Summary
Basavanna asks: after the mark has been bound, who will still search for other marks? After worshipping Linga-deva, who will still ask about clan, O Ayya?
The vachana ends with the decisive statement before Kudalasangama Deva: the body of the devotee is His own body. The teaching is direct: once the Linga-relation is established, outer marks and clan-based questioning lose their authority.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The binding of the mark is the first movement. Basavanna does not treat sacred marking as one more identity among other identities. Once this marking has taken place, the search for other marks becomes unnecessary.
The question about clan is the second movement. Basavanna asks why anyone should ask about clan after Linga-deva has been worshipped. The question itself rejects clan as the governing measure after Linga-relation.
Linga-deva is the central sacred measure. The one who worships Linga-deva is not to be measured again by inherited designation.
The final statement gives the vachana its force: the devotee’s body is Kudalasangama Deva’s own body. This does not need further ornamentation. The dignity of the devotee arises from this relation, not from clan, outer classification, or prior social mark.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, the relevance of this vachana lies in the movement given by the source: after the sacred mark is bound and Linga-deva is worshipped, the seeker is not to be measured by clan.
The practice-point is direct: the seeker must not carry old measures into the field of Linga. Where Kudalasangama Deva regards the devotee’s body as His own body, clan-questioning has no standing.
Editorial Commentary
This vachana should be read as a correction of false measuring. Basavanna does not merely say that external identity is less important; he asks why it should be asked at all after Linga-deva has been worshipped. The closing statement is the key: the devotee’s body is Kudalasangama Deva’s own body. Therefore, the true mark is not clan, but Linga-relation.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Bhakta Sthala Vachana 135 — The Path That Transforms Identity
Bhakta Vachana 135 supports this vachana by showing that one who bows to the Linga must be recognized by that turning, not by birth or outward social designation. Sharana Vachana 138 carries the same principle into a sharper form: after the sacred mark is bound and Linga-deva is worshipped, who will still ask about clan? The support is direct: Bhakta establishes devotion over birth; Sharana declares clan-questioning invalid before the devotee-body that Kudalasangama Deva regards as His own.
Advancing Vachana
Aikya Sthala Vachana 145 — The Mirror of the Devotee’s Face
Aikya Vachana 145 advances this teaching by making the devotee’s body visibly expressive of Linga. In Sharana Vachana 138, Basavanna says that the devotee’s body is Kudalasangama Deva’s own body, so clan and outer marks no longer govern recognition. In Aikya Vachana 145, the Linga is seen in the devotee’s face, the Lord stands unblinking in the devotee’s body, and Kudalasangama Deva arises in the devotee’s speech. Thus the Sharana-stage rejection of clan-measure advances into Aikya as the devotee becoming a clear field of Divine presence.
