Summary
Basavanna rejects the claim that Ishtalinga, Pranalinga, and Bhavalinga are three separate Lingas. They describe different ways in which the same Linga is worshipped, lived, and inwardly experienced.
The Sadguru gives the governing declaration: “Lingam ekam param nāsti”—the Linga is one, and nothing exists beyond it.
The one Mahalinga contains the whole range of existence represented by the thirty-six tattvas. When its light is recognized in the palm, the mind, and the inward feeling, it becomes Sarvangalinga—the Linga present throughout the Sharana’s entire being.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The vachana begins by quoting divided speech:
“Ishtalinga is one, Pranalinga is another, and Bhavalinga is another.”
Basavanna calls such speech confused because it turns useful distinctions into actual divisions.
Ishtalinga is the Linga received and worshipped in the palm. Pranalinga is the same Divine presence known within life and breath. Bhavalinga is that presence known in inward feeling and awareness.
These names describe different dimensions of experience. They do not indicate three independent Divine realities.
Basavanna therefore asks, “Who has shown three Lingas?”
The question exposes the mistake. No realized Guru has placed three separate Lingas before the seeker. The division is created by the mind when it mistakes different forms of practice for different objects of worship.
The Sadguru’s declaration settles the matter: “The Linga is one; there is nothing beyond it.”
“There is nothing beyond it” means that no higher Linga, second Divine centre, or separate final reality remains to be sought.
The vachana then names Mahalinga as the abode of the thirty-six tattvas. The tattvas represent the complete field of manifested existence—from the body, senses, and mind to subtler levels of awareness.
Mahalinga is not merely one part within this structure. The whole structure rests within it. Nothing belonging to embodied or inward life stands outside the one Linga.
The light of Mahalinga is next recognized in three fields.
In the Karasthala, the palm, Linga is directly received, held, and worshipped.
In the Manasthala, the mind, Linga is present in awareness, thought, and remembrance.
In the Bhavasthala, the inward field of feeling, Linga is present as devotion and direct inner experience.
The same light shines in all three. The palm does not contain one Linga while the mind and Bhava contain two others.
When action, awareness, and inward feeling are illumined by the same presence, the Linga is known as Sarvangalinga—the Linga of the whole being.
The final line places this realization in Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharana. It is not merely a doctrine about unity. It is the lived condition in which the Sharana’s worship, life, mind, and Bhava are no longer divided.
The movement is therefore from confused division, to the Sadguru’s declaration of one Linga, to Mahalinga containing all existence, and finally to that one light filling the Sharana’s whole being.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, the Ishtalinga received in the palm must not remain confined to the time of external worship.
The same Linga must become living awareness in Prana and steady presence in Bhava. Hand, mind, and inward feeling should not move in separate spiritual directions.
The practice is fulfilled when worship, daily life, thought, and devotion are recognized as expressions of one Linga. Sarvangalinga means that no part of the seeker’s being remains outside this relation.
Editorial Commentary
The vachana does not reject the terms Ishtalinga, Pranalinga, and Bhavalinga. It rejects treating them as separate Divine entities.
The thirty-six tattvas are mentioned collectively to represent the whole structure of existence. They need not be individually listed here.
Sarvangalinga means the one Linga known throughout the whole being. It should not be reduced either to the physical body alone or to an abstract philosophical idea.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Sharana Sthala Vachana 264 — The Prayer for Single-Pointedness
Sharana Vachana 264 asks Kudalasangama Deva to keep Basavanna from looking elsewhere, listening elsewhere, or being drawn toward any other object. Sight, hearing, and attraction are to remain gathered at the feet of the Lord’s Sharanas.
This prepares Vachana 1063 directly.
In Sharana Sthala, the faculties are first protected from dispersion and held in one sacred direction. The eye, ear, and desire must not follow different centres.
In Aikya Vachana 1063, this single-pointed discipline reaches fulfilment. The same Mahalinga shines in the palm, mind, and Bhava. What was first gathered away from divided attraction is now realized as the one Linga filling the entire being.
Advancing Vachana
Aikya Sthala Vachana 1064 — Beyond the Threefold Impurity
Vachana 1063 declares that Ishtalinga, Pranalinga, and Bhavalinga are one Mahalinga, revealed throughout the whole being as Sarvangalinga.
Vachana 1064 shows the transformation produced by this realization. Through the Guru’s compassion, inward impurity, human attachment, and outward entanglement are removed. Shiva-bhakti becomes the very body of the devotee, and the worshipper stands in Linga-Aikya beyond former caste, stage of life, and ritual pollution.
The continuation is precise. Vachana 1063 removes division within the understanding of Linga. Vachana 1064 removes the impurities and inherited identities that prevent the devotee from living in that unity.
The one Linga known in the hand, mind, and Bhava thus becomes the devotee’s complete way of being.
