Guru Basava Vachanas

Speak truth, and act as you speak.
False in action and falteringKoodalasangamadeva
rejects
such a worldly person. -Guru Basava/226/^[1]

Don’t let them call me as one gripped and possessed with vices.
Let me be one possessed by linga, obsessed with jangama.
Let me not say avashyain anubhoktavyarn
o, Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/227/^[1]

If a wicked person offers you a kingdom,
don’t be his neighbor desiring for it.
It is better to be the neighbor
of an untouchable if he is a Shiva devotee.
It is much better to be his servant.
Bring leaves from forest, cook in a broken pot,
but be with the sharanas of Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/228/^[1]

Lord, o lord, listen to my petition:
starting with the Brahmin and ending with the untouchable
all Shiva devotees are one, I say;
starting with the Brahmin and ending with the dog-eater
all worldly persons are one, I say.
My mind believes like this.
If I have doubt as tiny as a sesame seed in these words
cut my nose deep Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/229/^[1]

God is one, names are many.
A chaste wife has just one husband.
Should she desire another,
he will chop her ears and nose off.
What would you say then of those
who relish leftovers of many gods, Koodalasangamadeva? -Guru Basava/230/^[1]

Divine world and mortal world are not separate.
Uttering the truth is divine world,
uttering untruth is mortal world.
Righteousness is heaven, unrighteousness is hell.
This is the truth, and
Koodalasangamadeva, you are the witness. -Guru Basava/231/^[1]

Are the divine world and mortal world different?
Are there many worlds in this one world?
Shiva’s world is where Shiva-achara is.
Where the Shiva devotee is, there the divine world is.
The devotee’s yard is Varanasi,
his body is Kailasa.
This is the truth Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/232/^[1]

If a bhakta comes to my place along with godliness,
and if I ask what his kaayaka is,
I swear on you, I swear on the ancients,
let my head be the penalty.
Koodalasangamadeva I will swear on your queen
I will not seek the caste of a devotee. -Guru Basava/233/^[1]

Chaste in wealth, fearless in life,
who can possibly be like that?
If wealth accumulates wrongly,
nobody would reject it.
If wealth comes accidentally,
nobody would consider it wrong.
To be without desire and without fear is possible
for only a sharana whom you love Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/234/^[1]

Having set up a big shop on earth
sits our merchant Mahadevasetty.
When of one mind, he speaks at once;
when in two minds, he does not.
I)oesn’t lose a pie, or gain half that.
He is clever mother,
our Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/235/^[1]

Not making me lose my heart and beg others,
not making me to praise the others,
not letting my mind desire others’ wives
not making me live in company of those not on the path of Shiva not making me unite with other categories
rule me Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/236/^[1]

If I say
I love you,
I have faith in you,
I am allured by you,
you knock over my body and test,
you overturn my mind and test,
you disrupt my wealth and test.
If I am firm,
my devotion will make you tremble Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/237/^[1]

Chenna’s speech is good, acts are good,
he is good all over,
good among the pramathas, good among the ancients.
Tasting the gruel first, finding it good,
our Chenna offered it to Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/238/^[1]

Showing the goodness of action through words,
showing the goodness of words through action,
hiding the goodness of both action and words in you,
they themselves becoming perfect-
I carry the spittoon of such persons,
I will carry their footwear.
This is the work I desire to do,
this is the union I woo for.
Koodalasangamadeva this is the action of uniting with you. -Guru Basava/239/^[1]

They have no faith, no belief, but just call.
The people of this world know not how to have faith.
If you call with faith will not Shiva answer?
Koodalasangamadeva will step down
on the horns of those who call without faith or belief
and say ‘shout now.’ -Guru Basava/240/^[1]