அகமிகுந் தவர்கந் தகமறிந் திலரே
அகமகிழ்ந் தவர்கந் தகமறிந் தவரே
அகநிறைந் தவருள் ளகமதே தங்கம்
அகிலம்யா வுஞ்சொந் தம்மெனும் பொங்கம்
agamigun thavargan thagamariyn thilare
agamagizhn thavargan thagamariyn thavare
aganirain thavarul lagamathe thangam
agilamyaa vunjson thammenum pongam.
Those in whom the ‘akam’ (inner ‘I’/ego; the inside) is excessive have not known ‘takam’ (their proper measure/fitness/true quality).
Those in whom the ‘akam’ is joyful are the ones who have known ‘takam’.
Within those who are filled with the ‘akam’, the ‘akam’ itself is gold.
The entire world—everything—is one’s own: the swelling/overflow called “self”.
Those who are swollen with ego do not know their real nature or true worth. Those whose inwardness is suffused with gladness (the mind turned inward, not outwardly grasping) know what is fitting and what is real. When the interior is wholly filled—steady, ripe, undivided—the inner essence itself becomes “gold”: an image for the imperishable, refined state (pure awareness/ojas-like radiance, the siddha’s accomplished essence). From that fullness arises an “all is mine” stance—either as nondual intimacy with the whole cosmos, or (if misread) as ego’s possessive inflation.
The verse turns on a deliberate Siddhar word-play: “அகம் (akam)” can indicate (1) the inner space/heart-mind and (2) the ‘I’-sense (ahaṃkāra). The first two lines set up two inner conditions.
1) **Akam increased**: When “I-ness” dominates, discernment of one’s *takam* is lost. *Takam* here can be heard as one’s true “measure” (what one really is, what is fitting), i.e., the ability to know reality without distortion. Ego-expansion produces mis-measurement: pride, projection, and false self-appraisal.
2) **Akam rejoicing**: When inwardness is “happy,” it need not mean emotional excitement; it can imply the quiet gladness that comes when attention withdraws from craving and rests within (a yogic inward-turning). In Siddhar idiom, this inward ease is a sign that the mind has become suitable for knowing the real.
3) **Inner gold**: “Gold” (தங்கம்) is both a spiritual and an alchemical marker. Spiritually it signifies what does not corrode—pure awareness, the deathless principle. Alchemically/medical-symbolically it can hint at the siddha ideal of refining the bodily-mind substance into a stable, luminous essence (ojas/tejas analogues; the perfected ‘rasa’). The claim “the inner itself is gold” shifts value from external metals/possessions to the transmuted interior state.
4) **All is one’s own — ‘self’ as swelling/overflow**: The last line is intentionally double-edged. Read one way, realization makes the cosmos intimate—no “other” remains, so “all is mine” means non-separation. Read another way, it criticizes the ego that, once swollen, claims the whole world as property. The word “பொங்கம் (pongam)” (swelling/boiling over) can serve either: (a) the inflation of possessive ego, or (b) the overflow of fullness/bliss that accompanies inner completeness. The verse keeps both possibilities in play, warning against the first while hinting at the second.