Golden Lay Verses

Verse 198 (கனக வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

போட்டகஜ புடமதையே புரட்டிப் போடு

பொட்டெனவே சுண்ணமது பொன்போற் பொங்கும்

வாட்டமறப் பொசுக்கியதோர் செம்பே ழுக்கே

வகையொன்றாய்ப் பொருத்திடவே வாதம் காணும்

வேட்டமுற வெள்ளியாம்பின் பொன்னாம் வேதை

வேறுள்ள வேதையெல்லாம் வீணாம் வேதை

ஆட்டமுற வாசியென்னும் பூநா கத்தை

ஆட்டிவிடப் பாரெல்லாம் ஆடும் பாரே

Transliteration

pōṭṭakaja puṭamataiyē puraṭṭip pōṭu

poṭṭenavē suṇṇamatu poṉpōṟ poṅkum

vāṭṭamaṟap posukkiyatōr sempē ḻukkē

vakaiyoṉṟāyp poruttitavē vātam kāṇum

vēṭṭamuṟa veḷḷiyāmbiṉ poṉṉām vētai

vēṟuḷḷa vētaiyellām vīṇām vētai

āṭṭamuṟa

Literal Translation

“Flip over the pottakaja-putam (the calcination/furnace setup) and set it down.

At once the chunnam (calcined powder/‘lime/ash’) swells up like gold.

A copper-*ēḻukku* (copper ‘rust/slag/oxide’-state) that has been roasted so that no dampness remains—

when you fit it together into a single mode, you will see ‘vādam’.

With keen pursuit: the ‘gold of the silver-arrow’—this is the true *vētai* (knowledge/‘veda’).

All other vētai/vedas, different from this, are useless vētai.

The flower-serpent (*pū-nāgam*) called ‘vāsi’—

if you set it dancing, look: the whole world dances.”

Interpretive Translation

Reverse the working (turn it over): in the sealed heat of transformation, what appears as mere white ash becomes gold-like. Dry out all “moisture” and roast the copper-state until only the essential remains. When the ingredients (or inner forces) are made to agree as a single system, the sign of vādam—movement, wind, breath, or the vāta-principle—becomes evident.

The real “scripture/knowledge” is the art by which the silver (or the mind’s sharp ‘arrow’) yields gold; other doctrines are declared secondary. When the ‘vāsi’—breath/control—awakens the serpent-force (pū-nāgam), and you make that force “dance” under mastery, then phenomena itself seems to move to your rhythm: the world “dances.”

Philosophical Explanation

This verse reads like a dual manual: (1) outward *rasavāda* / metallurgical-alchemical instruction, and (2) an inward yogic allegory.

On the outward level, terms like *putam* (sealed calcination/furnace), *chunnam* (a calcined medicinal ash/powder), copper-states (oxide/slag), silver, and gold point to a transmutation sequence: heating, inversion/turning of the vessel, drying off moisture, and “fitting” or proportioning substances into a single correct method (*vagai ondrāy poruttudal*). The “gold-like swelling” of chunnam suggests a stage where a white calcined product gains a golden sheen or potency—common Siddha imagery for a perfected ash/essence.

On the inward level, the same vocabulary becomes body-yoga. “Flip the putam” can mean reversing ordinary outward orientation (turning awareness inward) or reversing the flow (a hallmark of haṭha/tantric language: upward reversal of downward tendencies). “Moisture” can be read as residual desire/instability; “roasting until no dampness remains” becomes tapas that dries up compulsions. “Vādam” then is not merely an argument but the vāta/wind principle: the prāṇic motion that becomes perceptible when inner processes are correctly aligned.

The climactic pivot is *vāsi*: in Siddhar diction it can indicate breath, breath-retention, or a particular mode of prāṇa-governance. The “serpent” (*nāgam*) is simultaneously a metal-name in Indian alchemical code and a yogic emblem for kuṇḍalinī/inner power. By making the vāsi-serpent “dance,” the adept gains mastery over the movements that normally drag the mind/world; thus the rhetorical claim: when the inner force dances under command, the ‘world’ (senses, thoughts, fate-like appearances) dances—i.e., becomes pliable, synchronized, or non-binding.

The dismissal of “other vedas/knowledges” is a typical Siddhar stance: experiential mastery (alchemy+yoga as lived technique) is elevated over discursive learning. Yet the text stays deliberately cryptic, letting the same instructions serve both laboratory and inner-laboratory.

Key Concepts

  • putam (sealed calcination/furnace)
  • chunnam (calcined medicinal ash/powder)
  • metallurgical code language (copper/silver/gold)
  • drying/removal of moisture (chemical and yogic)
  • vādam (vāta/wind principle; also possible ‘vāda’/disputation)
  • vāsi (breath/prāṇa method; breath-control)
  • nāgam/serpent imagery (metal-code and kuṇḍalinī-code)
  • transmutation as siddhi (outer alchemy mirroring inner yoga)
  • world ‘dancing’ (mastery over senses/phenomena; cosmic-dance resonance)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “போட்டகஜ புடம்” (pottakaja-putam): could denote a specific named furnace method, a particular vessel/arrangement, or coded language for a bodily ‘incubation’/inner heating practice.
  • “சுண்ணமது பொன்போற் பொங்கும்” (chunnam swelling like gold): may refer to a visible color/texture change in a calcined product, or to the inner ‘whitening’ that ripens into golden radiance (clarity/ojas).
  • “செம்பேழுக்கு” (sem-ēḻukku): can be read as copper rust/oxide/slag, a specific copper preparation, or metaphorically the ‘reddish’ base nature of the mind/body to be refined.
  • “வாதம் காணும்” (vādam is seen): can mean vāta/humoral wind becomes manifest (medical), prāṇic movement becomes perceptible (yogic), or ‘vāda’ (debate/logic) is encountered/settled (doctrinal).
  • “வெள்ளியாம்பின் பொன்னாம் வேதை” (the gold of the silver-arrow is the true vētai): may indicate literal conversion of silver to gold, a coded ‘target and arrow’ operation in alchemy, or the sharpening of mind (arrow) whose essence becomes luminous (gold).
  • “வேதை” (vētai): can mean veda/scripture, knowledge/science, or ‘method’—the verse plays on authority (scripture) versus technique (know-how).
  • “பூநாகம்” (pū-nāgam): could be a specific alchemical substance named ‘nāgam’ modified by ‘pū’ (flower/refined), or a poetic name for kuṇḍalinī/prāṇa as a serpent-force.
  • “வாசி” (vāsi): can point to breath-control generally, a specific retention technique, or a named siddha practice; the verse does not specify which, preserving secrecy.
  • “பாரெல்லாம் ஆடும்” (the whole world dances): could mean siddhi over external events, inner non-attachment where phenomena lose their grip, or a Shaiva-tantric resonance with cosmic dance—kept intentionally open.