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Where they feed the fire by Basava (1134 - 1196) Timeline English version by A. K. Ramanujan Original Language Kannada Yoga / Hindu : Shaivite (Shiva) 12th Century In a brahmin house where they feed the fire as a god when the fire goes wild and burns the house they splash on it the water of the gutter and the dust of the street, beat their breasts and call the crowd. These men then forget their worship and scold their fire, O lord of the meeting rivers!     -- from Speaking of Siva, by A K Ramanujan Amazon.com	Themes   Fire   Water       Recommended Books Speaking of Siva, by A K Ramanujan The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice, by Georg Feuerstein
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This poem speaks to us on two levels.

On the surface, the poem pokes fun at what the Virasaiva sect considered the idolatry of worshipping fire "as a god," particularly doing so only when the fire stays within comfortable bounds. Yet "when the fire goes wild," then the fire is instead treated like a dangerous, insentient force that must be suppressed. Suddenly the worshipper has set himself above his god!

On a deeper level, the fire here is the divine fire of bliss. Basavanna is chiding those who worship the sacred reality and mystical truth, but only so long as it is nice and neat and socially acceptable -- intellectualized and not actually experienced directly. When the fire of bliss "goes wild" and "burns the house," filling the awareness with itself as the one all-consuming reality, then these casual worshippers become terrified and try to suppress this sacred process. They denigrate the mystics and saints who embody this fiery truth. "They splash on it / the water of the gutter / and the dust of the street," -- they try to cover this blazing reality with an overwhelm of emotion, sensory experience, and mundane perception. They "call the crowd" and attempt to return to the limited consensus reality shared by the mass of people. Still identified with the ego, they feel threatened by this bliss-fire and, instead of dancing amidst the flames, they "forget their worship" and "scold their fire."

So Basavanna challenges us to ask ourselves honestly: Do we worship only what is comfortable, a god of our making and under our control, a safely caged notion of the Divine? Or do we truly worship and hold nothing back as we recognize the blissful, blazing Reality.

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2009 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.