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Gospel of Guru Basavanna

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Gospel of Guru Basavanna

1 There are no two or three gods.
There is only one GOD, who is the Creator, Protector and Dissolver of this Universe.
2 This mortal world is the Creator’s Workshop and it is real.
3 Human life is very valuable. One should not harm one’s own body which is a means to attain God.
4 God is the supreme soul. He doesn’t come in to the cycle of birth and death. However great a human being is, he cannot be called ‘GOD’.
5 God is formless. We cannot feed him, clothe him. Needy man is the face of God. By serving living beings we can serve God.
6 The differentiation of caste, creed and race is not God-made, it is man-made.
7 He alone is holy who is blessed by God.
8 Do not suppress senses but sublimate them.
9 How can there be a religion devoid of compassion?
Compassion should be at the root of religious faith.
10 Unless the pride of caste, class, race and sex is gone how one can be a devotee of God? One should forsake all traces of “I” and “mine”.
11 To me all the lovers of God are one such is my faith.
There is not the slightest doubt in me about this.
There is no high born or low born for me.
12 The chakora bird aspires for the dawn of moon light
The lotus aspires for the dawn of sun’s rays
The bumbling bee aspires for scentful nectar
My hear aspires for Lord Kudalasangamadeva’s remembrance
13 My tongue is filled with Thy nectar of thy name
My eyes are filled with Thy beautiful frame
My ears are filled with Thy boundless fame
My mind is filled with Thy comtemplation
Oh, my Lord Kudalasangamadeva
Le me be a bee in they Thy lotus feet
14 Clay is the first need for pottery (to prepare a pot)
Gold is the first need for goldsmith (to prepare ornaments)
Guru is the first need for the Divne path.
Devotees (Sharanara’s) association (Anubhaava) is the first need to know our Lord Kudalasangamadeva.
15 Some have a notion that building temples or arranging grand celebrations is being very religious, but Basavanna says:

The haves make temples for Shiva.
Ayya, what can I do?
I am poor.
my legs are pillars, my body the temple,
and my head the golden pinnacle.
Koodalásangamadeva,
listen,
the sthavara comes to an end
but the jangama does not.

The rich can build temples. My body itself is the shrine, with legs as pillars and head as the golden tower. The temple that is built is stationary. My body moves. It is with me wherever I go. That is why it does not perish. What is made of matter perishes. The soul, the spiritual, is everlasting. That this body itself should be made a holy shrine is a message of immense value. We should be able to see God in this temple of our body. Basavanna never attached importance to outward form of worship, rituals and religious observances
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