Summary
In this vachana, Basavanna presents a mind ruled by its own preference. When speech agrees with its wish, it approves. When speech opposes it, it rejects.
The fault is not lack of words, but selective reception. Such a mind does not receive what corrects it.
The condition becomes severe because the mind neither trusts nor loves Kudalasangama’s Sharanas. Basavanna therefore asks that it be cast into fire.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The first image is agreeable speech. The mind accepts what matches its own wish. This shows preference acting as a filter.
The second image is opposing speech. The mind rejects what stands against its liking, even when such speech may correct it.
The third image is the mind without trust or love for the Sharanas. The Sharanas are present as living corrective presence, but the mind remains closed.
The final image is fire. Basavanna does not ask that the mind be comforted. He asks that its selective preference be burned.
Together, these images show a mind that protects itself from correction. It accepts agreement, rejects opposition, refuses the Sharanas, and therefore needs purification.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana tests receptivity. Practice cannot mature when the mind accepts only what pleases it.
The Sharanas become the measure of openness. If the mind does not trust or love them, it cannot receive correction from living truth.
The fire marks the needed transformation. The mind must be purified of selective preference before it can stand rightly before Kudalasangama Deva.
Editorial Commentary
This vachana should be read as a warning against preference-governed devotion. Basavanna shows that the mind may appear to listen, yet receive only what confirms itself. Such a mind cannot be left unchanged.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Bhakta Sthala Vachana 888 — The Futility of Hollow Offering
Bhakta Sthala Vachana 888 supports this vachana by showing that outward devotion remains fruitless when the true place of the Sharanas is not known. Vachana 39 carries this inward: the mind does not trust or love the Sharanas, and therefore its reception remains partial and false.
Advancing Vachana
Prasadi Sthala Vachana 118 — The Abode of Contentment
Prasadi Sthala Vachana 118 advances this movement by showing the heart purified of the forces that disturb it. Vachana 39 asks that the selective mind be cast into fire. Vachana 118 carries the movement into Prasadi Sthala, where desire, anger, greed, delusion, pride, and comparison must fall away for the heart to become pure before Kudalasangama Deva.
