#basava

[majestativa]

How can I believe or trust this burning thing, this heart?

— Basavaṇṇa, Speaking of Śiva, transl by A. K. Ramanujan, (1973)

[thepersonalwords]

The rich Will make temples for Siva what shall I, a poor man, do? My legs are pillars, the body the shrine, the head the cupola of gold, Listen, O! Lord: Standing things shall fall, that which moves shall stay

Basava

[pandaemoniumpancakes]

The rich will make temples for Śiva. 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 ever shall stay.

Basavanna, ‘820.‘ in Speaking of Śiva, trans. A. K. Ramanujan. 

   omnia quae videntur perire mutari (Seneca, from Epistulae 36:11.)

                        ❧

   “Every soul is immortal. That is because whatever is always in motion is immortal, while what moves, and is moved by, something else stops living when it stops moving. So it is only what moves itself that never desists from motion, since it does not leave off being itself. In fact, this self-mover is also the source and spring of motion in everything else that moves; and a source has no beginning. That is because anything that has a beginning comes from some source, but there is no source for this, since a source that got its start from something else would no longer be the source. And since it cannot have a beginning, then necessarily it cannot be destroyed. That is because if a source were destroyed it could never get started again from anything else and nothing else could get started from it—that is, if everything gets started from a source. This then is why a self-mover is a source of motion. And that is incapable of being destroyed or starting up; otherwise all heaven and everything that has been started up would collapse, come to a stop, and never have cause to start moving again. But since we have found that a self-mover is immortal, we should have no qualms about declaring that this is the very essence and principle of a soul, for every bodily object that is moved from outside has no soul, while a body whose motion comes from within, from itself, does have a soul, that being the nature of a soul; and if this is so—that whatever moves itself is essentially a soul—then it follows necessarily that soul should have neither birth nor death.” (Plato, from Phaedrus, 245c-245e, trans. Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff)

                        ❧

   “6.23 The Master said, “The wise take joy in rivers, while the Good take joy in mountains. The wise are active, while the Good are still. The wise are joyful, while the Good are long-lived.”

   commentary: This is a famously cryptic passage. A somewhat neo-Daoist-flavored interpretation of the first two lines is provided by Bao Xian: “The wise take joy in actively exercising their talent and wisdom in governing the world, just as water flows on and on and knows no cease. The Good take joy in the sort of peace and stability displayed by mountains, which are naturally nonactive and yet give birth to all of the myriad things.” The precise meaning of the last line is particularly problematic. It is unclear why only the wise (and not the Good) should be joyful, for instance. As for “the Good are long-lived” statement, some commentators attempt to reconcile it with the premature death of Yan Hui by understanding it metaphorically: it is the reputation or beneficial influence of the Good person is long-lived. Others reject this strategy, arguing that—the isolated counter-example of Yan Hui aside—the Good are long-lived because they are calm and free of desire for external things. All of these interpretations are quite speculative.” (Confucius, from Analects: With Selections from Traditional Commentaries, trans. Edward Slingerland)

                        ❧

   “The world is but a perennial see-saw. Everything in it—the land, the mountains of the Caucasus, the pyramids of Egypt—all waver with a common motion and their own. Constancy itself is nothing but a more languid rocking to and fro. I am unable to stabilize my subject: it staggers confusedly along with a natural drunkenness. I grasp it as it is now, at this moment when I am lingering over it. I am not portraying being but becoming: not the passage from one age to another (or, as the folk put it, from one seven-year period to the next) but from day to day, from minute to minute. I must adapt this account of myself to the passing hour. I shall perhaps change soon, not accidentally but intentionally. This is a register of varied and changing occurrences, of ideas which are unresolved and, when needs be, contradictory, either because I myself have become different or because I grasp hold of different attributes or aspects of my subjects. So I may happen to contradict myself but, as Demades said, I never contradict truth. If my soul could only find a footing I would not be assaying myself but resolving myself. But my soul is ever in its apprenticeship and being tested. (Michel de Montaigne, from ‘III.2. Of repenting’ in The Complete Essays, trans. M. A. Screech)

[nowhere-herenow]

Hindu Mystic and poet Basava.

[foolgobi65]

Listen, O lord of the meeting rivers,    things standing shall fall,    but the moving ever shall stay.

 Basava, 12th century Kannada bhakti poet. trans. AK Ramanujan

[majestativa]

You can make them talk if the serpent has stung them.

— Basavaṇṇa, Speaking of Śiva, transl by A. K. Ramanujan, (1973)

[majestativa]

The python-world, omnivorous Rāhu, devoured me. Today my body is in eclipse.

— Basavaṇṇa, Speaking of Śiva, transl by A. K. Ramanujan, (1973)

[majestativa]

Like a saw it cuts when it goes and it cuts again when it comes.

— Basavaṇṇa, Speaking of Śiva, transl by A. K. Ramanujan, (1973)