Golden Lay Verses

Verse 34 (பீட வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

பவ மற்றவர்

தவமுற்றவர்

அவ மற்றவர்

சிவமுற்றவர்

Transliteration

pava maṟṟavar

tavam uṟṟavar

ava maṟṟavar

sivam uṟṟavar

Literal Translation

“Bhava—others.

Those who have attained/fulfilled tapas (austerity).

Ava—others.

Those who have attained/fulfilled Śiva.”

Interpretive Translation

If read as a compounded, space-less Siddhar phrasing:

“Those who are without bhava (worldly becoming/samsāric bondage) are the ones who have ripened/fulfilled tapas.

Those who are without avam (blemish, disgrace, fault) are the ones who have ripened/fulfilled Śiva.”

Philosophical Explanation

The verse is intentionally elliptical and can be read as a classification or as a compressed cause–result teaching.

1) In a Siddhar/Śaiva frame, **bhava** points to “becoming”: the chain of birth, karma, and identifications that keep consciousness moving outward. To be “without bhava” (if the compound reading is intended) is to be free of that momentum—no longer driven by the push of desire and fear. Such a person is described as one who has **tapas** “ripened” (முற்றவர்): not merely someone who performs austerities externally, but one in whom tapas has become an inner transformative heat—discipline, yogic “fire,” and matured steadiness.

2) **avam** in Tamil commonly denotes blemish, shame, fault, or a degraded state. To be “without avam” implies purified conduct and mind—freedom from moral/psychic stain and the humiliation of bondage. Only then is one said to have **Śiva** “ripened/fulfilled” (சிவமுற்றவர்): not simply devotion to Śiva, but a consummation where Śiva-nature is realized as one’s own ground (a Śaiva form of liberation/identity).

The repeated word **முற்றவர்** (“ripened,” “completed,” “brought to full attainment”) suggests maturity rather than a single event—attainment as fruition. The cryptic parallelism implies that liberation is not a social label (“others”) but a change of state: reduction of bhava/impurity and the ripening of tapas culminating in Śiva-realization.

Key Concepts

  • bhava (பவ) — becoming, samsāra, karmic continuity
  • tapas (தவம்) — austerity, inner heat, yogic discipline
  • avam (அவம்/அவ) — blemish, disgrace, fault, degraded state
  • Śiva (சிவம்) — ultimate reality in Śaiva Siddhānta/Siddhar vision
  • muttu/muṟṟu (முற்று) — ripening, completion, consummation
  • purification and liberation (mukti) — removal of bondage and impurity

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • Word segmentation is uncertain: “பவ மற்றவர் / அவ மற்றவர்” can also plausibly be “பவமற்றவர் / அவமற்றவர்” (“those without bhava/avam”). The latter yields a coherent teaching; the spaced reading sounds like an intentionally fractured, aphoristic style but is semantically opaque.
  • “பவ” may mean samsāric becoming (from Sanskrit bhava), or more generally “worldliness/egoic existence.”
  • “அவ” could be a shortened or dialectal/metrical form of “அவம்” (blemish/disgrace), or could be read demonstratively as “that,” producing a different (less stable) syntax: “that—others.”
  • “முற்றவர்” may mean “attained” (spiritual completion), “fully matured” (ripeness of realization), or “perfected” (in yogic/alchemical sense—stabilized transformation).
  • The verse can be read as (a) two causal couplets (bhava-less → tapas ripened; avam-less → Śiva ripened), or (b) four contrasted human types (worldly, tapasvins, blemished/low, Śiva-attainers), depending on how “மற்றவர்” is taken (“others” vs “-மற்றவர்,” ‘without’).