Poetic Rendering
This world we chase after
is only a passing gust of wind
here now, gone the next.
And wealth?
Just the noise of a crowded marketplace,
a bustle that fades with the evening dust.
Why cling to this brief commotion?
Let the clatter of riches fall from your mind,
and turn your heart instead
to Kudalasangama
the only truth that does not pass.
The Wind and the Market: Seeing Through the Illusion of the World In this vachana, Basavanna distills worldly life to its essential nature: impermanence and noise. His metaphors are sharp and unambiguous: Samsara is a gust of wind momentary, unpredictable, without substance. Wealth is a marketplace loud, chaotic, transactional, and fleeting. We suffer not because the world is painful, but because we mistake the temporary for the eternal, giving solidity to what is inherently unstable. Basavanna therefore offers not a moral injunction but a clarity of perception: See the world as it is, not as desire paints it. The invitation is to withdraw emotional investment from what constantly slips away and place one’s trust in Kudalasangama, the only abiding reality. In this shift of vision from illusion to truth Basavanna frames spiritual awakening as a quiet liberation from the noise of the market into the stillness of the Eternal.
Spiritual Context
Core Spiritual Principle: Clarity of Perception is Liberation. Bondage (bandha) is not caused by the world itself but by the error (bhrama) of perceiving the impermanent as permanent and the empty as substantial. Liberation (moksha) is the direct consequence of correct perception (viveka), which spontaneously reorders one’s attachments.
Cosmic Reality Perspective (non-dual, Shiva-Shakti dynamics): The gust and the market noise are the playful, dynamic manifestations of Shakti the creative energy of the Divine. The problem arises when consciousness, forgetting its identity as Shiva (the silent, unchanging ground), identifies exclusively with these manifestations. The practice is to enjoy Shakti’s display while abiding as Shiva, thus appreciating the world as a temporary, divine expression without seeking lasting fulfillment from it.
Historical Reality (Anubhava Mantapa context): This was a direct counter to the materialistic piety and ritual-based commerce of 12th-century religious orthodoxy. It provided the Lingayoga community with a powerful cognitive tool to devalue the very currencies of social power (wealth and status) that excluded them. It fostered an inward-looking, content-rich community that found its wealth in shared devotion rather than in feudal or mercantile accumulation.
Interpretation
1.”This world we chase after is only a passing gust of wind…”: The “world” (samsara) is not an object but a process an ever-changing flow of conditions (pratyaya). Like wind, it can be felt powerfully but cannot be grasped or owned. Chasing it is the fundamental activity of the unawakened ego.
2.”And wealth? Just the noise of a crowded marketplace…”: Wealth is demystified as a social constructa collectively agreed-upon fiction that generates immense psychic “noise” (anxiety, competition, pride). Its value is conversational, not intrinsic; it fades like evening dust, leaving no essence.
3.”Why cling to this brief commotion?”: Clinging (abhinivesha) is the instinctive response of a consciousness that believes itself to be separate and lacking. The question is a logical injunction: if something is inherently fleeting and empty, investment in it is the definition of folly.
4.”Let the clatter… fall from your mind, and turn your heart…”: This is the twofold method of negation (neti, neti) and affirmation (iti). First, consciously allow the mental preoccupations to lose their grip. Second, actively redirect the energy of the heart (bhavana) toward the only worthy object of attachment.
Practical Implications: It demands a daily practice of “de-hypnotization”: consciously questioning the solidity and importance of whatever provokes desire or anxiety. It turns every moment of craving or fear into an opportunity to remember the gust and the noise, and to re-establish in the silent witness.
The Cosmic Reality
Anga (Human Dimension): The Anga is the locus of attention and valuation. Its freedom lies in its capacity to choose where to place the “capital” of its awareness. It can invest in the volatile market of sensory and social phenomena or in the perpetual “blue chip” of the Divine.
