Lingayat Dharmaguru Guru Basavanna

Basavanna, you are like the earthworm unsoiled,
you are like the lotus in water, touching yet not touched,
you are like the pearl formed in water, yet is not water.
Sanganabasavanna,
you have come by the order of Guheshwara
to undo the beliefs of the wealth-blind
and of those body-intoxicated. -Allama Prabhu/509^[1]

In the lamp called Kalyana
pouring the oil of devotion
placing the wick of righteousness
touched by the light called Basavanna
the glory of Shiva was bright.
Innumerable devotees were shining in that light.
Is it false that the place where the Shiva devotees are
is the holy place?
Is it false that the land where the Shiva devotees are
is the holy land?
Seeing the eminent Sanganabasavanna within Guheswaralinga,
I lived, Siddharamayya. -Allama Prabhu/496^[1]

Being the wife
Basavanna became an observer of rite.
Once an observer of rite,
Basavanna became chaste.
Once being chaste
Basavanna lost the worldliness.
Guheshwara, Basavanna alone
is chaste since his birth. -Allama Prabhu/618^[1]

Descending from heaven,
Basavanna built the Great House in this mortal world,
and while he was waving prominently
the lamp of devotion and knowledge,
the light of true enlightenment spread in the world.
Having seen and known the Truth in the light of true knowledge,
all the dispersed companions of Shiva gathered at the Great House.
O Koodala Chennasangamadeva,
having known through Basavanna’s grace the essence of Prabhudeva,
all the companions of Shiva became free from care.
-Chennabasavanna/840^[1]

Basavanna has turned his body of flesh into a body of mantra;
Basavanna has changed himself from
the breather of air into a breather of divinity;
my supreme master Basavanna,
without assimilating the notion that god pervades the world made
Him dwell in the body of a devotee
in Koodala Chennasangayya. -Chennabasavanna/872^[1]

He is not one who has come for gold.
He is not one who has come for woman.
He is not one who has come for food.
He is not one who has come for clothes.
Basavanna is one who has come
to show to the world the path of piety,
Koodala Chennasangayya - Chennabasavanna/939^[1]

By performing daasoha with the body
Basavanna became guruprasaadi;
by performing daasoha with the mind
Basavanna became lingaprasaadi;
by performing daasoha with wealth
Basavanna became jangamaprasaadi.
By performing the three kinds of daasoha in this way
your sharana Basavanna became swayaprasadi,
benevolent guru Kapilasiddha Mallikaarjuna.
-Siddharameshwara/1015^[1]

Basava,
because of you
I could conquer Shiva
the foe of lust;
because of you
I could embrace Shiva
who wears the moon.
What if I am called
a woman?
Because of you
I could imagine myself
as a man.
With your grace upon me,
restricting myself
to lustful Chennamallikaarjuna
I merged with him
not knowing
the difference between the two of us
-Akka Mahadevi/1161^[1]

Taste in the mouth-
can you spit and swallow it again?
Form in the eyes-
can you see anything separate from it?
Thing in the hand-
can you let go and hold it again?
Can you separate the Thing in you and search for it?
Rekannapriya Naaginatha
the whole world survived because of Basava.
-Baharupi Chowadiah/1841^[1]

Look,
Basava’s name is the divine Kaamadhenu
Basava’s name is the wish-giving Kalpavriksha
Basava’s name is the magical chintaamani
Basava’s name is the mine of touchstone
Basava’s name is the life-restoring Sanjeevini herb
since such a nectar of Basava’s name
filled my tongue
flooded into my mind
after filling the mind
flooded out to fill all the senses
after filling the senses
overflowed to touch every hair on my body
I boarded the ship called Basava
and crossed the ocean of births
chanting Basava Basava Basava, Akhandeshwara.
-Shanmukha Swaamy/2480 ^[1]