Summary
In this vachana, Basavanna addresses those who bathe in sacred waters.
He calls to them repeatedly: renounce, renounce. What must be renounced is not ordinary life, but wrongful desire: association with another’s wife and craving for another’s wealth.
If these are not abandoned first, bathing in sacred waters becomes fruitless. The vachana teaches that purification begins with conduct. Before Kudalasangama Deva, the heart must be cleansed of wrongful grasping before outer acts of cleansing can have meaning.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The sacred water is the opening image. It represents ritual bathing, outward purification, and the hope of spiritual cleansing.
Basavanna does not deny the act of bathing. He questions its value when the inner life remains impure.
The repeated cry “renounce, renounce” gives the vachana its urgency. It is not a vague rejection of the world. It is a precise command to abandon what violates truth.
Another’s wife is the first boundary. Desire directed there breaks rightful relation.
Another’s wealth is the second boundary. Craving for what belongs to another turns the mind toward theft, grasping, and injustice.
The final warning is clear. If these are not renounced, the seeker may go and bathe, but the bathing will pass without true result.
The imagery therefore teaches that water cannot do the work of Achara. Outer cleansing cannot replace purified conduct.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, the Anga must become clean in conduct as well as in practice.
The body may enter sacred water, but the mind must leave wrongful desire.
Desire for another’s spouse and another’s wealth disturbs the relation to Linga because it turns awareness outward into violation.
Renunciation here means ethical clarity. It is the refusal to let the senses cross the boundary of truth.
Practice matures when outer purification and inner conduct are joined before Kudalasangama Deva.
Editorial Commentary
This vachana places conduct before ritual cleansing.
Basavanna shows that sacred bathing cannot purify the one who has not renounced wrongful desire and wrongful possession.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Vachana 642 — The Fire of Desire and the Discipline of the Soul
Vachana 642 warns against the first movements of wrongful desire through sight, speech, and craving. Vachana 643 continues by making the renunciation of another’s wife and another’s wealth the first condition of purified conduct.
Advancing Vachana
Maheshwara Vachana 689 — The Error of Avoidance
Vachana 643 teaches that outer purification cannot replace the renunciation of wrongful desire and another’s wealth. Maheshwara Vachana 689 advances this into undivided surrender, where conduct, desire, and inner offering must become one before Kudalasangama Deva.
