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Being in the shadow of a tree
can one search ones’ shadow?
What kind of devotee am I?
What kind of worthy am I
in the presence of your sharanas?
Won’t the words I am a devotee
burn me Koodalasangamadeva? -Guru Basava/316/[1]
Like a monkey that has climbed the tree
I dash from branch to branch.
How can I have faith?
How can I have love for this burnt mind?
It doesn’t allow me to move towards
my father Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/317/[1]
Plucking flower from the tree
and offering it to the tree,
offering river water to the river,
o, do not take away the calf from the cow
making the cow suffer
don’t milk it for your use.
The Maya created by Koodalasanga has beaten many. -Guru Basava/318/[1]
Fire born out of friction of trees,
will it not burn those trees?
Fire of knowledge,
born out of companionship of the wise,
will it not burn away the nature of my senses?
That’s why Koodalasangamadeva, show me the wise. -Guru Basava/319/[1]
This world is maker’s mint.
Those who are acceptable here
are acceptable there too.
Those who have no currency here
are not accepted there too,
Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/320/[1]
However much you rub
can black soot become white?
Effects of Karma do not go away.
What if one receives endless honors?
A moment of sloth undoes everything,
Koodalasangamadeva I am a pretender
I believe and yet do not have faith in you. -Guru Basava/321/[1]
If you feel you have done
terrible sound of Shiva’s drum will haunt you.
Do not say you have done something for linga,
you have done something for jangama.
If your mind doesn’t retain the trace of your acts
Koodalasangamadeva will grant you all your whishes. -Guru Basava/322/[1]
By doing and giving,
all those who say you worship linga,
listen brothers-
Like leaving footwear at the doors of the temple
and remembering them as you bow before god
you meditate upon footwear and not on god.
If you keep money for your self
you can never escape worldlilless.
Money should be spent
for sharanas of Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/323/[1]
Doing without mind,
they are destroyed.
Giving without truthfulness,
they are destroyed.
If you have the true quality of doing and giving
Our Koodalasangamadeva will be with you. -Guru Basava/324/[1]
You should do and be as if you have not done,
You should be as if you are not in your acts,
You should think and think
And yet do not appear to think of Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/325/[1]
The body of a devotee who worships
should be like stem of banana
without any hardness within.
Our people swallowed the great fruit along with seeds.
I have no more births, Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/326/[1]
Hey, goat, weep, weep,
that they kill you for the sake of mere words.
In front of those who have read the Vedas, weep.
In front of those who listen to scriptures, weep.
Koodalasangamadeva will punish them for your weeping. -Guru Basava/327/[1]
People take a vow and tie Marikavve in their necks.
If they fall in debt sell that goddess.
If they fall in debt pledge that goddess.
Our Koodalasangamadeva
cannot be pledged, cannot be sold. -Guru Basava/328/[1]
Man and Masani are not some other evil gods.
What is Man?
If eyes commit mistake in sight,
ft is Man.
If tongue commits mistake in speech,
it is Man.
If one forgets the thought of our Koodalasangamadeva,
it is Mari. -Guru Basava/329/[1]
I am just thorny yekka among sweet mangoes.
How can I say, without shame,
I am a devotee in the presence of your sharanas?
How can I be a devotee? That too,
when sharanas of Koodalasangama are there? -Guru Basava/330/[1]
[1] Number indicates at the end of each Vachana is from the book "Vachana",
pub: Basava Samiti Bangalore 2012.
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