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As actions spring from linga,
as words spring from linga,
why should lingavanta be afraid?
He should be as linga wills,
as respect or otherwise of devotees
is responsibility of Koodalasangama. -Guru Basava/346/[1]
Where there is linga
there will not be words of abuse.
Where there is abuse, linga is not.
What does it matter how they are, where they are, the lingavantas?
A sharana of Koodalasanga is incomparable. -Guru Basava/347/[1]
Is linga not there in boundary marking stone?
Is linga not there in the marks on thighs of cattle?
If stone is placed on a bush
and that stone is found
can the bush become a devotee?
That’s why only a person
with truthfulness, naturalness,
good feelings and action
is a true devotee.
Otherwise he is like the stone found on a bush,
Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/348/[1]
To walk without linga,
to speak without linga
to swallow saliva without linga
is pollution that very moment.
The body of those
who walk without linga is worldly, not to be touched.
The body of those
who speak without linga is polluted with death, not to be heard.
If one moves without linga
each step he takes, each word he utters
makes him lose his vow Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/349/[1]
Looking at good things,
if mind desires them however much
it is of no use.
Stretching hands,
looking up at the fruit
in the tall palm tree
it is mere ache in the neck.
Listen Koodalasangamadeva,
we have only when you give. -Guru Basava/350/[1]
What if you earn good name and live five days?
What if you earn good name and live four days?
What if you earn good name and live three days?
What if you earn good name and live two days?
As it is saidjeevitam
shivabhaktaanam varam panchadinaani ca
naajakalpasahasraani bhakriheenasya shaankari.
What if you live for a single day
earning good name in the vachanas of sharanas,
Koodalasangamadeva! -Guru Basava/351/[1]
Why attempt to straighten the crookedness of the world?
Console your body, console your mind.
Koodalasangamadeva will not appreciate
those who weep for the sake of neighbors. -Guru Basava/352/[1]
Speech filled with nectar of your name
eyes filled with your image
mind filled with your thought
ears filled with your fame
Koodalasangamadeva
At your lotus feet I will be like a bee full-filled. -Guru Basava/353/[1]
If wild cuckoo is brought home
does it forget remembering its forest?
If elephant from hills is brought home
does it forget remembering its hill?
If sharanas of Koodalasangamadeva come to this earth Do they forget thinking of
primordial and infinite linga? -Guru Basava/354/[1]
T don’t know weeks or days.
I don’t know.
I don’t know if it is night or day,
I don’t know.
Worshiping you I forgot myself, Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/355/[1]
You spread before me the green grass of desire.
what does a beast know?
Seeing the grass it desires.
Make me desire free.
Feed me devotion till I am content.
Give me the water of good sense to drink.
Look after me and protect me,
Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/356/[1]
I saw some worshiping Vishnu and burning their shoulders,
I saw some worshiping Jina and becoming naked,
I saw some worshiping Mylara and barking like dogs,
I saw those worshiping Koodalasangama are called as
devotees. -Guru Basava/357/[1]
You call yourself brave devotee with restraint.
If you are brave, enemies should praise you.
If you have restraint, women should praise you.
If you are a devotee, jangama should praise you.
If you act according to your words
Koodalasangamadeva will give you what you ask. -Guru Basava/358/[1]
I shall put leather sheath to the Vedas
I shall put shackles on the shastras
I shall skin the back of Tarka
I shall cut off the nose of Agamas.
See lord
most generous Koodalasangamadeva
I am vassal of Maadara Chennayyas house. -Guru Basava/359/[1]
The Vedas shivered,
scriptures stood aside,
logic became dumb,
aagama just went away,
all because our Koodalasangayya
had his food in the house of untouchable Maadara Chennayya. -Guru Basava/360/[1]
[1] Number indicates at the end of each Vachana is from the book "Vachana",
pub: Basava Samiti Bangalore 2012.
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