Golden Lay Verses

Verse 346 (மந்திர வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

கணங்கணமாய்ப் புலன்பொறிகள் கணங்கணமா யநுபவங்கள்

கணங்கணமாய் மனநினைவு கணங்கணமாய் மதியிழைவு

கணங்கணமாய்க் குருதிவரும் கணங்கணமாய் வாசிவிமல்

கணமறியாச் சித்தத்தே கனவுகளா யூடாடும்

Transliteration

kaṇaṅkaṇamāyp pulampoṟikaḷ kaṇaṅkaṇamā yaṉupavaṅkaḷ

kaṇaṅkaṇamāy mananaṉaivu kaṇaṅkaṇamāy matiyiḻaivu

kaṇaṅkaṇamāyk kurutivarum kaṇaṅkaṇamāy vācivimal

kaṇamaṟiyāc cittattē kaṉavukaḷā yūṭāṭum

Literal Translation

Moment by moment the sense-faculties; moment by moment the experiences.

Moment by moment the mind’s recollection/thought; moment by moment the waning (or loss) of discernment.

Moment by moment blood comes/flows; moment by moment the “vāsi–vimal” (pure breath / spotless vāsi).

In the citta that does not know (or does not notice) the moment, they move about as dreams.

Interpretive Translation

All that makes up embodied life—sense-impulses, lived experiences, the mind’s replaying of impressions, even the dimming of intelligence—arises in rapid instants and passes away in rapid instants. The body too is not stable: the blood and the breath (prāṇa) are in continual motion. Yet, when the citta is not awake to this moment-to-moment arising, these fleeting movements are taken as solid reality and the person wanders among them as in a dream.

Philosophical Explanation

The verse is built on the repeated refrain “கணம் கணம்” (“moment by moment”), emphasizing kṣaṇikatva—instantaneous arising and perishing. The list mixes:

1) Yogic-psychological factors: “புலன்பொறிகள்” (sense-organs and their faculties), “அனுபவங்கள்” (experienced objects/feelings), “மனநினைவு” (mental recollection/rumination), and “மதியிழைவு” (decline of buddhi/clarity). This resembles a Siddhar’s diagnosis of the vṛttis (movements of mind) that continuously reconstitute a world.

2) Medical/physiological factors: “குருதி” (blood) indicates the body’s ceaseless circulation and also, in Siddha medicine, one of the primary bodily constituents/humors. By placing blood-flow alongside thought-flow, the verse collapses the usual divide between “mind” and “body”: both are streams of momentary events.

3) Breath/prāṇa as a central pivot: “வாசி” commonly denotes breath, subtle respiration, or prāṇic movement in Siddha-yoga; “விமல்” (stainless/pure) can indicate a purified breath-current (through vāsi/prāṇāyāma) or an epithet signaling an inner purity. The verse does not clearly celebrate mastery; rather it notes that even breath is a moment-by-moment phenomenon—yet it is also the traditional doorway by which citta may become steady.

The closing line—“In the citta that does not know the moment, they roam as dreams”—makes the epistemic point: ignorance here is not mere lack of information but lack of direct, present awareness (moment-recognition). Without that, the rapid succession of psycho-physical events is misread as continuity, and one lives inside constructions like a dream. The implied Siddha instruction is to cultivate moment-to-moment knowing (often via breath-awareness/discipline) so that the ‘dream-play’ of senses, memories, and bodily impulses is seen through rather than inhabited.

Key Concepts

  • கணம் கணம் (moment-by-moment impermanence)
  • புலன்/பொறிகள் (sense faculties/indriyas)
  • அனுபவம் (experience)
  • மனநினைவு (memory, thought-repetition)
  • மதி/புத்தி (discernment; clarity)
  • மதியிழைவு (waning of intellect/clarity)
  • குருதி (blood; vital bodily constituent)
  • வாசி (breath, prāṇa; vāsi-yoga)
  • விமல் (pure/stainless)
  • சித்தம் (citta; mind-stuff)
  • கனவு (dream; illusory lived reality)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “மதியிழைவு” can mean loss/decline of intellect (buddhi) and also can hint at the “waning moon” (மதி = moon), a Siddha/Shivaic symbol for diminishing inner nectar/cooling clarity; the verse allows both psychological and symbolic readings.
  • “குருதிவரும்” literally ‘blood comes’ may mean ordinary circulation/physiology, but it can also imply bleeding or loss of vital substance (a medical/alchemical concern in Siddha discourse). The text does not specify which.
  • “வாசிவிமல்” may be read as (a) ‘pure/spotless vāsi’—purified breath/prāṇa, (b) ‘vāsi and vimal’ as two linked descriptors, or (c) a cryptic epithet/name; the compound is intentionally terse.
  • “கணமறியாச் சித்தம்” can be read as ‘a citta that is unaware of the moment’ (ignorant, unmindful) or ‘a citta that knows no moments’ (timeless/undivided awareness). The following phrase “dreams roam” fits the first more directly, but Siddhar diction can keep both in play.
  • The ‘dream’ comparison can mean ordinary sleep-dreams, day-dreaming/mental projection, or the metaphysical claim that waking experience is dreamlike; the verse does not restrict it to one.