Summary
The Sharana has directly known the true nature of the Self and recognized the Linga as Paramatma, the Supreme Self. Once this separation disappears, worship is no longer an act performed by one person toward another.
The Sharana’s whole life becomes worship. Whatever he experiences is already offered to Shiva; whatever he receives becomes Prasada; whatever he knows reveals Parabrahman; and whatever he speaks expresses Paratattva.
Basavanna concludes with the strongest statement: the Sharana himself is Kudalasangama Deva. This does not glorify the individual. It means that the separate self no longer stands between the Sharana and the Divine.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The vachana begins with the Sharana knowing the truth of the Self.
This is not ordinary self-knowledge such as understanding one’s character, abilities, or personal history. It is the recognition that the Self does not exist independently of Linga.
The Sharana also knows that Linga is Paramatma. Linga is therefore no longer approached only as a sacred object placed before the worshipper. It is known as the Supreme presence within which the Sharana’s own life stands.
Basavanna then asks, “What further worship remains?”
The question does not reject worship. It asks what separate worship can remain when the worshipper and the worshipped are no longer experienced as two.
The vachana explains this through four parts of ordinary life.
“Whatever he enjoys is Shivarpita” means that experience is no longer privately possessed. The Sharana does not stand as an independent enjoyer claiming pleasure for himself. What is experienced already belongs to Shiva.
“Whatever he tastes is Prasada” extends Prasada beyond ritual food. Whatever comes to the Sharana is received as Divine giving rather than as personal acquisition.
“Whatever he knows is Parabrahman” means that knowledge no longer strengthens a separate knower. Through true knowing, the same Supreme Reality is recognized.
“Whatever he speaks is Paratattva” shows speech arising from realized truth. The Sharana’s words are not separated from his knowledge, conduct, and experience.
The sequence is important. Experience, reception, knowledge, and speech together represent the Sharana’s lived existence. No part of life remains outside the Linga-relation.
The final declaration—“the Sharana himself is Kudalasangama Deva”—completes the movement. Basavanna is not saying that an individual ego has become God. The claim of independent individuality has ended; therefore, Kudalasangama Deva alone is revealed through the Sharana.
The complete movement is from knowing the Self, to recognizing Linga as Paramatma, to the ending of separate worship, and finally to the whole life of the Sharana becoming Divine expression.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, worship begins as a conscious relation between Anga and Linga. The seeker offers, receives Prasada, remembers, and speaks of the Divine.
This vachana shows the fulfilled condition of that practice. Offering, receiving, knowing, and speaking are no longer separate religious activities. They have become the natural movement of life established in Linga.
This condition should not be imitated through the thought, “Whatever I do is Divine.” It belongs to the Sharana who has truly lost separate ownership and self-claim.
The practical measure is therefore not freedom to follow personal desire, but the disappearance of the private enjoyer, possessor, knower, and speaker.
Editorial Commentary
The question “What further worship remains?” concerns the fulfilment of worship, not its rejection.
Shivarpita means offered or consecrated to Shiva. Prasada means what is received through Divine grace. Parabrahman indicates Supreme Reality, while Paratattva indicates the Supreme Truth or principle.
The statement that the Sharana is Kudalasangama Deva must not be read as personal self-deification. The vachana speaks of a Sharana who has known the Self and Linga without separation. The individual ego cannot claim the conclusion.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Sharana Sthala Vachana 138 — The Mark Beyond All Marks
Sharana Vachana 138 declares that after Linga-deva has been worshipped, inherited clan and outer marks can no longer determine the devotee’s identity. It concludes that the devotee’s body is Kudalasangama Deva’s own body.
This prepares Vachana 1036 directly.
In Sharana Vachana 138, the devotee’s body is no longer measured through social identity because it belongs to Kudalasangama Deva. In Vachana 1036, this belonging becomes complete: experience is Shivarpita, reception is Prasada, knowledge is Parabrahman, and speech is Paratattva.
The Sharana teaching first removes false external measures. The Aikya teaching then reveals the whole Sharana as the living presence of Kudalasangama Deva.
Advancing Vachana
Aikya Sthala Vachana 1037 — Where the Self Became One
Vachana 1036 declares that the Sharana himself is Kudalasangama Deva after the separation between Self and Paramatma-Linga has disappeared.
Vachana 1037 immediately deepens this realization. The hidden truth of the Self becomes evident, the body’s separate appearance loses its authority, and awareness settles in “You alone.” Within that awareness, the feeling of Kudalasangama Deva and the state of Prabhudeva become one.
The progression is exact. Vachana 1036 shows non-separation through the Sharana’s experience, receiving, knowing, and speaking. Vachana 1037 removes even the remaining appearance of a separate embodied self.
Living worship thus deepens into the undivided awareness of “You alone.”
