Summary In this vachana, Basavanna asks what use there is in something that does not become available for its proper purpose. Water that does not cleanse has no benefit. Gold…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna questions the value of learning that remains only verbal. A parrot may recite, but when the cat comes, it does not know how to save…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna questions whether outer action can become devotion without inner realization. An ox may bend its head, but that does not make it a Guru-bhakta. Tongs…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna speaks of worship without love and speech without feeling. Both may appear proper, but neither carries living truth. He compares them to a painted form…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna asks whether character can be found after love or living nearness has been lost. The question points to a condition where the root of goodness…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna compares himself to an ekke fruit found within a mango. The mango suggests sweetness, ripeness, and worth, while the ekke fruit does not share that…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna rejects worldly birth-labels as the measure of spiritual worth. If one whom society calls Holeya bows to the Linga and becomes a Sharana, he is…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna asks what sacred company cannot do. He first gives the image of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, showing that one form of life can pass…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna calls the mortal world the workshop of the Lord. Human life is the place where the seeker is formed, tested, and made fit. What becomes…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna contrasts two scenes. When a hunter brings a hare, people gather eagerly for a share. But when the dead body of a ruler lies there,…