வேதநெறி யறியாத மாந்தர் தங்கள்
வித்தைபலிக் காதுரஸ வாதம் வாதம்
மாதர்மனக் குறைகொண்ட மடையர்க் கெல்லாம்
வாதமது கீல்வாதம் முடக்கு வாதம்
ஓதுகுறை யேதுமிலாக் குருவின் பாதம்
உற்றவர்க்கே வாதப்ர ஸாதம் போதம்
கோதுறுமோ ரிச்சையிலாக் குணவா னுக்கே
கோதில்லா வாதவித்தைக் குணமாம் கண்டீர்
vētaneṟi yaṟiyāta māntar taṅkaḷ
vittai palik kāturasa vātam vātam
mātarmanak kuṟaikoṇṭa maṭaiyark kellām
vātamatu kīlvātam muṭakku vātam
ōtukuṟai ētumilāk kuruvin pātam
uṟṟavarkkē vātapra sātam pōtam
kōtuṟumō riccaiyilāk kuṇavā ṉukkē
kōtillā vātavittaik kuṇamām kaṇṭīr
People who do not know the Vedic/dharmic path—
for them, their skill/“science” will not bear fruit; it becomes only talk of rasavādam and vādam (alchemy and disputation).
For all the dull-witted who have a deficiency in mind—(or whose mind is troubled by women)—
that “vādam/vātam” becomes kēḻ-vātam (lower vāta) and muṭakku-vātam (stiffening/paralytic vāta).
For those who have truly taken refuge at the feet of the Guru in whom there is no defect in teaching/recitation,
for them there is the “prasādam” (boon/grace/remedy) of vādam/vātam, and awakening/understanding.
Only for the virtuous one who has no biting/gnawing desire,
the faultless art/knowledge of vādam/vātam becomes an innate quality—know this.
Without right ethical/spiritual orientation, what people call “knowledge”—even alchemy or clever argument—does not mature; it degenerates into mere contention, and in the Siddha lens it even turns into disorder of vāta (wind) in the body.
But those who hold to the Guru’s feet—where teaching is without omission or flaw—receive both: a ‘prasādam’ that can be read as medicinal relief from vāta-disorders and as the Guru’s grace that yields true understanding.
Only the desireless, disciplined person can carry the stainless “vādam” (whether the alchemical doctrine, yogic method, or right reasoning) as genuine virtue rather than as showy technique.
This verse uses a characteristic Siddhar double-register: the same word-field points simultaneously to (1) medical vāta (வாதம்: the wind-humour and its diseases), (2) vāda (வாதம்: argumentation/disputation), and (3) rasavādam (ரஸவாதம்: alchemical/iatrochemical practice involving ‘rasa’—mercury/essence).
1) Critique of knowledge without dharma: “Veda-neri” here functions less as sectarian Vedic orthodoxy and more as the ‘right path’—discipline, ethical order, and inner fitness. Lacking this, “vithai” (skill/learning) does not “palikkum” (bear fruit). Siddhar critique often targets showmanship: alchemy and debate pursued for ego, wealth, or rivalry.
2) From ‘vāda’ to ‘vāta’: The poem pivots by turning ‘vādam’ into named vāta-conditions—kēḻvātham and muṭakkuvātham—suggesting that misdirected mental life (dullness, lust, agitation) converts spiritual/technical pursuit into bodily derangement. This is not merely moralizing: in Siddha thought, mind, conduct, diet, and breath directly condition vāta.
3) Guru’s feet as the transforming agent: “Guru’s feet” is both devotional and technical—signifying initiation, method, and embodied transmission. “Othu-kurai yethum ilā” can indicate a guru whose instruction/mantra/recitation is complete (no missing syllables, no flawed method), implying that precision in practice matters. Under such guidance, ‘vādam/vātam prasādam’ can mean both a curative boon (medical) and grace/clarity (spiritual).
4) Desirelessness as the key solvent: “Ichchai ilā” (without desire) is presented as the necessary purification for any powerful art—alchemy, yoga, or reasoning—to become ‘kothillā’ (stainless/without blemish). The Siddhar’s claim is that the real ‘siddhi’ is not the technique itself but the transformation of the practitioner into ‘gunavān’ (one established in virtue).