Summary Basavanna presents a self that has no separate role apart from Kudalasangama Deva. When the Lord is formless, the speaker is knowledge as His vehicle; when the Lord dances,…

Summary Basavanna remembers that Kudalasangama Deva sent His Sharana into the mortal world, and by that remembrance he lives in quiet ease. Yet he does not stop with this comfort.…

Summary Basavanna says he is caught in the net called samsara. He does not describe the condition from a distance; he cries directly to Kudalasangama Deva: “Protect me, protect me.”…

Summary Basavanna says that weariness does not cease merely by saying, “I am weary.” Burden does not cease merely by saying, “I am burdened.” Suffering does not cease merely by…

Summary Basavanna presents a world in which natural order has been overturned. Fire becomes ground, earth trembles, the bull drinks what was meant for the field, the fence consumes what…

Summary Basavanna asks whether he can gather and arrange his virtues and faults before Kudalasangama Deva. The question itself shows the limit of such self-arrangement. Virtue and fault may be…

Summary Basavanna says he is weakened by the five senses and the seven bodily elements. His understanding is disturbed by the distortions of the mind, and his steadiness is shaken…

Summary Basavanna asks how he can speak of devotion to Shiva (Shiva-bhakti) and how the disciplined way of living in accordance with Shiva (Shiva-achara) can become known to him. He…

Summary Basavanna says that the body’s distortions trouble him, the mind’s distortions gather within him, and the senses’ distortions whirl around him. He is caught within that whirl and asks…

Summary Basavanna says that he has known the source from which he has come, and he asks his Father to guide him. Yet this knowing has not ended his disturbance.…