Golden Lay Verses

Verse 104 (மணி வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

பொங்கி வரும் பூரணமா லிங்கந் தன்னில்

போந்துறையும் வாலைரஸம் தன்னை வாங்கப்

பங்கமுண்டு பன்னிருகை வேலோன் பாதம்

பணிந்துதுணை யாக்கொண்டு பங்கம் நீங்கிச்

சங்குகொண்டே தாரையதில் ஊதிக் கொள்ளச்

சர்வலோ கங்களெலாம் வசிய மாகும்

தங்கமுறத் தடையில்லை என்றா லுந்தான்

தாரணியி லிதைச்செய்து முடிப்பா ருண்டோ!

Transliteration

pongi varum pūraṇamā liṅgan tannil

pōnturaiyum vālairasam tannai vāṅgap

paṅgam uṇḍu pannirukai vēlōn pādam

paṇintu tuṇai yākkonḍu paṅgam nīṅgic

caṅgukoṇḍē tāraiyatil ūtik koḷḷac

carvalō kaṅgaḷelām vaciya māgum

taṅgamuṟat taṭaiyillai eṉṟā luntān

tāraṇiyi litai cceytu muṭippā ruṇḍō!

Literal Translation

In the swelling, complete (pūrṇa) liṅga itself,

—to take/receive the vālai-rasam that comes and resides there—

there is defect/impurity (pankam).

Bowing to the feet of Vēlōn of the twelve hands,

taking him as supporting help, with the defect removed,

if, holding a conch, one blows into the tārai,

then all the worlds become subject to one’s control.

If you say there is no obstruction for it to become gold,

who on this earth is there that can do this and bring it to completion?

Interpretive Translation

Within the “pūrṇa-liṅga” where a force/essence rises and swells, a subtle “vālai-rasam” (a coded “essence,” possibly a final extract) is obtainable, but it is mixed with flaw/impurity and risk. Therefore one must first seek refuge at the feet of Vēlōn (Murukaṉ, the spear-bearing one with twelve hands), taking divine/guru support so that the “defect” is removed. Then, by the act signified as “taking the conch and blowing into the tārai” (whether breath-work/mantra in the inner body, or an operation with an apparatus/pipe in an outer alchemical working), mastery or “vasiya” over the spheres/worlds is said to arise. Yet the poet turns sharply: even if one claims there is no barrier to making ‘gold’ (literal transmutation or the ‘golden’ perfected body/state), who, in practice, can truly accomplish and complete it?

Philosophical Explanation

The verse layers devotion, yoga, and rasavāda (Siddha alchemy) in a single code.

1) Purification before power: “pankam” (mud/defect/impurity) appears exactly at the point where the sought essence is to be “taken.” This mirrors a recurring Siddhar warning: siddhi-claims and rasa-operations fail or corrupt when attempted with impurity—whether moral, bodily, or procedural.

2) Vēlōn as initiatory principle: Murukaṉ (six-faced, twelve-handed) is not only a deity of battle but a Siddha emblem of disciplined force: spear (vēl) as discriminating penetration, cutting delusion; devotion as the stabilizing “tuning” that makes dangerous knowledge workable. “Bowing to the feet” is simultaneously bhakti and submission to lineage/guru-method.

3) “Conch” and “tārai” as inner/outer technology: The conch traditionally signals sacred vibration (Oṁ), breath, and proclamation. “Blowing” hints at prāṇa regulation, mantra resonance, or directing air/fire in an operation. “Tārai” can be read as an instrument/pipe/duct/stream; thus the line can map to (a) yogic channels and breath-driven awakening, or (b) a furnace/apparatus in which air is fed to complete a transformation.

4) Vashyam and the ethical check: “Sarva-lokam vasiya” (making all worlds subject) evokes siddhis of influence and command. The closing rhetorical question undercuts easy triumphalism: even if the doctrine says “no obstacle” to ‘gold,’ actual attainment is rare. This functions as both humility and a critique of boastful alchemical or yogic claims.

Overall, the verse treats “gold” as a double sign: the literal metallurgical goal and the emblem of an incorruptible, perfected state. The poet keeps the promise intact while stressing the difficulty, the necessity of guidance, and the ever-present danger of impurity.

Key Concepts

  • pūrṇa-liṅga (complete/full liṅga; coded locus of rising force)
  • vālai-rasam (coded “essence”; possibly ‘tail-extract’/final distillate or a plant/sexual/alchemical essence)
  • pankam (impurity/defect/mud; flaw in substance or practitioner)
  • Vēlōn / Murukaṉ (twelve-handed; guru-deity; spear as discriminative force)
  • śaṅkha (conch; sound/breath/ritual device; coded tool)
  • tārai (trumpet/pipe/duct/stream; coded channel or apparatus-part)
  • vasiya / vaśīkaraṇa (subjugation, influence; siddhi)
  • thangam (gold; metallurgical transmutation; ‘golden’ perfected state)
  • bhakti as safeguard (bowing to the feet; refuge in lineage)
  • yogic prāṇa-mantra operation (blowing; resonance; channel-work)
  • rasavāda / Siddha alchemy (essence-taking; transmutation claims; completion)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “liṅga” may mean Śiva-liṅga, the sexual organ in an erotic-yogic code (semen/ojas dynamics), or a liṅga-shaped alchemical vessel/crucible where substances ‘swell’ and react.
  • “vālai-rasam” can be read as (a) plantain (vālai) juice used medicinally, (b) a coded alchemical preparation, (c) ‘tail-essence’—the final fraction/residue of a distillation or extraction (vāl = tail), or (d) a sexual/nectar-like essence associated with retention and sublimation.
  • “pankam” can imply moral impurity, bodily toxins, procedural contamination in an alchemical operation, or the inherent instability/toxicity of the substance being handled.
  • “pannirukai Vēlōn” could be strictly iconographic (twelve-armed Murukaṉ) or symbolic of multi-faceted skill/energies required for the work; it may also hint at a specific tradition/lineage invoking Murukaṉ for rasa-siddhi.
  • “sangu … tārai(y)il ūthuthal” may describe (a) ritual sound (conch + trumpet), (b) pranayama/mantra projected through an inner ‘duct’ (nāḍi/throat/breath-channel), or (c) a practical alchemical act of feeding air through a tube/bellows to regulate fire.
  • “sarva-lokam vasiya” can mean literal magical control, the psychological mastery of perception/world-experience, or the alchemical boast that successful rasa grants authority, wealth, and influence.
  • “thangam” may be literal gold production, the ‘golden body’ (imperishable perfected body), or the stabilization of mercury/essence into a non-decaying state; the verse intentionally allows all three.