Vachana 1410 – I Am Not One Who Keeps Asking

The Vachana contains no material image. Its movement passes through repeated petition, weary following, the refusal to ask again, the repeated reassurance to the Lord, and the final oath concerning Āśā-pāśa.
Not One Who Keeps Asking
Basavanna begins by distinguishing himself from the one who asks for one thing after another and continually presses the Lord with requests.
Repeated asking preserves a transactional relation:
the devotee remains the petitioner;
the Lord remains the giver;
desire continually produces another request.
Even when one request is fulfilled, another may arise. The relation then remains governed by what is still wanted.
Basavanna says that this is no longer his way.
Following Behind and Growing Weary
He says that he has followed behind and become weary.
This weariness reveals the exhaustion contained within endless desire. The one who follows behind asking never truly arrives, because every fulfilled request gives way to another expectation.
Basavanna has passed through that movement and recognised its incompleteness. He no longer wishes to sustain devotion through pursuit and petition.
The weariness therefore becomes a turning point. What had moved outward through repeated asking now comes to rest before Kudalasangama Deva.
“I Shall Ask for Nothing More”
Basavanna does not replace one request with a greater or more spiritual request. He says that he will ask for nothing further.
The words carry finality. The movement of “one more thing” has ended.
This does not mean that Basavanna has withdrawn from the Lord. He continues to address Kudalasangama Deva directly and intimately. What has ceased is not relationship, but demand within the relationship.
He remains before the Lord without placing a condition upon Divine nearness.
“Do Not Fear, Do Not Fear, O Ayya”
The repeated reassurance gives the Vachana tenderness and intimacy.
Basavanna tells the Lord twice not to fear. The devotee who formerly followed behind with repeated requests now assures the Lord that no further demand will arise.
The repetition confirms the firmness of his declaration. He is not momentarily silent while secretly preserving another hope. He wishes the Lord to know that the asking itself has ended.
The relationship is no longer burdened by expectation.
Āśā-pāśa: The Bond of Desire
The final line names the source of repeated asking: Āśā-pāśa.
Āśā is hope, desire, longing, or expectation.
Pāśa is a bond, cord, or snare.
Āśā becomes a bond when fulfilment is always placed in something yet to be received. The mind remains tied to a future answer, gain, blessing, or condition.
Basavanna declares that this bond no longer remains within him.
The absence of Āśā-pāśa is not despair or loss of devotion. It is freedom from the expectation that Kudalasangama Deva must provide something further before the relationship can be complete.
“By Your Oath”
Basavanna seals his declaration with nimmāṇe—“by Your oath” or “Your word is witness.”
He places the truth of his inner condition before Kudalasangama Deva. If even a trace of the bond of desire remains, the Lord’s own word stands as the measure.
The oath prevents the declaration from becoming casual spiritual language. Basavanna does not merely say that he is content; he places the statement under the highest sacred witness.
The Vachana therefore concludes not with self-congratulation, but with accountability before Kudalasangama Deva.