காணியதைக் காணாமல் கோணிக் கேதான்
மாணியதைக் கொள்ளாமல் யோனிக் கேதான்
காடுமே டாய்ச்சுற்றி யலைவார் வீணே
மாதாவின் குலந்தேடி யலைவார் வீணே
சாணியதைப் பூசாமல் சுத்தம் செய்யச்
சண்ணித்தான் சுடுகாட்டுச் சாம்பல் தன்னை
பூணுவதைக் காணாமல் தேனீப் போலப்
புட்பங்கள் பலதேடிப் புலம்பு வாரே
kaaNiyathaik kaaNaamal kooNik kethaan
maaNiyathaik koLLaamal yoonik kethaan
kaadumE daaychchuRRi yalaivaar veeNE
maathaavin kulanthEdi yalaivaar veeNE
saaNiyathaip poosaamal suththam seyyach
saNNiththaan sudukaattuch saampal thannai
pooNuvathaik kaaNaamal thEneep poolap
puTpangaL palathEdi pulambu vaarE.
Not seeing what is already there to be seen, he goes asking (begging) for it elsewhere.
Not taking what is worthy/precious (already obtained), he goes asking for the yōni (the womb/source) elsewhere.
They who wander around forests and mounds/hills do so in vain.
They who wander seeking “the Mother’s lineage/clan” do so in vain.
Without smearing (cow-)dung, they try to make (things) clean;
not seeing that the ascetic/renunciant wears the cremation-ground ash itself,
like bees,
they search for many flowers and return lamenting.
Failing to recognize what is immediately present (the right means and the inner reality), people chase it outward: they roam wild places, seek external affiliations to “the Mother,” and obsess over ritual notions of purity (dung, ash). Missing the essential point—inner purification and the truth already at hand—they flit from one “flower” (practice, place, sign, doctrine) to another like bees, yet come back dissatisfied.
The verse criticizes outward religiosity and restless seeking. What is “already seen/available” points to the obvious but unrecognized: one’s own body-field and immediate awareness as the site of sādhana. “Yōni” (womb/source) can be read both literally and metaphysically: (1) the generative source of embodiment and desire; (2) the root/source-principle in yogic terms (often associated with the base/ground of manifestation, sometimes implied in mulādhāra–yoni symbolism). The poet says the seeker ignores what is already ‘his’ (direct experiential means) and begs elsewhere.
The lines on wandering in forests and hills can point to pilgrimage, cave-seeking, and external asceticism. “Seeking the Mother’s clan” can refer to running after sectarian identities, initiatory lineages, or external forms of Śakti-devotion while missing the inward presence of Śakti as life-force and awareness.
“Dung” and “cremation-ash” also carry practical Siddha resonances: cow-dung is a traditional cleanser/disinfectant; cremation-ash (vibhūti/bhasma) is a sign of renunciation and, in alchemical/medical registers, ash/bhasma can signify a substance transformed by fire. Symbolically, dung can stand for crude, external cleansing and social notions of purity; cremation-ash stands for what remains when everything burnable (ego, attachment, bodily identification) is reduced—an inner detachment rather than a mere smear on the skin. The poet’s complaint is not simply “do not wear ash,” but “do not miss what ash truly signifies.”
The closing bee-image is double-edged: bees seek nectar but here become a figure for indiscriminate collecting—sampling many flowers (many teachings, rites, places, sensory aims) without extracting the one ‘essence’ (sāram)—hence lamentation. The Siddhar stance privileges inner discernment and transformation over accumulation of external tokens.