Guru Basava Vachana

Ayya, whatever you do
I wont lose heart.
Even as
my bones are bared
nerves snapped
entrails scalded
head chopped
trunk fallen to the ground
my tongue will keep uttering ‘Koodalasanga
I surrender to you’. -Guru Basava/91/^[1]

Ayya
make my body the wooden beam
my head the gourd,
my nerves the strings
my fingers the sticks to pluck them
and sing the thirty two tunes.
Press me to your heart and play,
Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/92/^[1]

My mistakes are infinite millions
and your endurance is limitless.
If I err again, let your feet be my ordeal.
Koodalasangamadeva
before your sharanas
Kinnari Bommanna is witness for this. -Guru Basava/93/^[1]

My speech turned poison for me,
my own sword pierced me.
Ayya
I am a sinner, I am wrathful.
In my boyishness, I got spoilt.
Not knowing the manner of devotion
I turned crazy.
If the servant is angry, it ruins the servant.
If the master is angry, it ruins the servant.
If you are angry it is me who gets ruined, Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/94/^[1]

The monkey that is my mind
desiring for mean pleasures of the body
getting illusions in vain,
leaping in different directions
it is distressing me, wearying me.
Unless it leaps on to the kalpavriksha
called Koodalasangamadeva
it does not attain unbounded pleasure. -Guru Basava/95/^[1]

Our people, being pleased,
put me to the golden pike,
praising and yet praising me.
This praising has cut my body in two.
I grieve, I cannot endure.
Ayya, your very reverence
strikes me as sharpened sword.
I grieve, I cannot endure.
Koodalasangamadeva,
if you are my good guardian,
stand in the way of these praises, o merciful. -Guru Basava/96/^[1]

Ayya,
my vile and weal are yours,
my decrease and increase are yours,
my grace disgrace too are yours.
Is fruit a burden to the vine, Koodalasangamadeva? -Guru Basava/97/^[1]

In me devotion is not
even one sixth of a mustard.
Yet, they call me bhakta
a samayaachaari.
What sin have I committed, tell me.
Would you reap before it is ripe?
I am a warrior who has stabbed none!
All the masters praise me high.
Is this my fate Koodalasangamadeva? -Guru Basava/98/^[1]

There is none lesser than me,
none greater than the devotees of Shiva.
I swear on your feet,
I swear on my mind,
Koodalasangamadeva
this itself is my ordeal. -Guru Basava/99/^[1]

Be one face of the eighty four million faces
to trouble me, to beg me.
If you do not beg from me
I swear on our sharanas.
With whatever face you come and ask
I will give, Koodalasangamadeva. -Guru Basava/100/^[1]

If our people ask
say that it is an auspicious moment,
say that the zodiac signs
and constellations match,
say that there is bond of relations,
say that today is better than tomorrow.
The reward of worshipping
Koodalasangamadeva will be yours. -Guru Basava/101/^[1]

Water it, it does not sprout.
Forget it, it does not wither.
No use, no use
worshiping the linga.
Koodalasangamadeva,
if you water the jangama
sthavara gets sprouted. -Guru Basava/102/^[1]

Like the silk cotton tree
that blooms and bears fruits
what use is wealth that accumulates
if there is no Shiva devotion?
Tell me,
what use is the colocynth fruit?
Beauty without eminence,
what does it matter where it is?
What use is drain water if it turns pure and clear?
Koodalasangamadeva
does not like the characterless. -Guru Basava/103/^[1]

Hey you, the human being,
do not run after mean desires.
Darkness, moonlight,
nor even wealth, last.
For unblemished status
worship Koodalasangamadeva
without forgetting. -Guru Basava/104/^[1]

All are brave, all are bold,
all have glory, all are pramathas.
You cannot find them on the war front
but find them on their retreat.
Only our Koodalasanga’s sharanas are brave
and the rest are cowards. -Guru Basava/105/^[1]