Golden Lay Verses

Verse 242 (ஞான வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

அற்புதத்தான் சிற்பரத்தா னாசை யற்றான்

அதிசயத்தான் விதிமறுத்தான் வினையை வென்றான்

கற்பகத்தான் காயகற்பன்

கவலை யில்லான்

கதிகண்டான் மதிகொண்டான் ககன மாள்வான்

அற்பகத்தான் விஞ்ஞானத் தணுவித் தைக்கும்

அப்பாலா மணுவானா னகண்ட மானான்

சிற்பரத்தான் சித்தினியாள் தன்னைப் பற்றிக்

சிவனானான் செய்யாத செயல்கள் செய்வான்

Transliteration

aṟputattāṉ ciṟparattā ṉācai yaṟṟāṉ

aticayat-tāṉ vitimaṟuttāṉ viṉaiyai veṉṟāṉ

kaṟpakattāṉ kāyakarpaṉ

kavalai yillāṉ

katikaṇṭāṉ matikoṇṭāṉ kakana māḷvāṉ

aṟpakattāṉ viññāṉat taṇuvit taikkum

appālā maṇuvānā ṉakaṇṭa māṉāṉ

ciṟparattāṉ cittiniyāḷ taṉṉaip paṟṟik

civaṉāṉāṉ ceyyāta ceyalkaḷ ceyvāṉ

Literal Translation

He is the wondrous one, the one of Cit-para (supreme Consciousness), the one without desire. He is the astonishing one who rejected (even) decree/fate, who conquered karma. He is the kalpaka (wish-fulfilling) one; a practitioner of kāya-kalpa (body-transmutation/rejuvenation); the one without anxiety. He saw the gati (path/goal); he held the mati (mind/moon); he will rule the sky (kagana). The minute/subtle one pierces through the ‘atom’ (aṇu) of vijñāna (discriminative knowing/gnosis). Becoming the ‘beyond-atom,’ he became the unbroken/boundless whole. Clinging to/holding Siddhiniyāḷ (the feminine power of siddhi), that Cit-para one became Śiva; he will do deeds that have not been done (before).

Interpretive Translation

The Siddhar describes a yogin who has entered the state of pure Consciousness: desire has fallen away, fate is refused, karma is defeated. Through kāya-kalpa (alchemical-yogic refinement of the body) he becomes free of fear and worry. Having found the true ‘destination’ and mastered the mind (or lunar current), he abides in and commands inner space (ākāśa). He penetrates to the subtlest principle of knowing—down to the level where individuality is only an ‘atom’—and then passes beyond that atom, dissolving into the indivisible (akhaṇḍa) Whole. United with the siddhi-power (Siddhiniyāḷ / Śakti), he becomes Śiva himself, capable of actions that appear impossible or ‘previously un-doable.’

Philosophical Explanation

The verse strings together a set of Siddhar claims in deliberately compressed epithets (“…-tthān”):

1) Desirelessness and karma-transcendence: “without desire,” “rejected fate,” “conquered karma” points to liberation framed in both yogic and Tamil-Saiva idioms. “Fate” (vidhi) and “karma” (vinai) are treated not as mere beliefs but as binding causal grooves in body–mind. The claim is that the adept reaches a state where these grooves no longer compel experience.

2) Kāya-kalpa as both medical and metaphysical: “kāya-kalpa” in Siddhar discourse can mean rejuvenation therapy (herbal/mineral preparations, disciplined diet, breath-control) and also the deeper transmutation of the bodily system into a stable vessel for higher awareness. The phrase “kalpaka” (wish-fulfilling) can be read as: (a) he becomes like the wish-tree (granting boons), or (b) his own body becomes a ‘kalpaka’ instrument—capable of yielding what is sought (health, longevity, siddhi, clarity).

3) “Seeing gati” and “holding mati”: gati may mean the goal/destination (mukti), the right ‘course’ of practice, or the inner pathways (nāḍi/energy routes). mati can mean mind/intellect, and also the moon (lunar essence), which in yogic physiology relates to cooling nectar, stability, and retention. Thus the line can imply mastery over mind and also over subtle lunar secretion/essence (amṛta) associated with longevity practices.

