Poetic RenderingLet your word be firm as stone.Let your living mirror your speech.For one whose tongue casts nets of deceittheir words unravel, their being weakens,and such a person finds no…

Poetic RenderingIf a wicked man were to offer youa whole country and all its lands,do not accept even the shade of his doorway.But if a true Shiva-bhakta such as Madara…

Poetic RenderingNo company with half-hearted devotees,no sharing of road or word with them.For I have found my placein the pure union with the sharanasof Koodalasangama. This vachana establishes a critical…

Poetic RenderingAcross this wide earth, the marketplace hums without restbuying and selling, desire and profit weaving its endless noise.But above every bargain and beneath every gainsits the Supreme Merchant, Mahadeva-Setti,whose…

Poetic RenderingLet me never bow in fear before another,nor pour out praise where understanding is absent.Let my mind not wander toward another’s desire,nor let the company of the faithless cling…

Poetic RenderingBorn in the house of Shiva,your very breath shaped by the all-pervading Oneyou accepted the Linga as the path to liberation,yet your tongue strays toward other gods,your mind wanders…

Poetic RenderingIf one claims to be Shiva’s devoteeyet thinks his journey is already complete,let him know thishe will be struck down,scraped, humbled,his earth-born body reduced to dark ash.For the one…