SAMPADANE OF CHENNABASAVANNA@veerashaiva.info

Shunya Sampadane - Sampadane of CHENNABASAVANNA

Chennabasavanna, though quite young in age, is quite mature in knowledge and in spiritual experience. He is not only an adventurer in the field of self-knowledge and spiritual experience, but also the great builder of a system. According to Basavanna, Chennabasavanna was not only the first to realise the identity of Prana and Linga and the vital importance of Shivachara, but also established the fivefold discipline � Guru, Linga, Jangama, Padodaka and Prasada, and set up the hierarchy of Shatsthala as well.

Sri CHENNABASAVANNA

Chennabasavanna is one of the three outstanding names in the Veerashaiva tradition along with Prabhudeva and Basavanna. Chennabasavanna was the son of Basavanna's elder sister Nagalambike (Akkanagamma). He stayed with his uncle at Kalyana and was prominent in the discussions of the Anubhava Mantapa. He spent his last days at Ulavi, now a village in the North Kanara district of Mysore State, about 400 miles from Kalyana.

There is no doubt that Chennabasavanna was a man of extraordinary gifts of intellect and holiness and of precocious wisdom. Taking after his uncle in many ways, he seemed from the start to surpass him, in external beauty as in innate wisdom. The Shunyasampadane tells that Chennabasava's initiation (diksha) was done by Basavanna while the child was still in the womb. As for the upadesha or spiritual instruction, it was also imparted by Basavanna who remained his nephew's Guru. The two were contrasted personalities: while Basavanna was the embodiment of bhakti (devotion), Chennabasavanna seemed to be a jnana (knowledge) incarnate. In the discussions of the Anubhava Mantapa, on subjects ranging from the significance of kayaka (dedicated labour) to the nature of Shunya, or the Absolute Reality, he was an easy leader. He was the first, perhaps to systematise the Satsthala doctrine.

The Veerashaiva tradition seems to have assigned to each member of the trinity, Basavanna, Prabhudeva, Chennabasavanna, his particular role. If Basavanna represented the Existence aspect, and Prabhudeva the Delight aspect of Sachchidananda, Chennabasavanna stood for the aspect of Consciousness. Similarly, while Basavanna and Prabhudeva correspond respectively to the Guru and the Jangama principle, Chennabasavanna corresponds to the principle of Linga Itself: of the three principles that make up the Absolute Reality, Basavanna is the gross, Prabhudeva the causal and Chennabasavanna the subtle.

Sampadane of Chennabasavanna

The opening of this chapter is rather dramatic. Chennabasavanna, supposed to receive instruction from Prabhudeva, actually starts testing the latter, the hero of this divine drama.

While Prabhudeva and Basavanna are absorbed in discoursing about high mystical experiences, Chennabasavanna intervenes and poses a question. Basavanna is a Bhakta and Prabhudeva a Jangama, who stand for devotion and knowledge. Are they really that? If so, the ultimate goal for both is nothing short of mutual communion. Chennabasavanna is, therefore, right in wanting to know whether the Bhakta and the Jangama have achieved oneness. He rather hurls this question at Prabhudeva and Basavaraja. Is there real communion between the two? If so, why this endless discourse and this talk of symbol on the palm? Perfec Samarasya presupposes absolute silence.

This is a perplexing, even an embarassing, question. But Prabhudeva is more than a match for it. Prabhudeva's answer flashes out. Basavanna is a real Bhakta, and himself a real Jangama, and there is perfect identity between them. And why? Basavanna, whose other name is Bhakta, is untouched by the body. As a matter of fact, he has no life or soul to call his own, and so is at one with the Reality. As regards himself, a Jangama, he has found abode in Basavanna's inner and outer being. This is an abode which is absolutely free from all care and where a Jangama, an embodiment of supreme knowledge, can live or lives from eternity to eternity. Is there an 'I' for a Jangama? He is completely absorbed and assimilated by the Bhakta. On the other hand, the Bhakta, or the principle of devotion, glows in the heart of the Jangama. It is the classic relation between camphor and fire.

Chennabasavanna is apparently satisfied, but further develops the same theme, throwing some more light on it. He can see the inseparable oneness of knowledge and devotion represented by Prabhudeva and Basavanna. The one is incomplete without the other. Though Prabhudeva and Basavanna seem to be different, in reality they are essentially one. Chennabasavanna makes this point very clear:

If Jangama lose himself in Bhakta,
A Bhakta now, he tastes the bliss
Of an essential unity,
In self-transcendence of all fact.

If Bhakta lose himself in Jangama,
Behold, one must destroy
All sense of master and servant,
Cancel all bonds and doubts,

Annihilate
Knowledge and ignorance, and live
An independent Shivachari.

1. BODY:

What is the role the body plays in attaining the Divine? Chennabasavanna's appraisal of the body is noteworthy. How could one get the divine vision without the body? How could one attain to the divine knowledge without the body? And how could one have the divine grace without it? This is why the body is regarded as a gift of the divine grace (Prasadakaya). The flesh, far from being hateful, is adorable inasmuch as it contains the seeds of divinity.

