Summary Basavanna questions the religious identity of one who worships the Creator and then bows before an inferior deity. Such a person cannot rightly be called Bhakta, servant, or Sharana,…

Summary Basavanna asks the listener to see that a faithful wife knows one husband, just as a Bhakta capable of true faith knows one Deva. He repeatedly rejects association with…

Summary Vachana 601 — The Already-Present Divine Imagery & Symbolic Relevance True Bhava gives the opening measure. Basavanna begins with inward sincerity rather than birth, study, or ritual qualification. Lakshmi…

Summary Basavanna addresses those who pronounce the Pranava without spiritual authenticity. They recite or explain the meaning of the Pranava-mantra, yet its true meaning remains unknown to them. The Śrutis…

Summary Basavanna declares that when one socially called Holeya or Madiga becomes a Bhakta, inherited status loses its authority. The transformation through Bhakti calls for open and ceremonial honour. He…

Summary Basavanna asks whether anyone would use a golden plough to sow the seed of the ekka plant, cut down a camphor tree to fence thorny growth, or cut sandalwood…

Summary Basavanna begins with the common ground of embodied birth. The body has no separate foundation apart from the womb, and the process of the fluid-drop is the same. Desire,…

Summary Basavanna names four Purāṇas and the fields in which each becomes a destructive or decisive force: the Ādi Purāṇa among the Asuras, the Veda-Purāṇa in relation to the Hoti,…

Summary Basavanna repeats one cause through six examples: because the Brahmin was believed to be Deva, Gautama incurred cow-killing, Bali was bound, Karna lost his armour, Daksha received a sheep’s…

Summary Basavanna repeatedly forbids speech that separates Shiva from Vishnu and Nārāyaṇa from Hara. The reversal of the names shows that the prohibition applies from either direction. Neither name should…