Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Basavanna


Basava (1134 - 1196), sometimes referred to reverently as Basavanna or Basaveshwara, was a twelfth century devotee of Shiva and early organizer of the Virasaiva Lingayata sect in the Kannada-speaking regions of southern India. Basava, the great reformer of the Vira Shaiva branch of Shaivism, once remarked to his followers:
"Shivane Daye" - Shiva is Compassion.
The pot is a God
The pot is a God. The winnowing fan is a God. 
The stone in the street is a God. The comb is a God.
The bowstring is also a God. 
The bushel is a God and the spouted cup is a God. 
Gods, gods, there are so many there's no place left for a foot.
There is only one God.
He is our Lord of the Meeting Rivers.

The Temple and the Body
The rich will make temples for Shiva.
What shall I, a poor man, do?
My legs are pillars,
the body the shrine,
the head a cupolaof gold.
Listen, O lord of the meeting rivers,
things standing shall fall,
but the moving ever shall stay.

Make of my body the beam of a lute
Make of my body the beam of a lute
of my head the sounding gourd
of my nerves the strings
of my fingers the plucking rods.
Clutch me close
and play your thirty-two songs
O lord of the meeting rivers!

The waters of joy
When
like a hailstone crystal
like a waxwork image
the flesh melts in pleasure
how can I tell you?
The waters of joy broke the bank sand
ran out of my eyes.
I touched and joined my Lord
of the meeting rivers.
How can I talk to anyone
of that?

Bhakti
Don't you take on
this thing called bhakti:
like a saw
it cuts when it goes
and it cuts again
when it comes.
If you risk your hand
with a cobra in a pitcher
will it let you pass?

Om Namah Shivaya

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