Summary Basavanna says that true emptiness is not caused by the loss of gold, land, or sensual attachment. These may be given up outwardly, yet the deeper sense of possession…

Summary Basavanna rejects borrowed spirituality with sharp simplicity. Seeing a snake-hole does not make one a snake. Seeing water does not make one a creature of the water. In the…

Summary Basavanna asks Kudalasangama Deva not for honor, nearness, authority, or recognition, but for the smallest place near Dohara Kakkayya. He places himself below even those who revile, mock, and…

Summary Basavanna looks back upon twelve years of learning and effort and asks what they truly amount to if truth has not become established within him. The number of years…

Summary Basavanna presents the whole inward transformation through the image of Madivala Machideva washing a soiled cloth. The stain of the mind and the stain of the body are not…

Summary Basavanna asks why comfort should create attachment and why sorrow should cause agitation. Sweetness and blows stand for the two opposite conditions of life: what pleases and what hurts.…

Summary Basavanna confesses a subtle spiritual error. Thinking that the Formless was not present within Form, he searched for the Formless apart from Form and became weary. The exhaustion did…

Summary Basavanna makes a solemn vow of service to Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharanas. If he becomes anxious that provisions are being spent, he stands condemned by the Lord and by the…

Summary Basavanna says that Samarati, Samasandhana, and Sangasukha became possible for him only through Kudalasangama Deva. Equal love, inward union, and the bliss of sacred togetherness are not claimed as…

Summary Basavanna gives a subtle discipline for the Sharana. Humility must be spoken according to the right occasion, not as performance. Praise must not be seized by the self. Care…