ஆணவமே பொய்ஞ்ஞானத் தடிப்பீடங்காண்
ஆசையுறும் பாசமதே யஞ்ஞானந்தான்
அணவமே பற்றி நிற்கும் மதஞானந்தான்
ஊரவத்தை யேதேடும் புகழ்ஞானந்தான்
வீணகமாம் வெற்றறிவாம் விஞ்ஞானந்தான்
வேதாந்தத் தெள்ளறிவாம் மெய்ஞ்ஞானந்தான்
தாணுவெனும் தூணதன்மேற் தரி நிற்பாள்
சத்துசித்தா னந்தசக்தி சித்தர் ஞானம்
aaNavamE poynjnyaana-th thadippeedangkaaN
aasaiyuRum paasamadhE yanjnyaanandhaan
aNavamE paRRi niRkum madhanjnyaanandhaan
ooravaththai yEthEdum pugazhnjnyaanandhaan
veeNagamaam veRRaRivaam vijnjnyaanandhaan
vEdhaanthath theLLaRivaam meynjnyaanandhaan
thaaNuvEnum thooNadhan mER thari niRpaaL
saththuchiththaa nanthasakthi siththar njnyaanam
“Egoity (āṇavam) is, see, the thick foundation/base of false knowledge.
Desire-laden attachment (pācam/pāśam) itself is ignorance.
The ‘knowledge’ that stands clinging to egoity is ‘mada/matha-knowledge’.
The ‘knowledge’ that searches for worldly standing (ūr-avatthai) is ‘fame-knowledge’.
The ‘knowledge’ that is barren understanding, a useless āgama, is ‘vijñāna’.
The clear discernment of Vedānta is true knowledge.
She who stands, bearing/supporting, upon the pillar called ‘Thāṇu’—
that power of Sat–Cit–Ānanda (Being–Consciousness–Bliss) is the Siddhars’ knowledge.”
Ego is the hidden slab on which counterfeit “knowing” is built; craving and clinging are not knowledge but ignorance. Any “insight” that still grips the ego becomes a kind of intoxicated or sectarian knowing, and any “learning” that hunts social recognition becomes mere reputation-knowledge. Even analytic or scriptural expertise can be sterile—an empty tradition and a barren intelligence—if it does not break the root-binding.
True knowledge is the lucid discernment pointed to by Vedānta; yet the Siddhar’s culmination is not only conceptual clarity but the living Power of Sat–Cit–Ānanda: the Śakti that abides on/within the inner pillar called Thāṇu, sustaining realization from within.
The verse classifies “knowledges” by their root-motive rather than by their subject-matter. In Siddhar critique, epistemic content (what one knows) is secondary to the knot (granthi) from which knowing arises.
1) Āṇavam (ego-I-ness) as the “thick base” of false knowledge: The Siddhar treats ego not merely as pride but as the primal contraction that makes the Self appear as a limited knower. When that contraction remains, even subtle doctrines become “poi-ññāṉam” (counterfeit knowledge).
2) Desire/attachment (āśai + pāśam) as ajñāna: craving produces bondage by making consciousness chase objects, status, relations, or experiences. This is called ignorance because attention is pulled outward and the seer is forgotten.
3) “Mada/matha-ññāṉam”: The line says a ‘knowledge’ that “stands clinging to ego” becomes this kind. Read as (a) mada = intoxication/pride: knowledge used to inflate the self; or (b) matha = sect/dogma: knowledge hardened into identity and affiliation. In either case, it is ego-armored knowing.
4) “Pugazh-ññāṉam” (fame-knowledge): knowledge pursued to be spoken of in the town/world—reputation, social visibility, authority. Siddhar texts frequently treat “pugazh” as a refined trap for ascetics and scholars.
5) “Vijñāna” as barren/empty āgama and sterile intelligence: Here “vijñāna” is not praised as higher gnosis; it is criticized when it becomes mere discriminative technique, scholasticism, or external science—competent yet unliberating. The pairing “vīṇāgamam / veṟṟaṟivu” suggests scriptures/practices and intellect that do not yield transformation.
6) Vedānta’s clear discernment as mey-ññāṉam (true knowledge): This affirms that non-dual discrimination (tattva-viveka) can cut through error. Yet Siddhar framing typically insists that mere verbal Vedānta is insufficient unless it matures into direct realization.
7) Sat–Cit–Ānanda Śakti as Siddhar-knowledge: The closing couplet shifts from “knowledge as idea” to “knowledge as power.” The Siddhar’s jñāna is the living Śakti of Being–Consciousness–Bliss—an embodied, transformative principle rather than a statement. The image of a “pillar called Thāṇu” hints at Śiva (Sthāṇu, the immovable pillar/linga) and also at an inner axial support (often mapped onto the spinal/central channel). Śakti “standing upon” that pillar evokes realization stabilized in the unmoving Absolute, or kundalinic power established in the central axis so that awareness is unshaken.
Overall, the verse warns that many socially respected forms of learning are still forms of bondage if rooted in ego, craving, identity, or reputation. Siddhar jñāna is presented as the stabilization of consciousness in its own sat–cit–ānanda power—clear, steady, and transformative.