Summary
Basavanna removes the anxiety of spiritual poverty. Why should one wander in distress, saying, “I have no seed”? The true seed has already been given: the seed called the Shiva Sharanas.
This seed can be sown through birth after birth. It is not ordinary grain that is exhausted by use. The presence, teaching, and lived realization of the Sharanas become the seed by which the seeker’s life is renewed again and again.
Basavanna then names Dasayya as the living proof of this abundance. Dasayya has attained the inexhaustible treasure. Therefore the devotee need not lament scarcity. In the seed of the Sharanas and the example of Dasayya, the path already holds its unfailing wealth before Kudala Sangama Deva.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The first image is the distress of one who says, “I have no seed.” Basavanna questions this lament. The seeker may feel empty, poor, or without means, but the vachana asks whether that sorrow is truly justified.
The second image is seed needed for every house and field. Seed is the beginning of cultivation. Without seed, no harvest can come. Basavanna uses this familiar image to show the seeker’s fear that he lacks the means for spiritual growth.
The third image is the seed called the Shiva Sharanas. This is the decisive turn. The true seed is not material grain. It is the living presence of the Sharanas. Their company, conduct, and realization carry the power to germinate spiritual life.
The fourth image is sowing through birth after birth. This seed is not exhausted in one use or one lifetime. It can be planted again and again. The Sharanas become an enduring source of renewal across the long movement of becoming.
The fifth image is Dasayya who has attained the inexhaustible treasure. Basavanna does not speak of seed in abstraction alone. He points to Dasayya as one in whom the seed has borne fruit. The treasure he has attained does not diminish.
The final image is Kudala Sangama Deva as the witness of this abundance. The seed, the sowing, the treasure, and Dasayya’s attainment all stand within the Lord’s field. What appeared as poverty is revealed as wealth already present through the Sharanas.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana teaches that the seeker is not without means when the Sharanas are present. The path is not sustained by private strength alone. It is nourished by the living seed of Sharana-sanga.
For Sharana Sthala, the practice-point is direct: do not lament spiritual scarcity. Preserve and sow the seed of the Sharanas. Let their presence become cultivation, renewal, and harvest within life. The treasure sought is already shown in those like Dasayya who have lived the fruit of this seed before Kudala Sangama Deva.
Editorial Commentary
The seed should be read as a living spiritual image, not merely as agricultural metaphor. Basavanna identifies the Shiva Sharanas themselves as the seed. Dasayya is named to show that this seed truly bears fruit as inexhaustible treasure.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Pranalingi Sthala Vachana 979 — Without Experience, Nothing Ripens
Pranalingi Vachana 979 supports this teaching by saying that Bhakti, Linga, Prasada, and knowledge do not ripen without Anubhava, and that even the company of Shiva Sharanas must become inwardly present. This prepares Vachana 1306 directly. In Vachana 979, Sharana-company is tested by whether it ripens into lived experience; in Vachana 1306, the Shiva Sharanas are named as the seed that can be sown through birth after birth. The seed is therefore not mere association, but the living source of Anubhava.
Advancing Vachana
Aikya Sthala Vachana 1415 — One Moment of Living Experience
Aikya Vachana 1415 advances this teaching by declaring that one moment of the living experience of Kudala Sangama Deva’s Sharanas surpasses endless austerity, worship, Guru-service, and Jangama-satisfaction. In Sharana Vachana 1306, the Sharanas are the seed that removes spiritual poverty and can be sown through birth after birth. In Aikya Vachana 1415, that seed reaches its highest fruit: a single moment of Sharana-Anubhava becomes greater than all accumulated practice.
