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What if you read the Vedas,
listen to the scriptures, do chanting and perform penance?
What use all this
if you cannot touch the mind of Koodalasangayya? -Guru Basava/361/[1]
When a hunter brings a rabbit
they value it and buy it for coins.
When the ruler of the land lies dead
they won’t value his corpse worth half a coin.
Life of a man is worse than that of a rabbit.
Have faith in our Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/362/[1]
If sharana sleeps, it is chanting.
If he gets up from sleep, it is Shivaraatri.
What he does is pure act.
What he speaks is Shiva-principle.
The very body of Koodalasanga’s sharana is kailaasa. -Guru Basava/363/[1]
Shall I say scriptures are great?
They praise karma.
Shall I say the Vedas are great?
They tell of animal sacrifice.
Shall I say shruti is great?
It searches what is before one’s eyes.
As you are not in any of those, Koodalasangama, You can be seen in nothing but three
kinds of daasoha. -Guru Basava/364/[1]
Men without thought of Shiva,
without knowledge of Shiva,
are like millions of vermin in cow dung.
Don’t the wild animals live together?
Don’t the animals in town live together?
Any place where there are no sharanas of Koodalasanga is worse than wilderness,
a hilly forest of human creatures. -Guru Basava/365/[1]
Having born a Shiva devotee,
being one with linga,
having linga on the body,
and if you praise others,
appreciate words of others,
celebrate others,
you will fall into karma,
you cannot escape the chains of worldliness,
you cannot escape taking birth as a dog.
That’s why Koodalasangamadeva
the life of the faithless deceivers
is like building a wall in sand and washing it in water. -Guru Basava/366/[1]
Being a devotee and you go to Shiva
hoping he will hold you.
He will hit you, pound you to powder,
will make you dust, will turn you to ash.
If you have firm faith
Koodalasangamadeva will ultimately
make you like him. -Guru Basava/367/[1]
Can you say Nambiyanna is a kid?
Can you say sun is little?
He shines the whole world.
Can you say sight is little?
It sees the whole creation.
Can you say feeling is little?
It makes a measuring jar linga.
Koodalasangamadevayya
Can you say Channabasavanna,
who is beyond time and space, is little? -Guru Basava/368/[1]
What if he eats dog-meat?
Linga devotee is highborn.
If one has no faith and doubts it is useless.
What if you tie ishtalinga,
touch it and worship it,
unless your mind is touched with devotion?
Unless feelings are pure devotion will not be stable in one whom Koodalasangama
doesn’t love. -Guru Basava/369/[1]
Like a dog not knowing how to put the pot back on shelf
after tumbling it down and eating the food in it,
what shall I do studying six sthalas
unless my bad qualities are done away?
I am undone by not knowing how to do
daasoha to creator jangama-linga, Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/370/[1]
Having born in this world
why should you desire for something else?
Smile and talk with devotees of Shiva.
Why should you keep silent in your arrogance?
abhyaasena viheenasya tasya janma nirarthakarn
gurunaapi samam haasyam kartavyani kutilam vinaa.
Open your mind and talk with sharanas of Koodalasanga. -Guru Basava/371/[1]
When the serpent of worldly life has bitten me
poison called desire of five elements of my body rise up.
I fall down wreathing and saying the mantra Om namah Shivaaya.
When the sharanas of Koodalasanga appear
And tell me not to fear I become whole. -Guru Basava/372/[1]
In the wilderness of worldly life
there are tigers and bears.
Sharana is not afraid, brave sharana is not afraid.
Sharana of Koodalasanga is fearless. -Guru Basava/373/[1]
Worldly life is a lamp exposed to blowing wind.
Wealth is gathering of crowd in market place.
Don’t trust them and be undone.
Forget wealth and worship our Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/374/[1]
The tide in ocean of worldliness is rising
coming up to the face.
Is this world-ocean waist high? Tell me.
is it neck high? Tell me.
When this ocean rises head high
what will I say?
Father, my father,
listen to my woe.
O, what shall I do, Koodalasangamadeva? -Guru Basava/375/[1]
[1] Number indicates at the end of each Vachana is from the book "Vachana",
pub: Basava Samiti Bangalore 2012.
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