Basava

Basava (Kannada: ಬಸವ) (also known as Bhakti Bhandari Basavanna (Kannada: ಭಕ್ತಿ ಭಂಡಾರಿ ಬಸವಣ್ಣ ) or Basaveshwara (Kannada: ಬಸವೇಶ್ವರ), (1134–1196)) was a philosopher, Statesman and a social reformer from present-day Karnataka, India. Basava fought against the inhuman practice of caste system, which discriminated people based on their birth, and certain rituals in Hinduism. He spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas. Basavanna used Ishtalinga (image/linga of god in one's body) to eradicate untouchability, establish equality among all human beings and a means to attain spiritual enlightenment. These are rational and progressive social thoughts coupled with established perception of God in Hindu society.

Basava spread social awareness through his poetry known as Vachanaas. These are rational and progressive social thoughts coupled with established perception of God in Hindu society. "Brahminical thought" interpret the Vachanaas as essence of Vedic knowledge while attempting to explain the social revolution, Basava was able to bring in. But this theory, however, fails to explain why other well known religious leaders like Shankaracharya and Madhwacharya, who were very well acquainted with Vedic knowledge did not address the issues, that Basava did in later part of the history in 12th century. Basava, like Gautama Buddha, did not preach people the intricate aspects of spirituality; but, he taught people how to live happily in a rational social order later came to be known as Sharana movement.

Basavanna(Basaveshwara) is called Vishwaguru due to the fact that he is the first ever to know the practicality of transcending to Godliness and demonstrated the technique of becoming God through around 800 Sharanas. Basavanna is Vishwaguru due to the fact that only he universalised the concept of path of becoming God through four levels of divinity that exists in one'sown own body- Unmanifest Chaitanya(Guru), Manifest Chaitanya-Shakti(Linga), Consciousness of the manifest chaitanya-shakti in Prana( Jangama), and the Individual consciousness(Jeevatma/Mind). Basavanna taught Sharanas the technique of transcending mind with ones own prana through a process of Ishtalinga, Pranalinga and Bhavalinga saadhana and confirmed the world that anybody in the world, irrespective of caste, creed, merit, nationality, etc., can transcend and become God by being in unioin with Prana. So far only he is the only person on record to demonstrate the feasible path of transcedence to a very common man. His followers in 12th centuray became Sharanas just by following his technique of being with prana and evloving through. One can witness his ability to understand spirituality as it is, and practice the specifics to the extent that about 800 sharanas wrote their experiences which converged into what is detailed by ancient texts - Vedas, Upansiahads, Darshanas, Geetha, Puranas in terms of the devata conscious elemenents in the Body iteself. Having understood the spirituality and its apt application,Basavanna is just more than what anybody and everybody understands as.

He himselef declared that he is playing only the elder brothers role and that is how the name Basavanna (Basava ANNA). He is popularly called as Bhakti Bhandari (Champion of Devotion). People also called him as a "Kranti Yogi" as he made the revalution in dharma. His teachings and preachings which are universal, go beyond all boundaries of belief systems. He was a great humanitarian and preached a new way of life wherein the divine experience being the center of life regardless of gender, belief, tradition, religion, caste or social status. The key aspect of his preaching is monotheistic concept of God.

A true visionary with ideas ahead of his time; he envisioned a society that flourished enriching one and all. He was a great mystic of his time and originated a literary revolution through his literary creation called Vachana Sahitya in Kannada Language which are derived from the Upanishads and Vedanta. He was a mystic by temperament, an idealist by choice, a statesman by profession: as he was the Prime Minister of the Southern Kalachuri Empire in South India, a man of letters by taste, a humanist by sympathy, and a social reformer by conviction. Many great yogis and mystics of his time joined his movement enriching it with the essence of divine experience in the form of Vachanas.