Sublimation of Camphor

26. Sublimation of Camphor

That was the Fifth day of Shudha Shravana. In the serene hour of dawn, after a dip in the confluence of Krishna and Malaprabha, Basavanna was meditating just concentrating with his inwinking gaze upon Ishtalinga. He heard an order from God that his responsibility on the earth was over and he should join Him. Basavanna decided to leave this mortal world and merge into the Absolute Void;

Lord, through oblivion of the past I Came into this world :
As in your play and sport you pulled the strings,
I sang and danced A lakh and six-and-ninety thousand songs ;
By placing me in the communion of saints Called Service ;
By putting me Against Bijjala, man of alien faith,
And making me rub with him, To show how great thy grace ;
By making me raise to life again Three hundred and sixty dead lives.
Making me win against Six hundred thirty slanders;
Blessing my eightyeight miracles
Serving me what was left of offerings
Made to the great ones of this mortal world
You saved me. Your saints being pleased,
By grace of Prabhudeva, who effaced My taints,
I came in contact with Pranlinga
The work thou sent me for is over now :
O Lord Kudala Sangama Deva ! Hail ! make me one with thee

Basavanna was taking a restrospective view of his life. He came as it were, with God's ordain and accordingly gave a doctrine of equality against social inequality based on caste. And with a view to demonstrate the power of the Divine grace he performed some miracles. When his destined work was over, why should he continue to exist on this mortal world ?

His heart was so tender and all embracing that he was not prepared to condemn or curse even Bijjala who had behaved at the end abominably and obnoxiously but believed, on the contrary, that all the hurdles cast by him were not harmful but purposeful. From the point of view of his entire life, it was his firm conviction that all that occured was for some good. That is why he regarded Bijjala as a touchstone which would reveal the worth of his own personality. This is explicit in his words addressed to Lord Almighty: "In order to exhibit yourself the majesty of your own power you made me confront with Bijjala of another faith and fight against him". Thus he deemed Bijjala to have come by God's will to ennoble his life.

This attitude of Basavanna reminds us of the last words of Jesus, "Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they do" (St.Luke 23-24) of those who had crucified him. Basavanna seems to have gone a step further than Jesus. For the former, without regarding the injuries done by Bijjala to be an offence, reveals "O God, it is you who have sent Bijjala to test me and exhibit the majesty of your power" and thus leaves to God the responsibility of passing judgement.

Basavanna seeks to give up the mortal body voluntarily and most joyously ; as may be noted in his words ;

"You brought me among creatures born Of pain of several births,
I can no more be born, nor die
I have escaped both birth and death
I have performed the mission that you bade
Now hug me to your heart O Lord Kudala Sangama Deva !
When Creator sent me down,
I built a great house (Mahamane) upon the earth,
As drudge and servant to the Sharanas
I spent myself, and lived.
Now that my maker's bidding bids me go To come again,
I offer humble thanks For Lord Lingadeva's command.
The incarnation of the body again perished
Through the movement of the soul, And when the sense of
I dried up, The sense of Lord Kudala Sangama was turned to oneness in Him"

One should not construe that forgaving one's body voluntarily means suicide. It means giving up one's mortal body at one's own pleasure by Yogic means, which is not suicide at all. A suicide is generally the outcome of a desperate frustration in life or reluctance to encounter life's difficulties. Whereas the other, of an intense longing to be one with the Divine through yogic meditation of trance. Basavanna prays ;

"Does camphor in the fire have soot?
Does water in the mirage have mire ?
Does perfume which the wind has hugged grow stale ?
When Thou hast loved me fully, can there be Rebirth for me ?
O Lord Kudala Sangama Deva
Absorb me, Lord, within The Lotus of Thy feet !

The sense of 'I' being completely dried up, he now witnesses everywhere the spirit of the cosmic infinity. As long as he was conscious, he adored, worshipped, extrolled and sang the praises of the Divine. But both consciousness and forgetfulness being no more, his will being emptied of its content, he has now realised his Self, and now eternally abiding in Almighty Lord, finds that highest spirit everywhere and himself in that spirit. When such longing has seized him within and without, that light of all lights which surpasses the splendour of a billion suns and moons possesses him. He sings with joy;

"Between the earth and sky was born A mango tree ;
Two boughs it had,
Three leaves and six flowers, And but a single fruit, which when was filled with juice, nothing I saw ; When the leaves dropped, The stem loosening, the fruit fell, Prabhudeva, eating that fruit, Vanished into the Absolute. Because I got Prabhu's merciful grace, Lord Kudala Sangama Deva, Saying "come here" kept me Within the Lotus of His heart".

"Upon the soil of devotion Sprouted Guru,
The seed, And Linga, the Leaf, was Born;
Then knowledge came as the flower,
And virtuous practice tender fruit,
And enlightment for the ripened one
And when the fruit of enlightment detached from the stalk and fell,
Look, Kudalasangamadeva, wanting it for Himself. Picked it up."

