பத்தியங்கள் பலசெய்வார் பழமை கண்டே
பச்சிலைகள் பலதேடிச் சாறு செய்வார்
நித்தியமும் துதிசெய்வார் நியமம் செய்வார்
நிலையான சத்தியத்தைக் கண்டா ரில்லை
வித்தைகளும் பலகண்டார் வேதங் காணார்
மெத்தியமாம் மத்தியத்தை வென்றா ரில்லை
வத்தியமா வைத்தியந்தான் பைத்தி யந்தான்
வாத்தியத்தி னிசைகாணார் வாழ்வ தெங்கே
paththiyangaL palaseyvaaar pazhamai kaNdE
pachchilaigaL palathEdich chaaRu seyvaaar
niththiyamum thuthiseyvaaar niyamam seyvaaar
nilaiyaana saththiyaththaik kaNdaa rillai
viththaigaLum palakaNdaa r vEdhang kaaNaar
meththiyamaam maththiyaththai venRaa rillai
vaththiyamaa vaiththiyanthaan paiththi yanthaan
vaaththiyaththi nisaikaaNaar vaazhva thengE
Seeing (and clinging to) the old ways, they undertake many dietary restrictions;
searching for many kinds of green leaves, they make extracts/juices.
Daily they offer praises and perform observances (niyama),
but they have not seen the enduring Truth.
They have witnessed many “arts/powers” (vittai), yet they do not see the Veda;
they have not conquered the “middle” (madhyamam / madhyattai).
What they call intense medicine becomes only madness;
they do not perceive the music of the instrument—where, then, is life (for them)?
Some obsess over outer discipline—strict diets, herbal decoctions, daily worship, and rule-bound piety. They may even acquire remarkable techniques or siddhis. Yet they miss what is stable and real: direct realization of Truth. They do not “see the Veda” as living insight, nor do they master the subtle ‘middle’—the balancing principle or inner center through which mind and breath are harmonized. Then medicine, taken as an end in itself, turns into a kind of delirium; and without hearing the inner sound (nāda)—the body’s true instrument—how can authentic life be said to be lived?
The verse is a critique of mistaking means for the goal.
1) External regimen vs. stable Truth: “Pathiyam” (dietary restriction) and herbal preparations are staples of Siddhar medicine and rasavāda (alchemical) culture, but here they are framed as incomplete when pursued merely as outward habit (“pazhamai”). The Siddhar point is not that diet, herbs, or devotion are wrong, but that none of them guarantees realization of “nilaiyāna saththiyam” (the enduring/unchanging Truth).
2) Niyama and praise as insufficient without inner seeing: “Thuthi” (praise) and “niyama” (observances) correspond to classical yogic disciplines. The verse implies a common failure-mode: purity practices become performative or mechanical. In Siddhar idiom, true purity is verified by inner transformation—stilling and clarifying consciousness—not by the quantity of practices.
3) “Vittai” (arts/powers) vs. “Veda” (true knowing): “Vittai” can denote skills, occult feats, or siddhis—phenomena that can arise through tapas and technique. “Veda” here can be read less as scripture and more as “vedam = seeing/knowing”: the direct apprehension of reality. The contrast warns that powers and techniques can coexist with ignorance of the central insight.
4) The ‘middle’ (madhyamam) as balance/center: “Madhyamam/madhyattai” is cryptic. It can indicate (a) the middle path of moderation (avoiding extremes in austerity, food, sleep, etc.), (b) the central inner channel/center (often aligned with suṣumṇā or a centered mind-breath axis), or (c) the mediating equipoise in which opposites (hot/cold, rajas/tamas, prāṇa/apāna) are reconciled. “Not conquering the middle” implies failure to stabilize this centrality; without it, practice becomes extreme, agitating, and unintegrated.
5) Medicine becomes madness; instrument without music: The line plays with sound-alike terms: “vaiththiyam” (medicine) sliding toward “paiththiyam” (madness). It suggests that treatment or alchemical striving pursued without wisdom and balance can inflame obsession, imbalance the humors/energies, or produce spiritual delusion. The final image—“not seeing the music of the instrument”—points to nāda (inner resonance) and the body-mind as a vādya (instrument). If one cannot perceive the inner harmony (the unstruck sound / inner attunement), then outward religiosity and pharmacology miss the essence of living realization.
Overall, the verse advocates an integrated Siddhar ideal: outer disciplines (diet, herbs, devotion) must be subordinated to inner verification—centered balance, direct knowing, and the experiential ‘music’ of awakened life.