சரியதன் நீர்மாறி மாரி யாகும்
நீருடனே கனல்கூட ஆவி யாகும்
மாரியதன் நீர்கொட்டி ஏரி யாகும்
நீர்குளிர வேபனியாக் கட்டிப் போகும்
பாரினிலே ஒவ்வொன்றும் மாறும் மாறும்
பண்பினிலே யவைசேரும் கூடும் ஊடும்
தேரினிலே விஞ்ஞானி யிவற்றைச் சொல்வான்
சேருவதேன்? மாறுவதேன்? செப்பி டா.ே
sariyathan neermāri māri yākum
neeruṭanē kanalkūḍa āvi yākum
māriyathan neerkoṭṭi ēri yākum
neerkuḷira vēpaniyāk kaṭṭip pōkum
pārinilē ovvoṉṟum māṟum māṟum
paṇpiṉilē yavaisērum kūḍum ūḍum
tēriṉilē viññāṉi yivaṟṟai solvāṉ.
sēruvadēṉ? māṟuvadēṉ? seppi ḍā..ē..
Water changes and becomes rain;
with water, when fire joins, it becomes vapour/steam.
Rain-water, when it pours and gathers, becomes a lake;
when water cools, it congeals—becoming ‘ice/frost’ and hardening.
In this world, every single thing changes—changes again and again.
By its nature/qualities, things join, gather, and permeate/mingle.
In contemplation/in discernment, the knower of ‘vijñāna’ will speak of these.
Why do they join? Why do they change? Tell (and explain).
What you call “water” is never fixed: it turns into rain, becomes steam when united with fire, collects as a lake, and—when cooled—sets into a hardened cold-state. Likewise, all things in the world continually transform. By their inherent dispositions (guṇa/paṇpu) they combine, separate, and interpenetrate. The true knower (vijñāni)—the one who sees the hidden science within nature—points to these transformations and challenges the listener: what is the principle by which things merge, and what is the principle by which they transmute?
1) Natural philosophy / elemental doctrine: The verse reads like a concise account of elemental transformation (pañca-bhūta dynamics) and state-change: liquid water ↔ vapour (through heat/fire) ↔ condensed rain ↔ collected reservoirs ↔ frozen/solidified cold-state. This is not merely meteorology; Siddhar texts often use visible nature as the “proof-text” for subtler transformations.
2) Siddha alchemy (rasavāda) resonance: “Joining with fire to become vapour” evokes operations like heating, distillation, sublimation, and condensation—core alchemical procedures. “Gathering into a lake” can indicate collection after condensation, while “cooling and hardening” suggests coagulation/solidification. The repeated insistence that everything changes (“மாறும் மாறும்”) aligns with Siddha alchemy’s premise that substances are transformable when the correct agents (heat, cold, catalysts, time) and conditions are applied.
3) Yogic / inner-body reading: Water can function as a cryptic stand-in for bodily fluids (notably semen/ojas), while fire can point to digestive fire (jaṭharāgni) or kuṇḍalinī-heat. “Steam” can hint at prāṇa/breath (what rises as subtle vapour), and “rain” can hint at a descending ‘nectar’ (amṛta) in certain yogic imaginaries. Thus the outer water-cycle can mirror an inner cycle: ascent through heat, descent through cooling/condensation, and stabilization/congealing as retained essence.
4) Causality and the ethics of nature: The final questions—“Why join? Why change?”—shift from description to metaphysics. Siddharly, the answer is not a single mechanical cause but a layered one: time (kāla), qualities (guṇa/paṇpu), heat/cold (veppam/pani), and the hidden law that makes opposites cooperate (union/pervasion: “கூடும் ஊடும்”). The ‘vijñāni’ is the one who sees both the obvious (physical) and the concealed (tattva) reasons without forcing the mystery into a simplistic doctrine.