Summary
In this vachana, Basavanna asks whether straying once was not enough. The pain is not only the first lapse, but the danger of returning to it again.
He then asks whether he will again sell himself to desire. Desire is shown as a force that can claim the seeker when he yields.
The final question brings the anguish before Kudalasangama Deva. After such selling away, how can he be accepted as belonging to the Divine?
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The first image is straying once. Basavanna asks whether one fall should not have been enough to teach the danger.
The second image is selling oneself to desire. To sell oneself is to lose one’s own freedom.
The third image is repeated selling away. The problem is not ignorance, but returning to what has already been seen as harmful.
The final image is acceptance by Kudalasangama Deva. Basavanna feels the weight of the question: how can one who has handed himself over to desire stand again before the Divine?
Together, these images show the sorrow of repetition. The seeker knows the danger, yet fears being claimed again by the same desire.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana shows that practice must become continuity. A single turning is not enough if the seeker keeps returning to the same pull.
The image of selling oneself to desire reveals loss of inward steadiness. What should belong to Kudalasangama Deva is traded away.
The practical movement here is vigilance after recognition. Basavanna has seen the danger; his prayer rises from the fear of repeating it.
Editorial Commentary
This vachana should be read as a confession of repeated vulnerability. Basavanna does not speak from ignorance. He speaks from the sharper pain of knowing the danger and still fearing the old pull.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Bhakta Sthala Vachana 34 — The Restless Monkey and the Plea for Grace
Bhakta Sthala Vachana 34 supports this vachana by showing the mind lifted toward the sacred, yet still running toward sense-objects. Vachana 44 carries that danger into a direct lament: after straying once, the seeker fears selling himself again to desire.
Advancing Vachana
Prasadi Sthala Vachana 35 — The Licking Tongue of Craving
Prasadi Sthala Vachana 35 advances this movement by showing craving as repeated return. Vachana 44 laments the danger of selling oneself again to desire. Vachana 35 carries this into Prasadi Sthala, where the mind returns like a dog’s tongue to ghee and asks Kudalasangama Deva to cut the craving itself.
