அன்னமிடும் மின்னிடையா ளகண்ட சக்தி
ஆங்காலம் போங்கால மணைத்து மாவான்
பின்னமிலைப் பயமில்லைப் பேத மில்லை
பேச்செல்லாம் செயலெல்லாம் வெற்றி கண்டாய்
இன்னினியா ளிலக்குவனின் சேவை கொண்டாள்
என்சேவை யிலக்கணமு மிவளே கண்டீர்
மன்னிளியாள் வாலைப்பெண் மாதா சக்தி
மனோன்மணிகங் காளிமகா மாயி யாத்தாள்
annamidum minnidaiyaa lakanDa sakthi
aangkaalam poangkaala maNaiththu maavaan
pinnamilaip payamillaip paetha millai
paechchellaam seyallellaam vetri kaNDaay
inniniyaa lilakkuvanin saevai koNDaaL
enchaevai yilakkaNamu mivaLae kaNDeer
manniLiyaaL vaalaippeN maathaa sakthi
manOnmaNigang kaaLimagaa maayi yaaththaaL.
The undivided Śakti—
that lightning-waisted woman who gives (food/anna).
She embraces/quenches “that time” and “this rising time,” and becomes vast.
There is no falling-away/ruin; there is no fear; there is no difference.
In every word and every deed, you have seen victory.
This exceedingly sweet woman accepted the service of Ilakkuvan.
The very definition (“grammar”) of my service is she—behold.
The earth-bright woman, the “vaalai-peṇ” (plantain-slim/sword-maiden), Mother Śakti:
Manōnmaṇi, (Kaṅ/Kan)kāḷi, Mahā Māyā—Mother indeed.
She is the single, unbroken Power (Śakti) who both nourishes life (as “food”) and strikes like lightning (sudden awakening). She gathers up the movements of time—waxing/waning, coming/going—and either embraces them into one or extinguishes their torment. With her there is no collapse, no fear, no sense of separateness; speech and action alike become victorious (mantra and conduct succeed).
She is served by “Ilakkuvan” (read as Lakṣmaṇa-like disciplined service, or as a named devotee), and the poet says: my entire mode of service is defined by her alone. She is the Mother-Power—named as Manōnmaṇi (the mind’s supreme Jewel/consummation), as fierce Kāḷi (Time-Power), and as Mahā Māyā (the great veiling-and-revealing potency).
1) Śakti as nourishment and awakening: “Annam” (food) can be read plainly as sustenance, and yogically as the inner “food” that becomes prāṇa, ojas, and steadiness of mind. “Lightning-waisted” signals both beauty and instantaneous force—an image often used for kuṇḍalinī-like arousal: swift, piercing, and transformative.
2) Time (Kāla) and Kāḷi: The phrase “āṅkālam pōṅkālam” can point to opposed phases of time (coming/going, waxing/waning, favorable/unfavorable). Kāḷi is time-power itself; thus Śakti is presented as the one who can either (a) embrace time’s opposites into a single nondual field, or (b) quench time’s consuming fire (the anxiety of impermanence).
3) Fearlessness and non-difference: “No fear, no bheda (difference)” aligns with Siddhar nondual instruction—when Śakti is realized as not-other than one’s own awareness, dualistic tremors subside. This is not merely devotional comfort; it is a claim about altered ontological perception.
4) Victory in speech and action: Siddhar usage often ties “speech” to mantra/vākk-siddhi and “action” to yogic/alchemical discipline. “Victory” can mean success in practice: words become effective (mantric potency, truthful speech), deeds bear fruit (sādhana stabilizes).
5) “Service” (sevai) and its “grammar”: Calling her the “ilakkaṇam” (grammar/definition) of service implies that true practice is not separate from Śakti; she is both the power that makes effort possible and the criterion by which practice is known to be authentic.
6) Multiple divine names as one principle: Manōnmaṇi (supreme Shakti beyond mind’s fragmentation), Kāḷi (fierce transformative time-energy), and Mahā Māyā (power of appearance) are not treated as competing deities but as facets of the same Reality—nourishing, terrifying, and veiling/revealing—depending on the seeker’s stage.