Through body's grace it is
Linga is found;

Through body's grace it is
Jangama is found;

Through body alone are found
The riches of Prasada.

O Lord Kudala Chennasangama,
It's thanks to body that I
Found you!

2. KNOWLEDGE:

There are gradations in the knowledge of the Reality. The higher knowledge is concerned with the deepest Reality, which is beyond the senses, the intellect, or any other instrument of knowledge. It is this that Prabhudeva wants to drive home to Chennabasavanna, who claims to know it with the aid of the Guru.

To Prabhudeva, Chennabasavanna is the Mahajnani, or great seer, and he and Chennabasavanna belong to the same tradition of teachers. But Chennabasavanna will not accept the compliment, for what knowledge he has is entirely due to the grace of Kudala Chennasangayya. He is no independent seer.

Prabhudeva objects that no knowledge can be real knowledge which depends on outside factors, whether it be Linga, or Guru, or any other. To hope to realise the existence of Linga on the strength of the teacher's instructions is a fantasy. Self-knowledge or self-experience is self-begotten (Svayambhu). It needs no guide, instructionn or direction. Does one require guidance to come to one's own self? Before you come to grasp the Absolute Reality, he remarks, there is Guru, Linga, Jangama and Prasada. Once you grasp It, none of these exist. There is only 'svaya', oneself, and o 'para', the other:

Before you reach, Guru is there;
Linga is there,
Jangama and Prasada.

After you reach, there is
Neither Guru nor Linga.
In Kudala Chennasanga,

In you has been seen
That there's no other, but only the self:
See that, Prabhu!

3. DISCIPLINE

The concept of discipline or practice finds an important place in thie chapter. Prabhudeva opens the discussion about Achara, or discipline, by requesting Chennabasavanna to give him the 'alms' of discipline, as Chennabasavanna's body is suffused with it. Chennabasavanna, however, flatly declines; it is Basavanna who knows what discipline is. One can have it only by practising it. Basavanna, having practised all disciplines, is richly endowed with it: Sarvacharasampattu (wealth of discipline).

Still, Prabudeva wishes to know from Chennabasavanna the nature of discipline as practised by Basavanna.

To know and to understand or even to experience the Absolute Reality, is not as difficult as to put it into practice. One may have realised the principles of Guru, Linga, Jangama and Prasada, which are the different faces of the one Reality. But important thing is: How he incorporated these in his inner and outer being? Are they functioning through his body, life and mind?

According to Chennabasavanna, Guru, Linga, Jangama and Prasada have not only been incorporated by Basavanna, they also flow through him in the form of practice, namely, sadachara, shivachara, samayachara, brahmachara. Perhaps the divine energy which gets 'solidified' into action is called Acharalinga. Basavanna is what he is because of his practice of the Divine. A further development of the thought can be seen in the song sung by Chennabasavanna:

How can I speak about
The drum of Discipline?
It glitters in the Light!

The Discipline
Of the Most High,
Both twain and one,
Declares the way of Discipline,

Of Knowledge born.
Standing upon
The slope of a crystal hill,

A pot, inside
And outside, glows!

If you go cut
A hill of alchemic stone,
And the held chisel
And mallet change to it,
There, then, is Discipline ......

4. BHAKTI

Prabhudeva, however, does not seem to be fully satisfied with this account of Basavanna's Achara. He wants to probe into the subtleties of devotion which is the impelling force of all kinds of discipline. Dasohambhava, or Dasoha as it is commonly called, is one of the disciplines enjoined upon a Veerashaiva. Prabhudeva wants to test such a discipline. 'What use is it', says he, 'to do service so long as the duality between Linga and Jangama on the one hand and the serving devotee on the other persists?' Such a separative bhakti will never lead to the One Reality, any more than separative knowledge does. Only through the harmonious blend of unitive knowledge and unitive love can one attain the synthetic experience of the Divine.

Chennabasavanna, however, knows that Basavanna is a perfect blend of love and knowledge which are commonly termed Shivadvaita bhakti and Shivadvaita jnana by Veerashaivas. Indeed, the whole Shatsthala philosophy is founded on unitive knowledge and unitive love. Difference is, of course, a hard fact of experience; but when the Divine Consciousness dawns, all difference melts into the one.

5. SHARANA:

One who has reached the level of Realisation is a Sharana. According to Chennabasavanna, Basavanna is such a one. The way of a Sharana, though in the flesh, is uncommon. He is free from Nature's attributes. Though he seems to be attached to body, life and soul, he is free from all earthly taints. He is free to live, to move, to do as he likes. The words 'attachment' and 'non-attachment' do not apply to him. His vital breath, gathered up in Linga, is filled with Prasada, the grace divine on which his body subsists. His life knows no effort, it is natural and spontaneous. He is neither visible nor invisible. Standing above all desire and desirelessness, he makes no distinction between the visible and the invisible, between the outward and the inward, the partite or the impartite. When the sense of 'I' is completely gone, could there be any 'I' or 'you' for the all-pervading divine consciousness that a Sharana is? He is free, eternally and in everything free. Wherever he be, it is he who originates all becoming and difference. He is the consciousness of all consciousnesses and the inseparable Drop (bindu) in Linga. To such a vastness the Sharana has grown. Such a Sharana you cannot call either an ascetic or a man of the world. Though in the world, he is far above it. Having attained to Lingahood, he is no way inferior to Linga.

