Summary
Basavanna describes the transforming power of the company of the great Sharanas. Through a sequence of images, he shows how the small can hold the vast, how the visible can contain the invisible, and how nearness to the realized ones can dissolve the old nature of the embodied self.
He has offered his very body and being to the fellowship of the Mahānubhāvis. Through the conversation of Prabhudeva and the Sharanas, the former condition of his embodied life has melted away. The vachana is therefore not merely about hearing wisdom; it is about being changed by sacred company.
Imagery & Symbolic Relevance
The first image is the eye or seeing that contains what it beholds. Though the eye is small, its vision can take in vastness. Basavanna uses this to show that the limited being can participate in what is greater than itself.
The second image is the universe contained in Bayalu, the open expanse. The vast cosmos is not outside the open field; it is held within it. This image deepens the sense of limitless containment.
The third image is water holding the pearl. A pearl is hidden within depth. What is precious is not always visible on the surface; it is held inwardly.
The fourth image is fragrance holding the flower. Fragrance carries the flower invisibly. The flower may not be seen, but its presence is known through what it gives forth.
The fifth image is Basavanna offering his body to the company of the great Sharanas. This is not a partial offering. He does not offer an object, word, or ritual alone; he offers his embodied being into sacred fellowship.
The final image is the old bodily condition melting away through the conversation of Prabhudeva and the Sharanas. Speech here is not ordinary discussion. It is transformative communion. Through the living words of realized beings, the earlier condition of the self dissolves before Kudalasangama Deva.
Lingayoga
In Lingayoga, this vachana teaches that transformation is not always solitary. The seeker is expanded, refined, and dissolved through the living company of those established in truth.
For Sharana Sthala, the practice-point is clear: seek the company of the great Sharanas not for admiration, debate, or borrowed knowledge, but for transformation. Let their presence and conversation dissolve the old bodily nature, until the finite being becomes open to the vastness held in Kudalasangama Deva.
Editorial Commentary
The images of eye, expanse, pearl, and fragrance should be read together. Each shows a hidden relation between the small and the vast, the visible and the unseen, the bearer and what is borne. Basavanna then applies this directly to Sharana-sanga. The company of Prabhudeva and the Sharanas becomes the living field in which the old nature melts.
Related Vachana
Supporting Vachana
Pranalingi Sthala Vachana 997 — The Silent Greatness of the Sharana
Pranalingi Vachana 997 supports this teaching by describing the mature state of Kudalasangama Deva’s Sharanas as supreme joy, freedom from karmic bondage, unstained knowing, and greatness beyond adequate explanation. This prepares Vachana 1417 directly. In Vachana 997, Basavanna bows before the state of such Sharanas; in Vachana 1417, he enters their company, and through the conversation of Prabhudeva and the Sharanas, his old embodied condition melts away. Reverence therefore becomes transformative fellowship.
Advancing Vachana
Aikya Sthala Vachana 838 — The Abidance Where All Becomes One
Aikya Vachana 838 advances this teaching by showing the fruit of Sharana-company as steady abidance. In Sharana Vachana 1417, Basavanna offers himself to the fellowship of the great Sharanas and the old nature dissolves through their sacred conversation. In Aikya Vachana 838, through the company of Kudala Sangama Deva’s Sharanas, the self becomes Linga, the Supreme becomes Jangama, the body becomes Prasada, and untroubled abidance is established. Thus the Sharana-stage dissolution through sacred company advances into Aikya as the state where all divisions settle into one living presence.
