Summary
Basavanna begins by asking how the state before him can be compared or described. It does not display itself directly, yet its incomparable nature is revealed through the Guru. What cannot be reached by word-bound understanding becomes known through living revelation.
The image of the cock announcing sunrise gives the turning point. The cock does not create the dawn; its cry announces what is arising. In the same way, through the sight of the Sharanas of great spiritual stature, the true Pranava speaks of itself.
Basavanna then names the realization made visible to him. Through Prabhudeva, Siddharamayya Deva, and Hadapada Appanna, he beholds the state of Marulashankaradeva, who is merged in Kudalasangama Deva without separation. Seeing this fulfilled state, Basavanna declares that his birth has become fruitful.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The opening question, “How shall I compare it?”, establishes the limit of ordinary description. Basavanna does not begin by defining the state. He acknowledges that it has no adequate comparison.
The statement that it does not reveal itself by itself introduces the hiddenness of the state. It is not an outward spectacle that can be displayed at will or seized through observation.
The Guru’s mouth gives the means of revelation. The state that cannot show itself as an ordinary object becomes known through the Guru’s living utterance. The Guru does not manufacture the truth; the Guru becomes the means through which it is disclosed.
The expression “its own state” keeps the revelation source-bound. What is shown is not an invented interpretation or an idea imposed upon the state. Its own nature becomes evident.
The word “incomparable” strengthens the opening question. The state cannot be measured by another condition, image, person, or concept. Comparison reaches its limit before it.
The reference to one bewildered or captivated by words gives the first obstruction. Words may point toward realization, but attachment to words prevents the seeker from receiving what lies beyond them.
The reference to one asleep amid what merely appears to exist gives the second obstruction. The state cannot be shown where awareness remains unawakened within outward appearance. What is present may remain unseen when the perceiver is inwardly asleep.
The cock’s cry at sunrise gives the central concrete image. The cock does not bring the sun into existence. Its sound announces the arrival of light.
The image therefore clarifies the Guru’s function. The Guru does not create the realized state. The Guru announces and reveals what has become present, just as the cock’s cry makes the approaching dawn known.
The darshana of the Ghanamahimas, the sight of those of great spiritual stature, gives the next movement. Basavanna does not reach the truth through isolated reasoning. The presence of the realized Sharanas becomes the field in which revelation occurs.
The true Pranava speaking of itself shows that realization is no longer a sound repeated from outside. The truth becomes self-declaring. What could not be adequately spoken by the seeker finds expression from within the revealed state itself.
The movement from the cock’s cry to the true Pranava is precise. The first sound announces the coming of outward dawn; the second announces inward awakening.
Marulashankaradeva is the one whose realized state is finally beheld. The vachana does not give a general discussion of realization alone; it points to a named Sharana in whom that state has become evident.
His condition is described as being merged in Kudalasangama Deva without separateness. The statement concerns Marulashankaradeva’s abiding state, not a temporary vision or symbolic resemblance.
Prabhudeva, Siddharamayya Deva, and Hadapada Appanna are the Sharanas through whom Basavanna comes to behold that state. Their grammatical role must remain distinct: they reveal or make known; Marulashankaradeva is the one whose state is revealed.
Prabhudeva here refers to Allama Prabhudeva, one of the named Sharanas. It does not function as a general address to Kudalasangama Deva in this clause.
The final declaration, “my birth has become fruitful,” gives the consequence of the vision. Basavanna does not say that his birth is fulfilled because he has found a successful description. It becomes fruitful because he has directly beheld the realized state made known through the Guru and Sharanas.
The complete movement is therefore ordered: comparison fails; the state remains hidden from word-bound and sleeping awareness; the Guru reveals; the sight of realized Sharanas announces awakening like the cock at dawn; the true Pranava speaks; Marulashankaradeva’s inseparable state in Kudalasangama Deva is beheld; and Basavanna’s birth becomes fruitful.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana teaches that realization cannot be produced through verbal knowledge alone. Words may guide, but the seeker must become receptive to revelation through Guru and Jangama.
The practical movement is from hearing to seeing. The Guru’s utterance must awaken recognition, and the realized condition of the Sharanas must be beheld rather than merely discussed.
The true Pranava is not presented here as repetition alone. It becomes living recognition arising through awakened awareness. When the inseparable state of the realized Sharana is truly seen, the purpose of practice becomes clear before Kudalasangama Deva.
Editorial Commentary
The opening question concerns the impossibility of adequate comparison. Nirupama means incomparable; the state cannot be measured through another object or condition.
The vachana does not reject language absolutely. It distinguishes between attachment to words and the Guru’s living utterance. Ordinary speech cannot contain the state, but speech arising through realization can reveal it.
The cock-and-dawn image must remain restrained. The cock announces the sunrise; it does not create it. In the same way, the Guru and Sharanas reveal the state rather than manufacture it.
The named roles are distinct:
Marulashankaradeva is the Sharana whose inseparable state in Kudalasangama Deva is beheld.
Prabhudeva, meaning Allama Prabhudeva here, is one of those through whom the state is revealed.
Siddharamayya Deva is also a revealer and witness.
Hadapada Appanna stands with them in making the state known.
Kudalasangama Deva is the Divine ground in whom Marulashankaradeva abides without separation.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Sharana Sthala Vachana 5 — The Eye-Opening Conduct
In Sharana Vachana 5, Basavanna remembers that Kudalasangama Deva sent His Sharana into the mortal world. He asks why the Sharana was sent and finds the answer by repeatedly seeing the Sharana’s conduct. Through that seeing, his eye opens.
This prepares Aikya Vachana 1105 directly. Sharana Vachana 5 establishes that the truth of the Sharana is known through lived presence and conduct rather than through assumption or title. Seeing the Sharana opens Basavanna’s vision.
Aikya Vachana 1105 carries this seeing into a deeper revelation. The Guru’s utterance and the darshana of Prabhudeva, Siddharamayya Deva, and Hadapada Appanna reveal Marulashankaradeva’s inseparable state in Kudalasangama Deva. The eye opened by seeing Sharana-conduct in Sharana Sthala matures into direct recognition of the realized Sharana’s state in Aikya.
Advancing Vachana
Aikya Sthala Vachana 1106 — The Hidden Essence Within
Aikya Vachana 1106 uses three natural images: the kernel hidden within the seed, sweetness within flowing sap, and nectar within milk. Each shows an essence that is already present but not immediately visible.
The vachana then states that embodied life may continue without bhava taking hold. It closes by declaring that, in Kudalasangama Deva, the mystery of Prabhudeva has become unfathomable.
Vachana 1105 establishes how the hidden and incomparable state becomes known: the Guru reveals it, the Sharanas make it visible, and Basavanna beholds Marulashankaradeva’s inseparable state.
Vachana 1106 advances this teaching by turning from the act of revelation to the nature of what is revealed. Realization is hidden within embodied existence as essence within seed, sap, and milk. The body remains, but becoming does not bind. The state first shown through Guru and Sharana in Vachana 1105 deepens in Vachana 1106 into the inexhaustible mystery embodied by Prabhudeva before Kudalasangama Deva.
