Musings of the Veera Saiva Mystics

[Guest guest]

|om|

 

I hope you enjoy this taken from the Hindu newspaper Book review:

 

From the Kannada vachanas of Allama Prabhu:

 

" On a hillock of live-coal,

I saw a pillar of wax;

On top of the pillar of wax,

I saw a swan;

The pillar melted; the swan flew away;

And O Guheshwara,

where did the live-coal disappear? "

 

A book 'Forever Saints - Selected vachanas of Basavanna, Allama & Akka Mahadevi' by D.A. Shankar gives 330 vachanas of Veerasaiva mystics in translation from Kannada to English.

 

 

The above poem gives an unusual image and Shankar explains it thus: the pillar of wax is the sense of attachment to the body and the swan is the soul. When the ego disappears, the soul is free.

 

 

Apologies for this non-jyotish posting.

 

best regards

Hari