அறவே பெறவே இறையே பொறையே
அணையில் தரையாம் சிறையேது?
அறைமா மறையே விரையே சுரையே
அகலப் பவமாங் கறையேது?
குறையே நிறையே பறையே திறையாய்க்
குணமே குலவக் குறையேது?
துறையே துறவே பிறையே பிணையே
நறவே கௌவே நரையேது?
Aravē peRavē iRaiyē poRaiyē
aNaiyil tharaiyām siRaiyēthu?
aRaimā maRaiyē viraiyē suraiyē
agalap pavamāng kaRaiyēthu?
kuRaiyē niRaiyē paRaiyē thiRaiyāyk
kuNamē kulavak kuRaiyēthu?
thuRaiyē thuRavē piRaiyē piNaiyē
naRavē kauvē naraiyēthu?
“As dharma—having been gained; as the Lord—(as) the one who bears—
when it becomes earth at the embankment/restraint, what ‘prison’ is there?
As the great chamber/strike; as the secret (marai); as the seed/fragrance/speed; as the hollow/channel—
when it spreads out and becomes ‘bhava’ (worldly becoming), what ‘stain’ is that?
As lack and as fullness; as the drum; as a screen/wave—
when qualities (guṇas) mingle and flourish, what ‘lack’ remains?
As the shore; as renunciation; as the crescent/birth; as the bond/corpse—
(as) sweet liquor/nectar; (as) theft/kovai—what ‘grey hair/old age’ is that?”
When one has truly obtained virtue and rests in the Divine support, what confinement can still be called a “prison” (body, ego, or fate)?
When the “hidden secret” is approached—where the seed/impulse runs through its subtle channels—what is the taint that, once it spills outward, turns into samsaric becoming?
When deficiency and completeness are seen as shifting veils, and the guṇas lose their power to bind, what real “lack” can remain?
When one reaches the far shore of renunciation—where birth (or the lunar nectar) and bondage are understood—what is aging itself? what is “grey hair,” except a name within time?
This verse is built as a chain of rhetorical questions (“what prison?”, “what stain?”, “what lack?”, “what grey hair?”). The Siddhar style is to deny by questioning: once the decisive inner condition is attained, the ordinary categories by which people suffer lose their authority.
1) “Prison” (சிறை): In Siddhar usage this can be the body-bound condition, the sense-cage, or karmic confinement. “அணை” can mean an embankment/dam (a structure that contains) and also restraint/control. Read yogically, it hints at containment: the disciplining of the senses and prāṇa. “தரை” (earth/floor) can be literal ground, but also the earthy base (body, or the root element). Thus the question can imply: when restraint is established at the very base, what remains of captivity?
2) “Stain” (கறை) that becomes “bhava” (பவம்): A classical Siddhar move is to treat worldly becoming as a consequence of a subtle “taint”—often desire, karmic residue, or specifically the outward loss of vital essence (bindu/seed). “விரை” is especially ambiguous: fragrance/haste/seed/sexual impulse. “சுரை” can be a hollow, channel, or inner passage. The cluster “மறை…விரை…சுரை” can therefore gesture toward a ‘hidden’ sexual-alchemical physiology: the secret chamber and conduits through which the vital essence moves. If it “spreads out” (அகல) into outward craving or emission, it becomes the stain that ripens as samsāra.
3) “Lack” (குறை) vs “fullness” (நிறை): The verse places opposites side by side, suggesting they are appearances (a “திரை”—curtain/veil or wave). “பறை” (drum) can imply proclamation, noise, or the public theatre of dualistic measurement—‘I have / I lack.’ When guṇas “mingle” or are seen through, the binding sense of insufficiency collapses; lack is revealed as a conceptual rhythm, not an ultimate truth.
4) “Grey hair / old age” (நரை): This is the emblem of time’s rule. “துறை/துறவு” evokes the shore and renunciation (crossing over). “பிறை” can be the crescent moon (often linked with soma/amṛta, the lunar nectar in yogic physiology) or can be heard as “பிற” (birth/coming-to-be). “பிணை” is bond/attachment, and also can suggest the corpse-state (pīṇam/pinai) as the endpoint of embodied time. “நறவு” can be intoxicating liquor, but Siddhar texts also play with the idea of ‘nectar’ (amṛta) as a higher intoxication. “கௌவு” can mean theft—what steals one’s life-force (senses, habits), though it may also point to other referents. The question “what is old age?” thus targets the deepest fear: when one abides on the ‘other shore’ (detached, or established in the inner nectar), aging is not denied as a bodily event but is stripped of its existential sting.
Overall, the verse aligns with Siddhar aims: liberation while embodied, achieved through ethical attainment (அறம்), inner devotion/grounding in the Divine (இறை), yogic restraint (அணை), mastery of desire and vital essence (விரை), seeing through the guṇas (குணம்), and crossing beyond time’s tyranny (நரை). The diction stays deliberately cryptic so that it can speak simultaneously to moral practice, yogic physiology, and alchemical transformation.