Golden Lay Verses

Verse 174 (யோக வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

கட்டித்தான் தழுவிடவே கன்னித் தாயார்

கைப்பிடியி னிடையுடையாள் கனிந்த நோக்கக்

குட்டியவள் மின்வேகக் குமரிப் பாவைக்

குவலயத்தி லவள்பாதப் பொன்னைக் காண்போம்

வட்டினிலே மடியிருத்தி யணைத்துக் கொண்டால்

மலர்விழிகள் அவைகுவிந்தே அமுத வெள்ளம்

கொட்டிடுமே பாசபந்தக் குறைகள் நீங்கும்

குறைவற்ற மெய்ஞ்ஞான யோக மோங்கும்

Transliteration

kattiththaan thazhuvidavae kannith thaayaar

kaippidiyi nidaiyudaiyaaL kanintha nookkak

kuttiyavaL minveegak kumarip paavaik

kuvalayaththi lavaLpaathap ponnaik kaaNpoom

vattinilae madiyiruththi yaNaiththuk koNdaal

malarvizhigaL avaikuviNthae amudha veLLam

kottidumae paasapanthak kuraigaL neengum

kuRaivatra meyNYNYaana yooka moongum.

Literal Translation

When one embraces (her), the virgin Mother—

She who has a waist between the grasping hands—she looks on with ripened (gracious) eyes.

That small girl, the maiden who moves with lightning speed—

In this world, let us behold the gold of her feet.

If, within the circle, placing (her) upon the lap and holding her close,

Those flower-like eyes close and fold inward; a flood of nectar

Pours forth; the shortcomings of the bonds of attachment depart,

And flawless, true-knowledge Yoga rises and flourishes.

Interpretive Translation

When the seeker “holds” the virgin Mother—Shakti in her youthful, subtle form—

whose slender middle eludes ordinary grasp yet yields to ripened (matured) attention,

the swift, lightning-like energy is made present.

Then, even while living in the world, one “sees the gold of her feet” (the grounding, sanctifying power of the Divine/Śakti-principle).

When she is seated in the inner “circle” and embraced (drawn into union within the body),

the outward-looking senses close like petals; a stream of amṛta (inner nectar)

begins to pour, loosening the knots of attachment,

and a faultless jñāna-yoga—knowledge born of direct realization—stands exalted.

Philosophical Explanation

This verse uses an intentionally sensuous devotional idiom to speak of an inner yogic/alchemical event. The “virgin Mother / maiden” functions as a double sign: (1) an external goddess-form worthy of devotion, and (2) the internal Śakti/Kundalinī—pure (“virgin”), originative (“mother”), and quick-moving (“lightning speed”). The act of “embracing” and “placing on the lap” can be read as yogic containment and integration: drawing the restless energy into the body’s center rather than dispersing it through desire and sense-activity.

The “circle” (வட்டம்) may indicate a mandala-like inner locus—commonly the cakra-field—or a controlled enclosure/vessel, echoing Siddhar laboratory language where substances are sealed and heated; both readings support the theme of containment leading to transformation. The “flower-eyes closing” points to pratyāhāra and dhyāna: the senses withdraw, attention turns inward, and with steadiness the “nectar” (amṛta) is said to drip or flood—classically linked to the cranial reservoir and to the cooling, rejuvenating essence that counteracts decay.

“Bonds of attachment” (pāśa-bandha) are both psychological (craving, clinging, compulsive cognition) and karmic (binding tendencies). Their “shortcomings” leaving suggests that the practitioner’s defects—impulses, compulsions, ignorance—are not merely suppressed but dissolved through a change in the very economy of energy and attention. The culmination is “true-knowledge yoga”: not intellectual doctrine, but a stabilized realization (mey-jñānam) where inner union produces clarity, freedom, and an unblemished (kuraivatra) state.

Key Concepts

  • Śakti / Kundalinī as the “virgin Mother”
  • Lightning-speed (sūkṣma, swift prāṇa movement)
  • Inner containment: “circle” as cakra/mandala or sealed vessel
  • Embrace/union as yogic integration (not merely erotic)
  • Pratyāhāra: closing of the senses (“flower-eyes close”)
  • Amṛta (nectar) and its rejuvenating/transformative role
  • Pāśa-bandha (bonds of attachment/karmic binding)
  • Mey-jñānam (true knowledge) and the flourishing of jñāna-yoga

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “Virgin Mother / maiden” can be read as (a) a deity in devotional poetry, (b) Kundalinī-Śakti, or (c) a coded reference to an alchemical substance/power that must remain ‘pure’ (untouched/uncorrupted).
  • “Gold of her feet” may signify (a) divine auspiciousness and refuge, (b) the grounding of energy at the bodily base, or (c) literal alchemical ‘gold’ as perfected essence (siddha-rasa symbolism).
  • “Circle” (வட்டம்) can mean a cakra-space, a mandala/inner region, a physical ‘lap-circle’ of embrace, or an alchemical containment vessel—Siddhar texts often let these overlap.
  • “Placing on the lap and embracing” can be interpreted as a yogic internal union of prāṇa and mind, or as a deliberately erotic metaphor that hints at controlled sexual-energy practice without stating it directly.
  • “Nectar flood” may be (a) the classic yogic amṛta dripping from the cranial region, (b) a metaphor for bliss/clarity, or (c) an alchemical ‘distillate’/essence produced by inner heat and containment.
  • “Removal of bonds of attachment” can indicate moral purification, karmic unbinding, or the loosening of psycho-energetic knots (granthis); the verse does not force a single technical mapping.