Summary
In this vachana, Basavanna examines how one becomes known as a Bhakta.
Some wear the Linga because they have been kept within the tradition. Some wear it because they have been brought into it. Some wear it because they have been pressed, corrected, or compelled into the path.
But Basavanna does not accept outer wearing as complete bhakti. If the relation to Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharanas is only like a tied thread without living inward bond, devotion remains unfinished. The vachana teaches that Bhakta-hood must arise from inner acceptance, not from pressure, habit, or social display.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The repeated phrase “they became Bhaktas” is the center of the vachana. Basavanna deliberately repeats it to test the word “Bhakta.”
One may be kept within a devotional setting and be called a Bhakta. One may be brought into the path by others and be called a Bhakta. One may even be corrected or pressured into wearing the sign of devotion and still be called a Bhakta.
Basavanna questions all these forms. They describe entry from outside, not necessarily awakening from within.
The Linga worn outwardly is not rejected. The problem is wearing without inward fire. The sign is sacred, but the wearer must become inwardly joined to its meaning.
The final image of the tied thread is important. A thread may be tied, but if the living bond is absent, it remains only a sign. In the same way, a person may bear the marks of devotion, but if love, surrender, and relation to the Sharanas have not awakened, bhakti has not ripened.
The phrase “my bhakti became half-formed” gives the vachana its humility. Basavanna does not merely accuse others. He turns the test inward and confesses that devotion without living connection remains incomplete.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, the Linga must not remain an outer object worn by the body alone.
The Anga must inwardly receive the Linga. The hand may hold it, the body may wear it, and the community may recognize it, but the mind must awaken to its living relation.
This vachana therefore warns against inherited, pressured, or externally managed devotion. Lingayoga begins to mature only when the seeker personally enters the bond between Anga and Linga.
The reference to Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharanas also matters. The Bhakta is not formed by symbol alone, but by living relation to the Sharanas, whose presence tests whether devotion has become real.
Practice matures when wearing becomes remembrance, remembrance becomes surrender, and surrender becomes living bhakti.
Editorial Commentary
This vachana should be read as a test of external Bhakta-hood.
Basavanna does not reject the Linga, the devotional sign, or the community that brings one into the path. He rejects the assumption that these alone complete devotion.
The teaching is clear: one may be kept, brought, corrected, or compelled into the path, but unless the inner relation awakens, bhakti remains incomplete before Kudalasangama Deva.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Bhakta Vachana 126 — The Painted Sweetness
Vachana 126 teaches that worship without love and speech without feeling are like painted sugarcane without sweetness. Vachana 62 supports the same principle by showing that wearing the sign of Bhakta-hood without inner bond leaves devotion unfinished.
Advancing Vachana
Maheshwara Vachana 132 — The Mantra of Poverty and the Silence of Greed
Vachana 62 shows the danger of becoming a Bhakta only by outer keeping, bringing, correction, or pressure. Maheshwara Vachana 132 advances this into the hollow drum, where outer sound or form remains empty when inner substance is absent before Kudalasangama Deva.
