Basavanna

Basava (1134 - 1196), sometimes referred to reverently as Basavanna or Basaveshwara, was a twelfth century devotee of Shiva and early organizer of the Virasaiva Lingayata sect in the Kannada-speaking regions of southern India. Basava, the great reformer of the Vira Shaiva branch of Shaivism, once remarked to his followers:

"Shivane Daye" - Shiva is Compassion.

The pot is a God

The pot is a God. The winnowing fan is a God. 

The stone in the street is a God. The comb is a God.
The bowstring is also a God. 

The bushel is a God and the spouted cup is a God. 

Gods, gods, there are so many there's no place left for a foot.

There is only one God.
He is our Lord of the Meeting Rivers.

The Temple and the Body

The rich will make temples for Shiva.

What shall I, a poor man, do?

My legs are pillars,

the body the shrine,

the head a cupolaof gold.

Listen, O lord of the meeting rivers,

things standing shall fall,

but the moving ever shall stay.

Make of my body the beam of a lute

Make of my body the beam of a lute

of my head the sounding gourd

of my nerves the strings

of my fingers the plucking rods.

Clutch me close

and play your thirty-two songs

O lord of the meeting rivers!

The waters of joy

When

like a hailstone crystal

like a waxwork image

the flesh melts in pleasure

how can I tell you?

The waters of joy broke the bank sand
ran out of my eyes.

I touched and joined my Lord
of the meeting rivers.

How can I talk to anyone

of that?

Bhakti

Don't you take on

this thing called bhakti:

like a saw

it cuts when it goes

and it cuts again

when it comes.

If you risk your hand

with a cobra in a pitcher

will it let you pass?

Om Namah Shivaya