Summary
In this vachana, Basavanna addresses those who claim to know vashya, the art of bringing under control. He asks them to listen, because their claim is made without true understanding.
They do not know what mastery really is. Because of this, they wander in delusion. What they call control remains confused when it is separated from right awareness.
Basavanna then gives the correction. “Om Namah Shivaya” is the mantra of true mastery. Before Kudalasangama Deva, mastery is not a claim of power over others, but the settling of delusion through the mantra.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The first movement is the claim, “We know vashya.” Basavanna does not accept this claim. He presents it as an assertion made by those who have not understood the real nature of mastery.
The call to listen is important. Basavanna addresses people lacking true discernment and interrupts their false confidence. The teaching begins by turning them away from their own claim.
The next image is deluded wandering. Not knowing what vashya truly means, they move in confusion. The problem is not merely ignorance, but mistaken understanding.
The final movement is “Om Namah Shivaya.” Basavanna identifies this mantra as sarvajana-vashya, the mantra that brings all into true mastery. It is not shown as a means of domination. It is the true means by which confusion is brought into alignment before Kudalasangama Deva.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana turns the seeker away from outward control. Basavanna does not accept mastery as display, claim, or technique.
The mantra “Om Namah Shivaya” becomes the true discipline. Where there is delusion, it restores direction. Where there is false claim, it returns the seeker to remembrance. True mastery is therefore found through the Name, not through pride in knowing.
Editorial Commentary
“Vashya” should be read carefully. In this vachana, Basavanna corrects its meaning. He does not support control over others; he points to mastery through “Om Namah Shivaya.”
The phrase “not knowing what vashya is” carries the force of the teaching. The error lies in misunderstanding mastery itself. The final line resolves that error by placing the mantra before Kudalasangama Deva.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Prasadi Sthala Vachana 23 — When Devotion Burns the False Self
Prasadi Vachana 23 supports this vachana by showing that external effort and learned seeking cannot by themselves become direct realization. There, the seeker reaches through learning but does not obtain what is sought through that effort alone. Vachana 78 gives the same correction in another form: those who claim to know vashya remain deluded until they turn to the living mantra. Both vachanas move the seeker away from mistaken reliance on external means and toward Kudalasangama Deva.
Advancing Vachana
Sharana Sthala Vachana 1231 — The Sword of Silence and the Discipline of Jangama
Sharana Vachana 1231 advances this teaching by showing what happens when spiritual discipline is handled through ego rather than true mastery. In Vachana 78, Basavanna corrects those who claim to know vashya but wander in delusion. In Vachana 1231, the seeker confesses that he failed to wield the weapon called silence and instead grasped the sharp-edged sword of ego. Thus the false mastery corrected in Pranalingi advances into Sharana Sthala as the need for Jangama’s disciplining force, which cuts egoic distortion and protects the seeker before Kudalasangama Deva.
