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(d) an advice

(d) the speaker believes that God is present within ourselves and not in any temple.

(f)  anguish

1. Building temples for Siva is considered a good way to please the Lord. 

2. However, everyone cannot build temples. 

3. Temples built of stone and brick can be destroyed. 

4. God is found not just in temples but also outside. 

5. Carrying God in one’s own heart is the best way of worshipping Him. 

6. This ‘moving temple’ cannot be destroyed at all. 

Paragraph: 

In this poem, Basavanna tells us that a rich man can afford to build grand temples in honour of gods, but poor man can’t. However, with his devotion, i.e., with pure thoughts, actions and deeds, he can turn his body into a temple. He may offer his legs for pillars, his body fora shrine and his head for a cupola. A temple of faith is immortal as human beings live on generation after generation, but a temple of stone will perish sooner or later. With this analogy, the lyricist is telling us that faith in the heart is more important than cold stone structures dedicated to a God. To him true faith is more important than display of wealth by the rich who put up such structures.

The poet desires to please God by building a temple for him but is a poor man, and hence cannot do so.

He wonders in anguish whether he will ever be able to please God.

He decides to treat his own body as a temple, with his legs for pillars, body for the shrine and the head for a cupola of gold.

He consoles himself saying that ‘things standing shall fall’, meaning that buildings will be destroyed by wind, rain and sunshine.

He is happy that ‘the moving ever shall stay’, meaning that he will be able to carry the ‘temple’ and his ‘God’ forever with himself, and so it will never be destroyed. It shall ‘stay’.

The poem or vachana was written by Basavanna at a time when people other than high caste people or Brahmins could not enter temples.

The poet is consoling himself that the temple which he would never be able to construct, would any day be destroyed, whereas the ‘moving temple’ that he carries in his heart would be immortal and intact. The lines can also mean that the one who ‘stands’ in front of God without bowing down to Him, will surely ‘fall’ or be destroyed, whereas ‘the moving’, the one who bows down in front of Him and acts according to His wish, would stay ever. The poet finds consolation in his modest circumstances and his devotion to God.

Things standing shall fall’ can be interpreted in various ways. The poet laments his inability to build temples, hence the phrase can refer to temples which are subject to nature’s fury and destruction over a period of time. It can also refer to pride and arrogance which can make a person stand erect in front of God when he should be bowing before Him. It may also mean that static objects that are moved by piety and devotion, are subject to destruction and decay while the heart that is filled with devotion is blessed and becomes immortal.

The moving shall ever stay’ – this phrase too can be interpreted in many ways. The ‘moving’, i.e., the human heart which is a ‘moving temple’ cannot be destroyed by nature’s fury unlike a temple that can be damaged easily by nature, ‘the moving’ can also refer to humble beings who are swayed by devotion and move according to God’s will unlike the ‘static’ that stand erect against God’s wishes and get destroyed.