{"id":5780,"date":"2017-05-24T07:04:34","date_gmt":"2017-05-24T14:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=5780"},"modified":"2017-05-24T07:04:34","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T14:04:34","slug":"basava-the-temple-and-the-body-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2017\/05\/24\/basava-the-temple-and-the-body-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Basava – The Temple and the Body"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Temple and the Body
\nby Basava<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by A. K. Ramanujan<\/font><\/p>\n

The rich
\nwill make temples for Siva.
\nWhat shall I,
\na poor man,
\ndo?<\/p>\n

My legs are pillars,
\nthe body the shrine,
\nthe head a cupola
\nof gold.<\/p>\n

Listen, O lord of the meeting rivers,
\nthings standing shall fall,
\nbut the moving ever shall stay.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from Speaking of Siva<\/a>, by A K Ramanujan<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by wharman<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

The wealthy prove their piety by financing temples (or churches or mosques\u2026). Their devotion is concretized in stone and gold. It\u2019s easy for a poor man, witnessing the splendor of a wealthy shrine, to imagine himself far behind on the road to heaven. What can he offer to compete with that? What temple can he build to offer proper worship?<\/p>\n

Basava gives us the solution offered by saints everywhere: Make of yourself a temple.<\/p>\n

My legs are pillars,
\nthe body the shrine,
\nthe head a cupola
\nof gold.<\/i><\/p>\n

This is where all true meditation, prayer, communion occurs. The built temple is but a reflection of the temple of the self. And that true temple is available to all, rich and poor, equally.<\/p>\n

Basava carries it further, pointing out how far superior the inner temple is. \u201cThings standing,\u201d structures built of wood or stone, no matter how lovely or inspiring, are destined to fall. A temple of stone stands but does not move. It lacks the life necessary to continually adjust itself to the shifting forces of time and gravity and the flow of nature all around; it is already crumbling.<\/p>\n

\u2026but the moving ever shall stay.<\/i><\/p>\n

That which is animated, the temple of the embodied self, has life! It dances with the flow of existence\u2026 and that life continues. Worship that takes place within that living temple lives as well, and lasts.<\/p>\n

Basava\u2019s reminder to us: Regardless of whether we worship beneath a golden cupola or beneath the arch of the open sky, only meditation and prayer and communion that takes place within the living temple of the self matters, because that is what lives and lasts. Wherever you are, whatever your role in life, make of yourself a holy temple. More important than monuments of stone are monumental living souls.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Basava<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Speaking of Siva<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\n
\n\"Basava,<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nBasava<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

India (1134 \u2013 1196) Timeline<\/a>
\nYoga \/ Hindu<\/a> : Shaivite (Shiva)<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Basava, 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.<\/p>\n

The Virasaivas were a Shiva bhakti movement that rejected the elaborate ritualism and strict caste system of orthodox Hinduism which favored the wealthy, and instead emphasized direct mystical experience available to all through deep devotion to God. In this sense, the Virasaiva movement was a mystical protestant movement that also asserted social equality and justice for the poor. As Lingayatas they worship Shiva in the form of a linga, the stone symbol that represents God as creative generator of the universe or, more deeply, as a representation of the Formless taking form.<\/p>\n

Basava was orphaned at a young age but adopted by a wealthy family with political connections. He received a good education but rejected a life of comfort and prestige to become a wandering ascetic dedicated to Shiva.<\/p>\n

He received enlightenment at a sacred meeting of rivers. This is why all of Basava\u2019s poems include a reference to Shiva as \u201cthe lord of the meeting rivers.\u201d This also has a deeper, esoteric meaning relating to the subtle energies awakened in the yogi\u2019s awareness.<\/p>\n

However, he soon was given a divine command to return to worldly life. Basava initially resisted, but eventually yielded and returned to his adopted family. Before long he attained high political office while, simultaneously, forming the new populist mystical movement of Virasaivas into a coherent, egalitarian community. This community fostered many other great poet-saints, including Akka Mahadevi and Allama Prabhu.<\/p>\n

This utopian community began to be seen as a threat to the orthodox religious and political forces, however, and they used the marriage between an outcaste man and a brahmin woman within the community as an excuse to kill several of its members. Basava urged a non-violent response, but the reflex for revenge was too strong among some of the community\u2019s members. In the tense aftermath, the community couldn\u2019t safely hold together and its members went in different directions.<\/p>\n

Basava once again left politics and returned to his focus on the inner spiritual life.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Basava<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Temple and the Body by Basava English version by A. K. Ramanujan The rich will make temples for Siva. What shall I, a poor man, do? My legs are pillars, the body the shrine, the head a cupola of gold. Listen, O lord of the meeting rivers, things standing shall fall, but the moving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[32,14,269,2080],"class_list":["post-5780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-basava","tag-hindu-poetry","tag-shiva-poetry","tag-the-temple-and-the-body"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5781,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5780\/revisions\/5781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}