Golden Lay Verses

Verse 227 (ஞான வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

அவையவையு மவையாகி யிருக்கும் சித்தே

அவையவைக்கு ளகமாகி யிருக்கும் சித்தே

எவையெவைக்கும் மெவையாகி யிருக்கும் சித்தே

எவையெவைக்கு மெவமாகி யிருக்கும் சித்தே

கவைகவைக்கும் கவையாகிக் களிக்கும் சித்தே

கவைகவைக்கும் கவினாகிக் கதிக்கும் சித்தே

நவைநவைக்கும் நவையாகி நடக்கும் சித்தே

நவைநவைக்கும் நவமாகி நடிக்கும் சித்தே

Transliteration

avaiyavaiyu mavaiyaagi yirukkum siddhE

avaiyavaikku lagamaagi yirukkum siddhE

evaiyevaikkum mevaiyaagi yirukkum siddhE

evaiyevaikkum mevamaagi yirukkum siddhE

kavaikavaikkum kavaiyaagik kaLikkum siddhE

kavaikavaikkum kavinaagik kathikkum siddhE

navainavaikkum navaiyaagi nadakkum siddhE

navainavaikkum navamaagi nadikkum siddhE

Literal Translation

O Siddha—

Becoming “those, those” you remain as “those”;

Within “those, those” you remain as their “inner space/inside.”

For “whatever, whatever,” you remain as “that very thing”;

For “whatever, whatever,” you remain as “thus/that manner.”

In disputes/quarrels you become the dispute itself and rejoice;

In disputes/quarrels you become beauty/radiance and you speak/expound.

In faults/blemishes you become the fault itself and you move about;

In faults/blemishes you become newness/novelty and you perform/act.

Interpretive Translation

You are the one who can take on every identity without losing your ground: you are the thing and also its interior; you are whatever appears, and even the “mode” or “thusness” by which it appears. In contention you are simultaneously the contention and the delight that undercuts it; you can turn quarrel into clarity and even into beauty of speech. Even where people fixate on defects, you move as the defect and also as its transformation—appearing as freshness and as deliberate performance. The Siddha is immanent in all opposites, yet not confined by any of them.

Philosophical Explanation

The verse uses dense sound-play (avai/evai/kavai/navai) to convey an Advaita-like claim: the realized principle addressed as “Siddha” pervades all categories and also their “inside” (akam). The repeated “becoming X” (X-āki) does not merely mean imitation; it hints at non-separation—consciousness is not outside phenomena but appears as them.

1) Immanence + interiority: “within those, becoming their inside” suggests that the Siddha is not only present as outer forms but as the inner condition that lets forms be known/experienced. This can be read as the witnessing awareness (sākṣi) that is simultaneously the substance of experience.

2) Beyond dualities of praise/blame and harmony/conflict: “in quarrels becoming quarrel” acknowledges worldly agitation, yet “rejoicing” and “becoming beauty and speaking” implies mastery—transforming agitation into luminous articulation. Siddhar texts often point to a state where contradictions are absorbed, not solved conceptually.

3) Ethical/psychological edge: “in faults becoming fault” can be read as radical empathy or non-aversion—entering even what is rejected. But the next line (“becoming newness and acting”) suggests alchemical-like transmutation at the level of conduct and perception: what is seen as defect becomes a site of change, play (līlā), or pedagogy.

Overall, the verse describes siddha-state as fluid identity without bondage: the power to appear as anything (and as the ‘manner’ of its appearing) while remaining unconfined.

Key Concepts

  • non-duality (advaita)
  • immanence
  • innerness/akam (interiority)
  • sarvabhāva (becoming-all)
  • līlā (divine play / deliberate performance)
  • speech as transformation
  • transcending praise/blame and conflict/harmony
  • paronomasia (sound-based cryptic teaching)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “அவை” (avai) can mean “those (things)” or “assembly/court.” If read as “assembly,” the lines can suggest: ‘in assemblies you become the assembly; within assemblies you become the inner core,’ pointing to social/spiritual mastery in public spaces.
  • “எவமாகி” (evam-āki) may be heard as “in what manner/whatever way” (Tamil sense) or as Sanskritic “evam” (“thus”), implying ‘becoming the thusness’—the mode/logic by which phenomena are framed.
  • “கவைகவைக்கும்” can be read as quarrel/controversy/debate, but “கவை” also carries a sense of entanglement/cluster in some usages; the verse may be pointing both to argumentative conflict and to the mind’s knotting/entangling tendencies.
  • “கதிக்கும்” can mean “speaks/expounds,” but can also suggest “moves/goes/attains a course” in certain contexts; thus the line may imply either eloquent teaching or the setting of a right trajectory within conflict.
  • “நவை” commonly means fault/blemish/blame; “நவம்” commonly means newness. The paired lines can be read as: (a) entering even ‘fault’ without aversion, while (b) turning it into ‘newness’ (transformation), or as a critique of those who constantly ‘fault-find,’ against which the Siddha responds with fresh, deliberate action.
  • “நடக்கும்” (walks/moves/happens) and “நடிக்கும்” (acts/plays a role) together preserve a deliberate ambiguity between spontaneous functioning and intentional performance—suggesting that the Siddha’s worldly behavior can look like ordinary occurrence or like chosen pedagogy.