Summary
Basavanna says that his head has touched, joined, and merged with the sacred feet of Kudalasangama Deva until no distinction remains. The opening movement is not merely an act of bowing; the contact ends the separation between the one who bows and the feet before which he bows.
At the touch of the tip of the Lord’s great toe, the deceit attached to the body and the distortions of the mind are cleared away. Basavanna does not claim that he removed them through his own effort. Their disappearance occurs through direct contact with Kudalasangama Deva.
The final image is one of illumination. When Basavanna sees the radiance of the Lord’s sacred feet, the darkness within his inner being flees. The vachana therefore moves from contact, to non-distinction, to the removal of bodily and mental distortion, and finally to inward light.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The head touching the sacred feet forms the opening image. The head belongs to Basavanna, while the feet belong to Kudalasangama Deva. They initially appear as two distinct positions: the devotee who bows and the Lord before whom he bows.
The repeated movement of touching, joining, and merging strengthens the image. This is not momentary physical contact followed by withdrawal. The head becomes joined with the feet so completely that Basavanna declares that no bheda, or distinction, remains.
The sacred feet are therefore more than the place at which reverence is expressed. They become the place where separation ends. Basavanna does not stand apart after bowing and claim the merit of surrender. The one who bows is gathered into the feet themselves.
The “deceit of the body” gives the next movement. The body itself is not condemned. The vachana identifies the kapata associated with the body—the falseness, pretence, or divided conduct that can operate through embodied life.
The “distortion of the mind” is named separately. The body’s deceit and the mind’s vikara are not combined into one vague impurity. One concerns falseness in embodied life; the other concerns the altered and unsettled movements of the mind.
The tip of the Lord’s great toe is the exact point of contact. Basavanna does not describe a vast or forceful intervention. Even the touch of this single point is sufficient to remove what had occupied the body and mind.
The statement “they were cleared away—behold” directs attention to what the Divine touch has accomplished. Basavanna does not describe a prolonged contest with bodily deceit or mental distortion. At the Lord’s touch, their hold ends.
The radiance of the sacred feet gives the final image. The feet that first receive Basavanna’s head are now seen as luminous. Contact becomes vision: what was touched is beheld in its light.
The darkness is located in the antaranga, the inner being. It is not an external night or physical shadow. It is the inward darkness that had prevented clear recognition.
The darkness does not need to be separately attacked. When the radiance of the sacred feet is seen, it flees. Light and darkness are not presented as equal powers struggling against each other. The presence of light itself ends the darkness.
The complete sequence is precise: the head touches the feet; head and feet merge without distinction; bodily deceit and mental distortion are cleared by the touch of the great toe; the sacred feet shine; and inward darkness departs.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana shows the completion of surrender through direct Linga-contact. The Anga does not remain outside the Linga after bowing. The head joins the sacred feet until the distinction between the surrendered one and the Divine ground no longer remains.
The practical movement is equally direct. Bodily conduct and mental movement must come under the touch of the Linga. Their falseness and distortion are not overcome through self-claim, but are released in the relation established at Kudalasangama Deva’s feet.
The final relevance lies in seeing the light that is already present in those feet. When that radiance enters the inner being, darkness cannot continue to govern awareness.
Editorial Commentary
The word bheda means distinction or separateness. The vachana does not merely say that the head remains near the feet; it says that, through their joining, distinction no longer remains.
Kaya-kapata refers to deceit or falseness associated with embodied life. It does not condemn the body itself. Manada vikara refers to the distortions or altered movements of the mind; it does not imply that the mind itself is destroyed.
The great toe and its tip must remain concrete source-images. They should not be converted into an invented anatomical centre or an external yogic system.
The final movement is also concrete: Basavanna sees the radiance of Kudalasangama Deva’s sacred feet, and the darkness within his inner being flees.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Sharana Sthala Vachana 1199 — The Offering of Body and Mind
In Sharana Vachana 1199, Basavanna says that when devotion touches the body, the body becomes offered, and when devotion touches the mind, the mind becomes offered. He places both body and mind at Kudalasangama Deva’s feet, cries repeatedly for protection, and leaves the truth of his surrender to the Lord alone.
This prepares Vachana 1100 directly. In the Sharana vachana, body and mind are placed at the sacred feet in devotion and refuge. The devotee still cries for protection and does not claim that surrender is complete.
In Aikya Vachana 1100, that offering reaches fulfilment. The head joins the feet without distinction; the deceit of the body and the distortion of the mind are removed by the Lord’s touch; and the darkness of the inner being flees before the radiance of those feet. What is offered in Sharana becomes transformed through direct contact in Aikya.
Advancing Vachana
Aikya Sthala Vachana 1109 — Where the Two Have Become One
Aikya Vachana 1109 asks us to behold the devotee who is no longer confined by the body and the Jangama who is free from the governance of mind, life-breath, and bhava. Their state cannot be seized or held in one place, just as the flash of lightning cannot be grasped.
The vachana concludes that, when the two are beheld as one, only Kudalasangama Deva is seen.
Vachana 1100 establishes non-distinction through the joining of Basavanna’s head with the Lord’s feet. Bodily deceit, mental distortion, and inward darkness disappear within that direct relation.
Vachana 1109 advances this personal experience into the vision of the realized devotee and Jangama. They can no longer be confined within body, mind, breath, becoming, or fixed location. When their apparent two-ness becomes one, Basavanna sees no separate presence—only Kudalasangama Deva.
