Golden Lay Verses

Verse 129 (வாத வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

படைப்பினிலே பலவிதமாம் பேதங் காணாப்

பண்புடையா ரவர்தமக்கே வாதம் சித்தி

நடிப்பினிலே மனங்கோணி நாணங் கொள்ளும்

நல்லவர்க்கே நாட்டுரஸ வாதம் சித்தி

உடப்பினிலே உள்ளிருக்கும் மோனம் கண்டார்

உறைப்பினிலே நிறைக்குமடா வாதம் சக்தி

வெடைப்பினிலே வேதத்தின் வித்தை கொண்டார்

விளைப்பினிலே வெடிக்குமடா வாதம் முக்தி

Transliteration

Padaippinilae palavidhamaam paedhang kaanaap

Panbudaiyaa ravarthamakkae vaadham siththi

Nadippinilae manangkooni naanang kollum

Nallavarkkae naatturasa vaadham siththi

Udappinilae ullirukkum moanam kandaar

Uraippinilae niraikkumadaa vaadham sakthi

Vedaippinilae vaedhaththin viththai kondaar

Vilaippinilae vedikkumadaa vaadham mukthi

Literal Translation

In creation, (those who) do not see the many kinds of distinctions,

For those who have good conduct, vādam is siddhi.

In (their) acting/behaviour, (those whose) mind is bent (and) who take modesty/shame,

For the good, the “naṭṭu-rasa” vādam is siddhi.

In the body, (those who) saw the silence (mōnam) dwelling within,

In “urai”/utterance/setting it becomes full—vādam is śakti.

In the splitting/bursting (stage), (those who) took the Veda’s seed/knack,

In fruition it bursts indeed—vādam is mukti.

Interpretive Translation

He implies that the “vādam” path—read either as inner wind-practice (vāta/prāṇa) or as rasa-vādam (alchemical discipline)—does not ripen merely by technique. It ripens in stages according to the practitioner’s maturation: when one stops multiplying differences in creation and lives with integrity, vādam yields siddhi; when one moves in the world with a humbled, restrained mind, even the “earthly/local rasa-vādam” succeeds; when one discovers the silence seated inside the body and can ‘seal’ it so that it pervades expression, vādam becomes śakti; and when one takes the Veda’s ‘seed’ (its essential method/knowledge) and carries it to full ripening, the final ‘bursting open’ is mukti.

Philosophical Explanation

The verse sets an ethical–yogic criterion for what is otherwise presented as “vādam” (a technical word in Siddhar idiom). Each couplet ties a human quality or inner attainment to a higher outcome—siddhi, śakti, mukti—suggesting that external operations (medicine/alchemy/mantra) are secondary to inner transformation.

1) Non-differentiation in “creation” (paṭaippu): Not “seeing differences” can be read as non-dual vision (bheda-buddhi falling away) or as an even, non-partisan mind. In Siddhar contexts, this is not mere tolerance; it is a prerequisite that prevents power (siddhi) from becoming egoic. Thus “vādam is siddhi” may mean: the discipline yields attainments only to those whose perception is not fragmented by compulsive distinctions.

2) Humility in “acting” (naṭippu): “Manangōṇi” (a mind that bends/crooks) together with “nāṇam” (shame/modesty) can indicate self-restraint—an inward bowing that checks display. If read socially, it is ethical deportment; if read yogically, it is the ‘turning back’ of the outgoing mind. This becomes the condition for “naṭṭu-rasa vādam” to succeed: the more ‘worldly’ or ‘earth-based’ work (herbal/metallic preparations, practical arts) succeeds only when the practitioner is morally disciplined.

3) Silence within the body; “filling” in urai: “Mōnam” (silence) is a classical Siddhar marker for the interior ground where prāṇa settles and speech is transcended. “Urai” can mean utterance/discourse, but also fixing/setting (as in solidifying/sealing in alchemical language). Either way, the claim is: when inner silence is found in the body and can be stabilized so that it ‘fills’ one’s expression (or one’s prepared substance), vādam becomes śakti—power that is not merely a trick but a sustained potency.

4) Veda’s “seed” and the final bursting: The “Veda’s seed” (vēdattiṉ vittai) can be taken as the essential mantra/knowledge-method, not surface ritual. “Bursting” at fruition is deliberately double-edged: it can refer to the culmination of an alchemical heating/fermentation stage (the substance ‘cracking open’), and simultaneously to a yogic breakthrough (knot-breaking, kuṇḍalinī’s release, the rupture of limited identity). That culmination is named mukti—suggesting that the highest end of vādam is not longevity or gold, but liberation.

Overall, the verse uses a technical ladder (siddhi → śakti → mukti) to reframe Siddhar ‘science’ as inseparable from virtue, humility, inner stillness, and distilled wisdom.

Key Concepts

  • vādam (multiple senses: vāta/prāṇa, debate/doctrine, rasa-vādam/alchemy)
  • bheda (distinction) vs non-differentiation
  • paṇbu (good conduct/virtue)
  • naṭippu (acting/behaviour; worldly conduct)
  • nāṇam (modesty/shame; restraint)
  • naṭṭu-rasa (earthly/local rasa; practical alchemical/medicinal work)
  • uṭampu (body) as the site of realization
  • mōnam (inner silence)
  • urai / uraippu (utterance; fixing/setting; sealing)
  • śakti (power/energy)
  • Veda’s seed/essence (vēdattiṉ vittai)
  • viḷaippu (ripening/fruition)
  • mukti (liberation)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “vādam” can mean (a) rasavādam (mercury-based alchemy), (b) mastery of vāta (the wind-humor/prāṇa), (c) a doctrine or disputation; the verse allows all three, linking each to ethical maturity.
  • “naṭṭu-rasa vādam” may mean ‘local/earth-derived rasa’ (herbal/mineral preparations available in one’s land), or ‘worldly/practical rasa-vādam’ as distinct from purely inner yoga; the compound is intentionally colloquial and open.
  • “manangōṇi” can be read negatively as a ‘crooked mind’ that becomes corrected through shame/modesty, or positively as a ‘bending/turning’ mind—one that turns inward (nivṛtti) rather than outward display.
  • “urai / uraippu” may be ‘speech/recitation/explanation’ (so inner silence saturates speech), or ‘setting/solidifying/sealing’ (a technical alchemical stage), both fitting the siddhar idiom.
  • “veṭaippu / splitting-bursting” and “viḷaippu / ripening” can describe (a) alchemical heating/fermentation culminating in a substance cracking open, and/or (b) a yogic breakthrough—granthi-bheda, kuṇḍalinī release, or the rupture of ego.
  • “Veda’s seed” can mean the distilled essence of Vedic knowledge (mantra, method, inner meaning) rather than textual scholarship; the verse does not specify which, preserving siddhar crypticity.