Summary
In this vachana, Basavanna asks what he should call a mind that cries out, yet cannot offer what belongs to the Owner back to the Owner. The mind laments, but it does not yield what must be yielded.
Kudalasangama Deva then places before him painful paradoxes of self-recognition: a blade turning in the head, a cut nose shown a mirror, and a burnt wound scraped with iron.
The final question is severe. When Kudalasangama Deva makes him see such conditions, and yet he still does not act accordingly, should the mind not feel ashamed before itself?
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The first image is the mind crying without offering to the Owner. What belongs to the Owner must be returned to the Owner, but the mind clings and complains instead.
The second image is the blade turning in the head. This shows pain within the very seat of thought. The mind that does not yield becomes its own wound.
The third image is the cut nose shown a mirror. The wound is not only suffered; it is made visible. The mirror forces the mind to see its own disfigurement.
The fourth image is the burnt wound scraped with iron. A wound already painful is made sharper. This image shows the agony of being made to see what one still refuses to correct.
The final image is Kudalasangama Deva creating these paradoxes for the seeker to see. These are not random torments. They are painful revelations. Yet if the seeker still does not do what must be done, the mind itself should feel shame.
Together, these images show exposed refusal. The Owner is not absent. The truth is shown. The pain is made visible. Yet the mind still hesitates to return what belongs to Kudalasangama Deva.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana tests whether the mind has truly yielded. Seeing pain is not enough. Lamenting is not enough. The mind must return what belongs to the Owner.
Kudalasangama Deva’s showing is itself corrective. The blade, the mirror, and the iron scraping the wound are forms of forced seeing. They reveal the condition the seeker refuses to face.
The practical movement here is from exposed pain to obedient offering. Once the mind has been shown its own condition, it can no longer hide behind complaint.
Editorial Commentary
This vachana should be read as a confession of refusal after revelation. Basavanna does not merely say that the mind suffers. He says that Kudalasangama Deva makes the mind see its own condition through unbearable images. If, after such seeing, the mind still does not act, its shame is complete.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Bhakta Sthala Vachana 938 — Forgetting the One
Bhakta Sthala Vachana 938 supports this vachana by teaching that people ask for many things but forget the One. Vachana 304 carries that forgetting into Maheshwara Sthala as painful exposure: the mind cries out, yet fails to offer what belongs to the Owner back to Kudalasangama Deva.
Advancing Vachana
Prasadi Sthala Vachana 936 — Dasoha at Every Stage
Prasadi Sthala Vachana 936 advances this movement by showing the corrective form of offering. Vachana 304 exposes the shame of a mind unable to return what belongs to the Owner even after Kudalasangama Deva has made it see. Vachana 936 carries this into Prasadi Sthala, where bhakti, discernment, union, and even the sense of “mine” must become Dasoha before Kudalasangayya.
