Summary
In this vachana, Basavanna gives the image of a vast marketplace spread across the earth. In that field of exchange sits Mahadeva-Setti, the great merchant.
If one is single-minded, he speaks at once. If one is double-minded, he does not speak. The response depends upon the truth of the measure.
Basavanna then turns to gain and loss. What appears as gain may not be true gain, and what appears as loss may not be final loss. The wise one sees the measure clearly before Kudalasangama Deva.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The first image is the marketplace on the earth. It shows life as a field of exchange, valuation, gain, loss, and transaction.
The second image is Mahadeva-Setti. The Divine is shown as the merchant who knows the true measure of every exchange.
The third image is single-mindedness. Where the inner condition is whole, there is immediate response.
The fourth image is double-mindedness. Where the inner condition is divided, there is no response.
The fifth image is gain and loss. Basavanna does not accept outward accounting as final. What appears as full gain may not even be half-gain when weighed truly.
The final image is the wise one who sees. The wise do not rely on outward appearance, claim, or calculation. They see the actual measure before Kudalasangama Deva.
Together, these images show that life is weighed by inner truth. In the marketplace of the world, the Divine merchant does not respond to divided measure.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana tests the measure of the seeker’s inner state. Practice cannot be divided and still expect response.
Single-mindedness gives the path its weight. Double-mindedness makes the act hollow, even if the outer exchange appears complete.
The practical movement here is truthful measure. Basavanna asks the seeker to examine whether action, speech, and intention stand as one before Kudalasangama Deva.
Editorial Commentary
This vachana should be read as a teaching on true measure. Basavanna does not reject action or exchange. He rejects divided intention, because divided intention cannot receive the response of Mahadeva-Setti.
The marketplace image should therefore not be read merely as worldly trade. It becomes the field where the inner account is tested before Kudalasangama Deva.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Bhakta Sthala Vachana 233 — Spiritual Automation
Vachana 233 supports this teaching by warning that repeated doing fails when the mind is absent, and repeated giving fails when truth is absent. It teaches that what matters is nijaguna, the true quality within doing and giving.
Vachana 115 carries this concern into Maheshwara Sthala through the marketplace image. There, Mahadeva-Setti responds where the measure is single and true, but remains silent where the measure is divided. Both vachanas teach that outward action, giving, gain, and exchange are not enough; the real measure is the truth within the act before Kudalasangama Deva.
Advancing Vachana
Prasadi Sthala Vachana 1073 — The Measureless Offering of Bayalu
Vachana 1073 advances this teaching by carrying the question of measure beyond ordinary accounting. In Vachana 115, gain and loss are tested before Mahadeva-Setti, and the wise one sees that the outer account may not be the true account.
In Vachana 1073, the offering ripens at the proper moment and cannot be counted by the mind. What is true is already offered before outward display. The movement is from true measure to measureless offering.
Vachana 115 teaches that divided measure does not receive response. Vachana 1073 carries this into Prasadi Sthala by showing that when offering ripens in Kudalasangama Deva, it moves beyond calculation, claim, and ordinary accounting.
