi Vachana 910 supports this teaching by saying that Kudalasangama Deva’s Arivu must become Anubhava. It shows that knowing should not remain an idea, but must take hold of the seeker so completely that divided worldly dealing loses its force. This directly prepares Vachana 843. In Vachana 910, Arivu becomes Anubhava; in Vachana 843, Basavanna says that without Anubhava attainment is impossible, and through Kudalasangama Deva’s Anubhava his bhava comes to an end.
Advancing Vachana
Aikya Sthala Vachana 851 — Where Knowing Falls Silent
Aikya Vachana 851 advances this teaching by carrying the insufficiency of words into complete silence before realization. There, when knowing arises, when the radiance of Linga is entered, and when meditation on Kudalasangama Deva becomes complete, there is nothing left to say. This is the Aikya-stage fulfillment of Vachana 843. In Sharana Vachana 843, words cannot attain and Anubhava ends bhava; in Aikya Vachana 851, realization becomes so complete that speech itself falls silent before Kudalasangama Deva.