The ripple of Naada, the soul-spirit, deserting the body, was lost in the Void. The door of the Paschima Chakra being opened, big volume of light rushed out and was lost in the Void. Transfiguring the form into the formless, the Soul into the Transcendent soul and losing himself in utter silence and penetrating the heart lotus of Almighty Lord, he vanished into the Void of voids.

The Ashramites rushed to the spot. Basavanna was sitting as though lost in the bliss of consubstantial union of Anga (Soul) and Linga (God). All the ten airs being stilled in the thousand petalled lotus, his eye was rested in Brahma randhra (Sahasrara). The final dirge was just about to end when Machideva returned with the news of Kalyana and stood motionless, shocked by seeing Basavanna's Lingaikya. He sung passionately with great devotion:

"Rendering the clothes you wore, you have Departed from this life,
Basavanna ! Doffing the shoes you donned, you have Departed from this life,
Basavanna ! Untying the tuft you tied, you have Departed from this life,
Basavanna ! Skipping all boundaries and bonds, you have Departed from this life,
Basavanna ! Not even touching what made for Linga, You have departed,
O Basavanna ! Holding within your hands the piety
You rendered to Jangama, you have Departed from this life,
Basavanna ! Donning the light, you have become the Void,
Basavanna! Show me the path Where I may say Hail to Basavanna "

Yes, of course, Basavanna left unexpectedly not even touching what was made for Linga. Without eating the food made ready, he, just as he was sitting for worship, gave up his mortal body. Within a short while, after his spirit had merged into the Universal spirit, Nilamma, who accompanied Hadapada Appanna, came to know that Basavanna had bidden adieu to his mortal life. Standing on the bank of the river Krishna she gazed with her eyes. Her longing to have the sight of her husband was no doubt keen and intense. But, what could she do after everything was over ? Instead of striving to see his body, why should not she witness his spirit in the mirror of her Istalinga ? She felt it and asked herself, "Is not the Almighty, who is there, here too ? Is it worthy of the great souls to have the illusion of here and there?" And immediately having a dip in the Krishna sat on the bank for the worship of Linga. Just as Basavanna, already merged in the Supreme, his form appeared in the mirror of her Ishtalinga, she too lost herself with an ineffable joy in the Linga. Not only did Basavanna and Nilamma, the one regarding his wife as mother, her husband as son, conquered Kaama- the faculty of lust but through death at pleasure also Kaala- the faculty of death, who vanquishes everybody in the world. Having achieved this they became immortals.

With Basavanna merging with the supernal light ended the story of Kalyana. But it is not a permanent end, it ended with an announcement of the play to be staged next day. The story commenced in the heart of every follower of his. In one way Basavanna failed and succeeded in another way, as Maharshi Tagore puts it "he failed as the Buddha failed, as Jesus failed, as Socrates failed" He succeeded in the sense that he gave an abiding social doctrines which can unify the entire humanity in one bond. As though putting powerful-weapon into the hands of a coward, he left his doctrine with the society which was still, not mature enough to use it. Though in the relentless fight between truth and tradition, he seemed to have temporarily met with defeat ; he tried to inculcate in men and women an unswearing confidence in life and an unfading faith in principles. He neither offered bhakti in the borrowed light of blind imitation nor let others offer it instead, he taught men and women how to think independently and attain in its light, their life's fulfilment. He sacrificed himself for the overall freedom of the mankind. Leaving a great message that can be a guide unto all times and climes, he became immortal and was thus victorious. As a stream born in the heart of the mountains growing wider and wider as it proceeds in the plains, ultimately joins the sea, even so this stream of the Basavanna's message flows on, lending men and women of the world an optimistic faith in their life and confidence in their strength and ability to mould their future. Some day it shall help to bring about humanity's salvation and fulfilment. On that day, perhaps the world will realise the worth and majesty of Basavanna and pay its ungrudging homage to him. May we learn to pray for the advent of such an age of rational thinking and right reasoning and put a full-stop to the present story with the following lines taken from Kannada folklore;

Basavanna of Kalyana knows everything ;
He has brought and scattered God's light
Throughout the land people sing raising their voice
The manthra tilled and sown;
The manthra sown and grown.....
True shiva-manthra is your name,
Basavayya The mantra for our lives upon This mortal earth ||
Leader of the (Kayaka) work culture is Basavayya
Prophet of new religion and became shivabhakti
And heralded the new life style ||
Basava is the seed of Bhakti and
Basava is the light of salvation
Basava is the main seed of Kayaka And
Basava is the Omkara for Shiva path ||
We salute you till our lives go
Please bless us Basavayya | Bless us for everything ||