6. PRANALINGA

The problem of the relationship between Prana, or vital breath, and Linga arises when Prabhudeva puts forth his veiw that knowledge is no knowledge which comes from some outside agency, be it Guru, Linga or Jangama. Chennabasavanna wishes to know how Prabhudeva got his knowledge without the aid of Linga. To get his Linga from Animisha, his Guru, did he not kill him?

Whence did you get Your Linga without a Guru?
You killed your Guru to capture it!
That day, you know, Animisha
Became your Guru,
The three worlds know,
In Kudala Chennasange,
Allama is a breaker of vows!

If knowledge were Svayambhu, where was the need of such a crime? Chennabasavanna actually condemns Prabhudeva as breaker of vows (vrtagedi).

Prabhudeva argues in self-defencee that the Guru can never be killed and never dies:

Once the Guru's breath
Dissolved in Linga,
That Linga, lo!
Came to my palm.

Lo! my Guru Animisha
Is on my palm.

Lo! my Guru Animisha
Is in my knowledge.

Lo! my Guru's Guru,
Basavanna,
Is before my eyes!
Let Guheshvaralinga bear witness,
No treason lies against me
Towards my Guru:
Hear that, Chennabasavanna.!

Animisha is still breathing through the Linga on his palm. He is not dead, but quite alive, through the knowledge in his mind and through Basavanna sitting before him hale and hearty. Is not Basavanna their teacher's teacher? What Animisha was in his most profound depths was never born, now will ever die. He is as eternal as eternity itself.

7. CHENNABASAVANNA:

Another remarkable trait of his personality is his fearlessness. A free and independent mind, he never hesitates to question authority. When Basavanna and Prabhudeva are deeply absorbed in high philosophical discourse, Channabasavanna dares to test the oneness of Basavaraja and Prabhudeva. His remarks:

Basavanna has taken that which is,
Allama has taken that what is not;
Whom, then, shall I approve,
Whom disapprove?
Though both are rich in stubbornness,
I do not see,
O Kudala Chennasangama Lord,
That they are rich in Linga.

abundantly prove that he will not stop at anything in his search for truth. Indeed, his primary concern is truth and knowledge, not personalities. It needed knowledge and experience, fearlessness and independence of judgment to challenge such great teachers. In this he is in glaring contrast to Basavanna, his uncle and preceptor.

With this fearlessness Chennabasavanna combined respect and admiration for what is great and noble, and he is ever ready to bow down to Prabhudeva:

Experience is the recourse
For the satisfaction of consciousness.
It's through experience of Linga
That I saw you.
The sight of you, for me,
Is self-forgetfulness:
O see that,
O Prabhu, Kudala Chennasangama Lord!

and to Basavanna:

When heavens and earth were not,
Nor fire nor air,
......
When neither sun nor moon had shone,
Nor apprehension of the Spirit was yet,
Who else was there but you to know
The Linga, real and eternal?
......
When I was in the womb,
An infant of the Grace
Of what, in your Prasada,
Was offered and left over from excess,
Who else but you saved me,
Crowning me with the ashen smear
And by the contact of the head and hand?
Let Lord Kudala Chennasangama be withess,
The three worlds know
That I am your compassion's child,
O Sangana Basavanna!

and to acknowledge his debt to them.

Note:

Some attempts have been made in recent times to publish the original Shunyasampadane in Kannada; but for the benefit of non-Kannada readers, a comprehensive edition with an English translation of each vachana and an introduction in English was felt to be necessary. This suggestion was, in fact, made by Shri Kumarswamiji of Navakalyanamath of Dharwar. He also offered to help translate these vachanas into English and to write a general introduction to the work. At that time, he was Honorary Professor of Veerashaiva Philosophy at the University; but owing to pressure of other commitments he had to give up the teaching work in the University and also that of editing Shunyasampadane as he originally desired to do. So an independent committee consisting of Dr. S.C. Nandimath, Prof. Armando Menezes and Dr. R. C. Hiremath was formed. This committee has now completed the first volume of the work, consisting of the first three chapters of the Shunyasampadane. The remaining chapters will be published in about five further volumes in the course of the next year or so.

Karnatak University Dharwar, July 15, 1965

This article 'Shunya Sampadane - Sampadane of Allama Prabhu' is taken from SHUNYASAMPADANE, Volume III, 1969, KARNATAK UNIVERSITY, DHARWAD.

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