Summary
In this vachana, Basavanna speaks of the movement from falsehood into absorption in Prasada.
He says that he was born through falsehood into the mortal world. Through falsehood, he called Linga by name. Yet that Linga did not stand for him as bhava, nor as nirbhava.
All its limbs were Jangama. To that, he prepared and gave what was within him as offering. To that Prasada, he said “Sharana.”
That Prasada was neither essence nor non-essence. In that Prasada, Basavanna says, he himself became absorbed, O Kudalasangama Deva.
The teaching is that name, form, offering, and surrender must pass into living Prasada. The seeker does not remain as the one who names, gives, or explains. In Prasada, he becomes absorbed.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The first movement is falsehood. Basavanna says that he was born in the mortal world through falsehood. This does not merely point to one spoken lie. It shows the condition of birth into a world where naming and perception are already mixed with error.
The second movement is naming. He says that through falsehood he called Linga by name. The name is sacred, but naming alone does not complete realization.
Then he says that the Linga was neither bhava nor nirbhava. Bhava may be understood as a formed or felt state; nirbhava as its negation. Basavanna does not allow Linga to be confined by either.
The next movement is Jangama. All the limbs of that Linga are Jangama. This means the Linga is not to be held as an isolated name or fixed idea. Its living expression is Jangama.
Basavanna then speaks of giving what was within him as offering. Whatever was available in him was prepared and given to that living presence.
He then says “Sharana” to that Prasada. The movement reaches surrender. Yet even Prasada is described as neither essence nor non-essence. It cannot be reduced to a concept.
The final statement is absorption. In that Prasada, Basavanna says, “I myself became tadgata.” The one who named, offered, and surrendered is absorbed into Prasada.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana teaches that the path must move beyond naming.
The seeker may call Linga by name, but the name must become lived recognition. Linga must be known through Jangama. Offering must become surrender. Surrender must become Prasada.
For Prasadi Sthala, the teaching is central. Prasada is not only something received after offering. It is the field in which the separate giver is absorbed.
The seeker must therefore not remain in false naming, conceptual division, or partial offering. The movement is toward becoming absorbed in Prasada before Kudalasangama Deva.
Editorial Commentary
The sequence should be preserved carefully: falsehood, mortal birth, naming Linga, neither bhava nor nirbhava, Jangama as the limbs, offering what was within, surrender to Prasada, and absorption in Prasada.
“Bhava” and “nirbhava”, Basavanna’s point is that Linga does not stand confined within either category.
“All its limbs are Jangama” is important. It shows that Linga is not merely named; it is livingly encountered through Jangama.
The phrase concerning what is within the speaker should be read as the available offering or provision made and given to that living presence.
“Tadgata” means absorbed in that. Basavanna’s final statement is not that he possessed Prasada, but that he became absorbed in Prasada.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Maheshwara Sthala Vachana 421 — Water the Root, and the Tree Blossoms
Maheshwara Vachana 421 supports this vachana by teaching that Jangama is the living mouth of Linga and that what is offered there becomes fruitful.
In Vachana 944, Basavanna says that all the limbs of Linga are Jangama, and he offers what is within him to that living presence. Both vachanas teach that Linga and Jangama must not be separated. Offering becomes meaningful when it reaches the living field of Jangama.
Advancing Vachana
Pranalingi Sthala Vachana 1016 — The Fulness of Pranalinga
Pranalingi Vachana 1016 advances this teaching by showing Anubhava as the fulfillment of knowing, where awareness joins awareness and Pranalinga is known through Guru’s grace.
In Vachana 944, Basavanna moves from naming Linga to Jangama, from offering to Prasada, and finally becomes absorbed in that Prasada. In Vachana 1016, this matures into Pranalingi fullness: the seeker no longer stands outside what is known, but lives within the realized field of Pranalinga.