4) “Ruling the sky” (kaganam): in Siddhar-yoga, “sky/space” often refers to inner ākāśa—vastness experienced in the cranial space, suṣumṇā, or the ‘space’ of awareness itself. To “rule” it is to remain sovereign in that expanse: thoughts, sensations, and karmic impressions do not overthrow the yogin.

5) Atom (aṇu) and the beyond-atom: aṇu is a loaded term across Indian philosophies—(i) the tiniest particle, (ii) the individual self as a contracted ‘atomic’ consciousness, or (iii) the subtle seed of individuality. “Piercing the aṇu of vijñāna” suggests penetrating through even refined knowing/gnosis to the point where the knower is still a subtle ‘unit.’ Becoming “beyond-aṇu,” and then “akhaṇḍa” (unbroken/boundless), names the shift from individuated consciousness to non-dual wholeness.

6) Siddhiniyāḷ / Śakti and becoming Śiva: the verse ends with the classic Siddhar/Tantric logic that the highest state is not attained by abstract knowledge alone but by union with the dynamic power (Śakti)—here called Siddhiniyāḷ (the siddhi-bestowing feminine principle). In such union, “he became Śiva,” i.e., the yogin’s identity merges with the supreme.

7) “Doing what has not been done”: this can be read as siddhi (extraordinary capacities), as a poetic way of stating transcendence of ordinary causality, or as “actionless action”—acts arising from the liberated state, no longer authored by ego or karmic compulsion. The verse intentionally leaves open whether these are literal miracles, yogic attainments, or metaphysical claims about freedom.

Key Concepts

  • Cit-para / supreme Consciousness (சிற்பரம் / சிற்பரத்தான்)
  • Desirelessness (ஆசையற்றான்)
  • Transcending fate and karma (விதிமறுத்தான், வினையை வென்றான்)
  • Kāya-kalpa (காயகற்பன்) — rejuvenation/transmutation practices
  • Fearlessness or freedom from anxiety (கவலை யில்லான்)
  • Gati as path/goal/destination (கதி கண்டான்)
  • Mati as mind/moon and its mastery (மதி கொண்டான்)
  • Kagana/ākāśa as inner space; sovereignty in consciousness (ககன மாள்வான்)
  • Aṇu (atom/individual self) and going beyond it (அணு, அப்பாலா மணு)
  • Akhaṇḍa / boundless wholeness (அகண்டம்)
  • Śakti as Siddhiniyāḷ; union of Śiva–Śakti (சித்தினியாள், சிவனானான்)
  • Siddhi / extraordinary capacities; action beyond ordinary causality (செய்யாத செயல்கள் செய்வான்)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “சிற்பரத்தான்” may denote (a) the state/realm of pure consciousness (Cit-para), (b) Chidambaram as sacred locus, or (c) the realized one who abides in that principle.
  • “விதிமறுத்தான்” can mean rejecting astrological/fated determinism, overturning karmic ‘script,’ or refusing ordinary social-religious prescriptions.
  • “கற்பகத்தான்” can be read as becoming like the wish-fulfilling tree (granting boons) or as possessing a perfected, ‘wish-yielding’ body-mind through practice.
  • “காயகற்பன்” may mean a practitioner of longevity medicine/alchemy, or the one whose body itself has become ‘kalpa’ (renewed, transmuted).
  • “மதி” can mean mind/intellect, or the moon/lunar essence (amṛta-related physiology). The line can imply psychological mastery or subtle-nectar retention (or both).
  • “ககன மாள்வான்” may refer to mastery of inner ākāśa (meditative space), yogic travel/levitation motifs, or sovereignty over consciousness described as ‘sky.’
  • “விஞ்ஞானத் தணு” may be ‘the subtle/atomic unit of discriminative knowing (vijñāna),’ or a ‘vijñāna-body’ level in a layered subtle anatomy; the phrase is purposely compressed.
  • “அப்பாலா மணு” may mean ‘beyond the atom’ (physical subtlety), or ‘beyond the aṇu-self’ (beyond individuality), aligning with non-dual metaphysics.
  • “சித்தினியாள்” can be a named goddess, a generic siddhi-granting Śakti, or the inner kuṇḍalinī power; “holding her” can imply devotion, union, or stabilization of the awakened force.
  • “செய்யாத செயல்கள் செய்வான்” can be read as literal miraculous feats, rare yogic siddhis, or a philosophical claim: action arising without egoic doership (beyond karma).