ராதரஸ விந்து சீலையுங் கவிந்து
பாதரஸ காந்தம் பார்க்கமிக சாந்தம்
வாதமது சொந்தம் தாதுமிக மந்தம்
வேதமிதை ஓதி வாதமிக வூது
rātharasa vindu cīlaiyuṅ kavinthu
pātharasa kāntham pārkkamika cāntham
vāthamathu sontham thāthumika mantham
vēthamithai ōthi vāthamika vūthu.
“The rādha/ ratha-rasa ‘bindu’—and the cloth (seelai) too—are covered over.
The pāda-rasa ‘kāntam’ (magnet/lodestone): to look upon it is very calm/peaceful.
Argument (vādam) is (taken as) one’s own; the bodily constituents (dhātu) are very sluggish.
Reciting this as ‘Veda’, they greatly blow up (vādam) (i.e., they inflate dispute).”
When the ‘essence’ (rasa) and ‘bindu’ are sealed/contained—whether as an alchemical substance in a cloth-wrapped packet, or as sexual essence conserved within its sheath—then the ‘magnet’ (kāntam: that which draws and fixes) brings a state of quietude.
But those who treat disputation as their identity, and who merely parade scriptural recitation as “Veda,” end up only fanning debate; their dhātus (vital tissues/constituents) become dull or weakened—suggesting loss of true inner potency despite outward learning.
This verse juxtaposes two kinds of ‘knowledge’:
1) Siddhar praxis (yogic–alchemical): - “Rasa” and “bindu” are classic Siddhar/Rasa-śāstra terms. Rasa can mean mercury (the alchemical quicksilver) and also “essence/juice” in a broader sense. Bindu commonly points to the vital drop—often semen/seed in yogic physiology, and by extension the subtle essence that must be conserved and transmuted. - “Seelai” (cloth) can be read literally as the cloth used in wrapping, filtering, or sealing substances in laboratory procedures; it can also imply a sheath/covering (a ‘veṣṭanam’), i.e., containment and restraint. - “Kāntam” (lodestone/magnet) is a known alchemical aid (a stabilizer/attractor in some mercury operations) and also functions as an inner metaphor: the power that ‘pulls’ the mind and prāṇa into steadiness, yielding “sāntam” (tranquility).
2) Empty scholasticism and ego-debate: - The repeated “vādam” naturally reads as “debate/disputation,” and “ūthu” (to blow) evokes stoking a fire, inflating a bellows, or puffing up pride—thus “fanning” argument rather than gaining realization. - “Dhātu” here signals the body’s sustaining elements (tissues/constituents in Siddha–Āyurvedic sense). The line implies that obsession with contention (and possibly an unbalanced vāta principle) leaves the dhātus “mandam” (dull, weakened, slow), i.e., vitality declines.
Overall, the Siddhar’s critique is not of scripture per se, but of treating recitation as attainment while neglecting the transformative discipline of conserving and refining essence (rasa/bindu). True ‘peace’ is linked to containment, stabilization, and inner alchemy; mere argumentative learning produces agitation and depletion.