Summary
Basavanna speaks of the Sharanas whom he trusts and loves. When they come and stand before his eyes, he does not keep them outside as honoured visitors. He breaks open his body and places them within his body.
He then breaks open his mind and places them within his mind. He breaks open his eyes and places them within his eyes. Body, mind, and vision are all opened to receive the living presence of the Sharanas.
The Sharanas of Kudala Sangama become the lords of his being. They are not merely admired from a distance; they become the inward authority through which life, thought, and perception are transformed.
The devotion that arises in his bhava is then offered. Bhakti here is not forced or externally performed. It arises naturally when the Sharanas have been internalized as the governing presence of body, mind, and sight.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The first image is the trusted and loved Sharana standing before the eyes. This is living encounter. The Sharana is not an idea, memory, or distant object of praise, but a presence that comes before the seeker.
The second image is breaking open the body. The body ordinarily holds its own habits, actions, protections, and self-identity. To break it open is to make embodied life receptive to the Sharana’s presence.
The third image is placing the Sharanas within the body. This means that action, conduct, and embodied living are no longer governed by the separate self. The body becomes shaped by Sharana-presence.
The fourth image is breaking open the mind. The mind holds opinion, claim, memory, preference, and egoic movement. Basavanna does not merely quiet the mind; he opens it so the Sharanas may dwell within it.
The fifth image is breaking open the eyes. Vision itself must be transformed. The eyes that once saw through self-interest and ordinary measure are opened to see through the presence of the Sharanas.
The sixth image is making the Sharanas the lords of one’s being. This is the heart of the vachana. The Sharanas are not placed within as ornaments or inspirations. They become the inner authority of body, mind, and perception.
The final image is Bhakti arising in bhava. Devotion is not manufactured. Once the Sharanas have become inwardly established, devotion rises from the transformed inner feeling and is offered before Kudala Sangama.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana teaches the internalization of Sharana-presence. Reverence must not remain only external. The seeker must allow body, mind, and sight to be opened and reshaped by the living Sharanas.
For Sharana Sthala, the practice-point is direct: do not merely honour the Sharanas from outside. Let them enter the body as conduct, the mind as inward orientation, and the eyes as transformed perception.
When the Sharanas become the lords of one’s being, Bhakti arises from bhava without strain. Devotion becomes the natural flowering of a life opened to Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharanas.
Editorial Commentary
The repeated act of “breaking open” should remain strong. Basavanna is not describing polite reverence or emotional admiration. He speaks of a radical inward opening by which body, mind, and eyes cease to be self-owned and become dwelling places of the Sharanas.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Pranalingi Sthala Vachana 986 — The Great Radiance Revealed Within
Pranalingi Vachana 986 supports this teaching by showing how Kudalasangama Deva’s light moves through the seeker’s inner faculties. There, the Great Light fills heart, bhava, mind, eyes, and palm, becomes visible as Ishtalinga, establishes certainty in inward hearing, and hides the Lord’s greatness in the sumantra. This prepares Vachana 1233 directly. In Vachana 986, the inward faculties are illumined by the radiance of Linga; in Vachana 1233, that inward illumination matures into the full internalization of the Sharanas, who become the lords of body, mind, and vision.
Advancing Vachana
Aikya Sthala Vachana 1122 — Behold the One Beyond Body and Ego
Aikya Vachana 1122 advances this teaching by showing the fulfilled state in which body, mind, and vision have been completely purified. There, there is no darkness in the eyes, no illusion in the body, and no ego in the mind; the realized one has received the union of Linga and Jangama and remains established in the True State. This is the natural Aikya fulfillment of Vachana 1233. In Sharana Vachana 1233, Basavanna breaks open body, mind, and eyes to place the Sharanas within; in Aikya Vachana 1122, those very fields stand purified, free of darkness, illusion, and ego, and the realized Sharana abides in Kudalasangama Deva.