Linga (Divine Principle): The Linga is the absolute referent that reveals all other referents as unreliable. It is the “still point of the turning world.” As Kudalasangama, it is the unifying convergence where all transient gusts originate and subside.
Jangama (Dynamic Interaction): The Jangama is the dynamic reallocation of attention itself. It is the moment-by-moment choice to dis-identify from the gust and the noise and to identify with the silent, spacious awareness that contains them. This turning is not a one-time event but a continuous activity.
Shata Sthala
Primary Sthala: Sharana. The vachana is an archetypal expression of the Sharana’s decision. The Sharana is defined by taking singular refuge (ekasharana). Having seen through the illusion of all other supports (wealth, status, worldly security), they make the divine their only security, their only “market” for exchange.
Supporting Sthala: Aikya. The state of Aikya is the natural culmination of this perfect refuge. When the turning is complete, the refuge and the one taking refuge merge. The seeker realizes they were never separate from the eternal silence they sought; the gust and the noise were always arising within their own boundless being.
Practical Integration
Arivu (Awareness Practices): Cultivate “meta-awareness.” When engaged in worldly pursuits, periodically ask: “Is this a gust I’m trying to catch? Is this a market noise I’m amplifying?” Label experiences with these metaphors to maintain cognitive distance.
Achara (Personal Discipline): Institute a daily “turning” ritual. Upon waking, consciously dedicate the day’s activities and their fruits to Kudalasangama. Let this intention be the anchor that prevents entanglement in the day’s “gusts.”
Kayaka (Sacred Action): Perform all work as an offering into the silent reality, not as a bid for market applause. Let the quality of the work itself be the worship, detaching from the “noise” of profit, praise, or outcome.
Dasoha (Communal Offering): Share the insight of impermanence. Help create a community economy that values generosity and service over accumulation. Reduce the internal “market noise” within the Sangha by discouraging gossip, status comparison, and material competition.
Modern Application
“The Attention Economy.” Our modern environment is a deliberately engineered super-market of noise, where digital platforms commodify our attention, selling it as gusts of clicks and likes. This creates a pervasive sense of lack, anxiety, and a fractured self, constantly chasing the next gust of novelty or validation.
This vachana provides the ultimate digital detox protocol. It teaches us to see social media feeds, news cycles, and consumerist drives as “market clamor” and “passing gusts.” It empowers us to reclaim our attention the most valuable currency and invest it in the silent, enduring reality within. It fosters a lifestyle of intentional minimalism, where value is derived from presence, relationship, and inner fulfillment rather than from external validation.
Essence
What is the world but a gust that dies at dawn?
What is wealth but a cry, then gone?
A mind that clings to wind or sound
On shifting sand is always bound.
Let go the chase, the fruitless fight,
And turn toward the changeless Light.
For in that Stillness, all finds rest
The only Truth, the only Guest.
This vachana exemplifies the hermeneutics of suspicion applied to consciousness itself. It subjects the contents of consciousness worldly pursuits and attachments to a rigorous phenomenological reduction, stripping them of their falsely projected qualities of permanence and substantiality. What remains is the pure, empty suchness (tathata) of the phenomenon, which can then be seen as a transient modulation of the eternal ground (dharmata).
Imagine you are at a grand, immersive cinema. The images on the screen (the world) are breathtaking and loud (the market). Most people forget they are in a theater and try to grab the images or react as if they are real. Wisdom is remembering you are in a seat, watching a show. The ultimate wisdom is realizing you are the screen itself, upon which the entire show harmlessly plays. The vachana reminds you to stop trying to grab the images and to rest as the screen.
We are inherently meaning-seeking creatures, but we often seek meaning in places that cannot hold itin things that decay, in opinions that change, in achievements that are forgotten. This vachana speaks to the profound disappointment that follows this misplaced search. It points to the only investment that never loses value: the investment in the timeless awareness that we are. It teaches that peace is not found by silencing the world’s noise, but by discovering the silent space within us that the noise can never disturb.
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