| Sr # | Vachana | Sr # | Vachana |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "I appeared as sthul-kaya-ganeshwara to exemplify Bhakti in the Krta-yuga. I appeared as Shuna-kaya-ganeshwara to glorify Bhakti in the Tretayuga I appeared as Animisha-ganeshvara to enliven Bhakti in the Dwapara-yuga I have appeared as Allama-prabhu ganeshvara to enlighten Bhakti in Kali-yuga. Oh! Guheshvara." -- Allama Prabhu 1 | 2 | "When the earth and ether were non-existent, When the concept of I and mine had not emerged, When the notion of rest and motion did not originate, When the subtle and casual were not evolved, When the moveable and immoveable were not formulated, Then was Guheshvara's sharana or votary Born of Chit-shakti or Will." 1 |
| 3 | "A merchant of Jambu Isle Gathering his bales and bundles; Sets up his stall In the womb of Mother Earth Stricken with a crazy thirst He drank up the seven oceans Until to his own dismay At the unquenchable thirst He sucked the ooze itself An infant carries his mother's corpse Upon his back and goes Mumbling her name Behold a globe-like icon Has swallowed the glory of Guheshwara! 1 | 4 | On Heaven's expanse A strange parrot was born; And she built her a house In vain glorious pomp. But of that one parrot There are born five and twenty Brahma was the parrot's cage Vishnu his victuals; And Rudra his perch Whe she swallowed her young ones In front of those three Behold! Oh! Guheshwara The phenomenal play cease to have its sway." 1 |
| 5 | "It is a curious cow of a small shape having an udder of abnormal size With horn of palmyra height" Comments - The simile used in this vachana is rather hyperbolic nature and yet it is very significant. The cow in the form of Jiva is described as having two longhorns in the form of 'I' and 'mine', and an udder in the form of juicy sense object. The Jiva courts his own ruin through unreasonable pride and unconscious prejudice. 1 | 6 | "A strange animal it is ! With one body. With two heads of tiger and deer, It is neither a tiger nor a deer. A different one stands by the side, Chewing its cud. It's headless body browses a dry leaf A great leaf leaps off the sight Oh! Guheshwara!1 Comments - Time is depicted here as a tiger, because the tiger is fierce in nature and devours man. Similarly, time is stern in its course; it is the reatest equalizer in life and it respects none. Maya is pictured as a deer, because it is lovely to look at, it has fleet-feet and bewitchingly attractive. Besides, Kala and Maya there is a third factor that enters into the composition of Jiva. It is Karma. Jiva being caught in the clutches of these three monsters is unable to realize its true nature. He who knows the truth and abides by its law will surely rise victorious over these monsters. Abstract principles are made concrete by suggestive imagery. |
| 7 | "If I deem it One It looks like twain If I assume it to be twain It looks as one. What is this mystery Of One and twain ? For a union inseparable A world of grace is indispensable."1 Comments - The Reality is beyond the reach of dualities and realities. To described it as dual or non-dual is only a play of reason. The soul's union with God is a love union, a mutual inhabitation which expresses not a self-mergence that leaves no room for personality. Love in its innermost motive is a unifying principle. | 8 | "The musk deer, Oh! Sire! Has moved about. A form of the vast expanse Has stood in front of me What spirit has seized me I know not Feeling the presence of Guru In the lotus of my heart I saw and adored him and found him all illustrious one I was surprised to see An unknown stream of my previous births Gone withered, Oh! Guheshwara!1 Comments - The aspiration for the Divine has pervaded the entire being of Prabhu to such an extent that the abstract Divine has become the concrete in the form of Linga. The musk deer symbolizes Linga.By a constant contact with Ishtalinga, he has become possessed of the Divine afflatus. The Guru who favored him with Ishtalinga dwells in his heart and by his grace the cycle of birth and death is rounded off. |
| 9 | "Who can comprehend the whole of Thy Truth? All the Universes fourteen are inherent in the Linga in Thy plam Is there a God who stands a match to Thee? "When Gods in infinite number jostle with each other to lay at Thy feet in groups The silver dust sprayed out by the friction of their crowns piles into the mounts of silver Infront of Thee." "Hari fathoms not Thy feet Nor Brahma scales the height of Thy crown. Nor the saints and sages sound the depth of Thy heart Nor the deities all measure the magnitude of Thy hair's end. Nor suns myriad discern Thy refulgence Can I apprehend Thee."1 Comments - Modern scientific research in the realms of mythology and symbology states that this truth: "Reality is too large a thing for the human mind to apprehend in its completeness and all the more ultimate conceptions of it must be relative and in a measure symbolic. This is apparent even in the case of the most precise of all sciences, the astrophysics where we seem to reach an order of reality that is only knowable symbolically." | 10 | "It is a curious cow of a small shape having an udder of abnormal size With horn of palmyra height" Comments - The simile used in this vachana is rather hyperbolic nature and yet it is very significant. The cow in the form of Jiva is described as having two longhorns in the form of 'I' and 'mine', and an udder in the form of juicy sense object. The Jiva courts his own ruin through unreasonable pride and unconscious prejudice. 1 |
| Sr #` | Reference |
|---|---|
| 1 | "Prophets of Veerashaivism", His Holiness Mahatapsvi Shri Kumarswamiji,1992 |
| 2 | "In Search of Shiva", Dr.Saroja Ullagaddi,Ph.D.,published by The Veerashaiva Samaja of North America,1995 |
| 3 | "Speaking of Siva", Translated with an introduction by A.K.Ramanujam. Penguin Books, 1973 |
| 4 | "Siddharameshwar's Vachanas" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddheshwar |
