Summary
In this vachana, Basavanna asks what is gained by counting the many openings of an anthill. Though the anthill may have many mouths, the serpent dwells in one place.
He then applies this image to bhāva and bhrame. When bhāva is imagined and followed, illusion arises. The many openings may appear to suggest many centres, but the actual abode is not divided.
Before Kudalasangama Deva, the teaching is clear: when bhāva is imagined, bhrame arises; when that bhāva itself is not imagined, Kudalasangama Deva stands as nirbhāva.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The anthill is the first image. Its many openings create the appearance of many entrances, directions, and possible centres.
The serpent is the corrective image. It does not dwell in many places merely because the anthill has many mouths. Its abode remains one.
Basavanna uses this contrast to distinguish visible multiplicity from actual dwelling. The openings are many, but the abode is not divided.
Bhāva and bhrame give the inward movement of the vachana. When the mind imagines bhāva, illusion arises and multiplicity appears stronger than the one underlying presence.
Nirbhāva is the final correction. It is not another opening among the many. It is the condition in which Kudalasangama Deva is not confined by imagined movement.
Together, the images move from scattered openings to one abode, and from imagined multiplicity to the undivided presence of Kudalasangama Deva.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana teaches discernment between outer multiplicity and inner source. The seeker must not mistake many appearances, thoughts, approaches, or movements for divided reality.
Practice requires turning from the openings to the abode. The mind may see many entrances, but the source must be recognized as one.
When imagination no longer multiplies bhāva, awareness becomes steady toward the single ground. Before Kudalasangama Deva, the path is not fulfilled by counting entrances, but by recognizing the one presence within them.
Editorial Commentary
The phrase “many openings” should not be expanded into a rejection of diversity itself. Basavanna’s image is precise: many openings do not mean many serpents or many abodes.
“Bhāva” here may be understood as imagined becoming or mental formation. “Bhrame” is the illusion that arises from such imagining. “Nirbhāva” is the correction: Kudalasangama Deva is not caught in the mind’s constructed movements.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Bhakta Sthala Vachana 1 — The Hidden Fire
Vachana 1 supports this teaching by showing that essence may remain hidden within form: fire within water, taste within sap, fragrance within dew, and love within the maiden. Vachana 952 carries that insight into Maheshwara Sthala. Just as hidden essence is not absent because it is concealed, the serpent’s one abode is not divided by the anthill’s many openings before Kudalasangama Deva.
Advancing Vachana
Prasadi Sthala Vachana 944 — From Naming to Dissolution in Prasada
Vachana 944 advances this teaching by moving beyond naming, bhava, and nirbhava into absorption in Prasada. There, Basavanna says that through falsehood he called Linga by name, yet that Linga did not stand for him as bhava or as nirbhava. Its limbs were Jangama, what was within was offered, and in that Prasada he became absorbed.
Vachana 952 teaches that the many openings do not divide the serpent’s one abode and that imagined bhāva gives rise to bhrame. Vachana 944 carries this into Prasadi Sthala by showing that the path must move beyond naming and conceptual division. The movement is from seeing the one abode beyond many openings to becoming absorbed in Prasada before Kudalasangama Deva.
