Golden Lay Verses

Verse 136 (வாத வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

வேசியென்று தள்ளாதே வினைமூ ளாதே

வித்தையடா தாசியவள் தாயின் ரூபம்

பாசியென்று பகராதே பரம சோதிப்

பராபரத்தின் வாசியவள் மாயா ரூபம்

போசியென்று புகலாதே போகம் யோகம்

புரைசொல்வார் நாசிவழிப் புகைந்து போகும்

காசினியில் மாசியிலே மாசில் லாதாள்

கருணையடா ஒசியெனக் கழித்திடாதே

Transliteration

Vēsiyenru thaḷḷāthē vinai-mū ḷāthē

Viththaiyaḍā thāsiya-vaḷ thāyin rūpam

Pāsiyenru pakarāthē parama sōthip

Parāparaththin vāsiyavaḷ māyā rūpam

Pōsiyenru pukalāthē pōgam yōgam

Puraisolvār nāsivaḻip pukaindhu pōgum

Kāsiniyil māsi-yilē māsil lādāḷ

Karuṇaiyaḍā osiyenak kaḻiththiḍāthē

Literal Translation

“Do not push her away saying ‘she is a prostitute’; do not get sunk in karma (deeds and their binding results).

Know this as a teaching/wisdom: that ‘dāsi’ (servant-woman / courtesan) is the very form of the Mother.

Do not describe her as ‘pāsi’; O Supreme Light!

She is the ‘vāsi’ of the Parāparam (the Transcendent-of-the-transcendent), she is the form of Māyā.

Do not proclaim her as ‘pōsi’; (for her) enjoyment (bhoga) is yoga.

Those who speak polluted/defaming words will depart like smoke through the nostrils.

In this earth-world, in the midst of stain/impurity (māsi), she is the stainless one.

Out of compassion, do not cast her off as ‘ōsi’ (a free thing / a worthless thing).”

Interpretive Translation

Do not reject what you label “impure woman” (or “lowly woman”): the very one you name with contempt is also Mother—Śakti in disguise. Do not reduce her to a bondage-name; she is simultaneously Māyā’s appearance and the Absolute’s own living presence (even “breath/pulse”). What people call pleasure can be turned into yoga when understood rightly. Those who indulge in slander and moralistic contempt lose themselves—like smoke dissipating through the nostrils. In a world of stain, she remains unstained; therefore do not treat her as disposable or “free-for-nothing.”

Philosophical Explanation

The verse works by overturning social-spiritual disgust. Terms like “vēsi” (prostitute) and “dāsi” (servant/courtesan) are invoked not to confirm stigma but to expose it as karmic delusion (“vinai-mūḻ” = being submerged in the logic of blame, merit, sin). The Siddhar’s move is non-dual: what is rejected as ‘impure’ is re-identified as “Mother-form,” and further as “Māyā-form,” i.e., the very power by which the One appears as the many.

Calling her “the vāsi of the Parāparam” is intentionally cryptic. Read one way, it means she is the ‘dwelling/fragrance/abiding’ of the Absolute—its manifest presence. Read another (Siddhar-yogic), “vāsi” hints at vāsi-yoga (prāṇic regulation): the feminine principle becomes identifiable with the subtle breath-current itself; hence the later line about nāsi (nostrils). The warning that slanderers “go as smoke through the nostrils” then becomes both ethical and yogic: defamatory speech dissipates one’s prāṇa and inner potency, leaving only exhaust.

“Bhoga is yoga” here should not be flattened into hedonism. In Siddhar logic it points to transformation: desire/pleasure, when grasped with right knowledge and discipline, becomes a vehicle for realization (a theme often paired with alchemical and kuṇḍalinī motifs, though the verse keeps it veiled). The concluding image—“in māsi, she is stainless”—maintains paradox: amidst impurity (or in the time/season named Māsi), the same Śakti remains ‘māsi-illāḷ’ (without stain). The instruction is compassion and right-seeing: do not discard what you deem low; recognize the divine power concealed in the very category you despise.

Key Concepts

  • Śakti as Mother (tāyin rūpam)
  • Māyā-rūpa (the world-appearance as divine power)
  • Parāparam / Paramajōti (Transcendent; Supreme Light)
  • Karma and delusion (vinai-mūḻ)
  • Bhoga–Yoga transformation (pleasure as a yogic vehicle)
  • Vāsi / Nāsi wordplay (breath, nostrils; vāsi-yoga resonance)
  • Ethics of speech: slander/defamation as spiritual pollution
  • Purity-in-impurity paradox (māsi / mācil-lāḷ)
  • Compassion and non-discarding (do not treat as ōsi)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • vēsi / dāsi: can mean prostitute/courtesan/servant-woman; can also serve as a symbolic stand-in for the feminine principle or desire-energy.
  • pāsi / pōsi / ōsi: these are likely deliberate sound-linked labels of contempt; exact lexical targets can vary by region (pāsi as “bond/attachment,” “moss/scum,” or a derogatory tag; pōsi as another dismissive epithet; ōsi as “free-of-cost,” “idle,” or “worthless”).
  • vāsi: may mean “dwelling/abode/fragrance/presence,” but in Siddhar contexts can allude to vāsi-yoga (subtle breath practice).
  • māsi: can mean “stain/impurity,” but also the Tamil month Māsi; the line may intentionally pun on both (purity amidst impurity; or a calendrical/seasonal hint).
  • “Those who speak with blemish will go as smoke through the nostrils”: can be read as (1) moral warning about the fate of slanderers, (2) yogic-physiological hint about prāṇa dissipating through nāḍīs/nāsā (nostril channels), or (3) an alchemical image of “smoke” as wasted essence.