Golden Lay Verses

Verse 356 (மந்திர வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

வெத்துப் புலன்க ளத்தத்தை விட்டு

வித்தைப் புலன்க ளவை யாமே

மித்தைப் புலன்ம னத்தைச் செகுத்து

புத்திப் புலன்க ளவை போமே

சிந்திக்க வேதிச் சிவையாமே

சித்தப் புலத்தில் வைத்திட் டகத்தைச்

சித்தத் தசித்து சத்துற்ற சித்து

தத்துற்ற சக்தி சிவம் நாமே

Transliteration

veththup pulanka laththaththai vittu

viththaip pulanka lavai yaame

miththaip pulanma nataththaich chekuththu

puththip pulanka lavai pome

sinthikka vethich sivaiyaame

siththap pulaththil vaiththit takaththaich

siththath thasiththu saththuttra siththu

thaththuttra sakthi sivam naame

Literal Translation

Leaving behind the “empty/insubstantial” senses and that “aththam” (that which they cling to or refer to),

we ourselves become those “seed-senses.”

Cutting off the “middle” sense—namely the mind,

the “intellect-senses” depart.

If one contemplates, the vedi becomes Siva.

Placing the inner (self) in the field of citta,

destroying the citta—(one becomes) the siddha who has “attained sat/essence,”

(the) power that has merged in tattva—Siva—we are.

Interpretive Translation

Abandon identification with the outward-going sensory life and whatever it habitually takes as its support.

Settle instead in the causal “seed” level of knowing.

Sever the mind’s mediating activity; let even the discriminating intellect fall silent.

Through sustained contemplation, the inner altar/furnace (vedi)—the very site of practice and transformation—reveals itself as Siva.

Established in the pure field of awareness (citta as a locus, then transcended), and by dissolving citta itself,

the practitioner becomes a siddha grounded in the real/essential (sat).

Then Shakti, merged in the final principle (tattva / That), is not other than Siva: ‘We are Siva.’

Philosophical Explanation

The verse maps an inward retraction and then a dissolution of successive “instruments of knowing.” “Pulan” (senses/fields of perception) is not treated merely as the five external senses; it is stratified into levels (gross, seed/causal, intermediate, intellectual), suggesting a Siddhar habit of speaking of perception as layered and transformable.

1) From gross to causal: “Vettu/vettu-pulan” (often heard as ‘gross’ or ‘cutting/outward’ sense-life) is to be left. The next level, “viththai-pulan” (seed-senses), implies a subtler causal mode—perception prior to objectification, nearer to the origin (viththai = seed).

2) Cutting the mediator: The “middle” faculty is identified with “manam” (mind) as the mediator that stitches together sensation, memory, and desire. “Severing” it indicates not suppression alone but yogic non-participation: the mind’s connecting function is interrupted.

3) Transcending buddhi: Even “buddhi” (discriminative intellect) must “go.” In many yogic schemes the mind (manas) and intellect (buddhi) are subtler than the senses; here the Siddhar frames them also as kinds of “pulan,” i.e., modes of grasping. Liberation is framed as the cessation of all grasping-modes, not merely sensory restraint.

4) Vedi as site of divinization/transmutation: “Vedi” can mean altar/platform, ritual ground, or—within Siddhar alchemical idiom—the furnace/crucible/worksite of transformation. Saying “the vedi becomes Siva” signals that the locus of practice (body, breath, inner ritual space, or alchemical ‘laboratory’) is recognized as Siva when cognition is purified and nondual vision stabilizes.

5) Citta and its destruction: “Citta-pulam” can be read as the ‘field’ or ‘domain’ of citta (memory-impression mind). The instruction first uses citta as a locus for placing the ‘inside’ (aham/ullam/inner being) and then calls for citta’s destruction—i.e., the dissolution of the impression-bearing, identity-forming continuity. The siddha-state is marked by “sathu/sat” (truth/being/essence) or possibly “saththam” (sound), both common Siddhar codes: realization as pure being, or absorption in primal nāda.

6) Shakti–Siva nonduality: The concluding claim—Shakti merged in tattva, ‘we are Siva’—collapses practitioner, power, and principle into a single identity. “Tattvu/tattva” may mean the ultimate ‘Thatness’ (parama-tattva) rather than a catalogue of categories; thus Shakti’s culmination is in the nondual absolute, named here as Siva. The final “we” can be the realized ones (siddhas) speaking from that identity, or an instruction for the aspirant to recognize it.

Key Concepts

  • pulan (senses / modes of grasping)
  • viththai (seed / causal level)
  • manam (mind as mediator)
  • buddhi (intellect / discrimination)
  • citta (impression-memory mind)
  • citta-nāśa (dissolution of citta)
  • vedi (altar / platform / furnace-crucible; site of transformation)
  • siddha (accomplished one)
  • sat / saththu (truth-being / essence) and possible nāda (sound) reading
  • tattva (ultimate principle / Thatness)
  • Shakti–Siva nonduality
  • pratyāhāra-like withdrawal (inward turning of faculties)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “வெத்து/வெத்துப் புலன்” can mean ‘empty/insubstantial’ senses, or ‘outward-cutting’ senses; the verse may be contrasting outward grasping with inward causal knowing.
  • “அத்தத்தை” is unclear: it may indicate an underlying support/attachment of the senses (a habitual ‘holding’), or could be a cryptic reference to an inner principle (sometimes Siddhar usage compresses terms like ātmā/aham/tattva into colloquial forms).
  • The sequence “வித்தை / மித்தை / புத்தி” as qualifiers of “pulan” can be read as (a) graded layers of cognition (causal–intermediate–intellectual), or (b) coded references to tantric sound-levels (seed/inner speech vs middle vs formed discrimination).
  • “சிந்திக்க வேதி சிவையாமே” may mean (a) ‘by contemplation, the altar becomes Siva’ (inner ritual ground divinized), or (b) ‘the alchemical furnace (vedi) becomes Siva’ (the laboratory/body transfigured), keeping both ritual and rasavāda (alchemy) resonances.
  • “சத்துற்ற” can be read as ‘attained sat/essence (saththu),’ or as ‘filled with sound (saththam)’—a nāda-oriented reading compatible with Siddhar yoga.
  • “தத்துற்ற” may mean ‘merged in tattva (ultimate That),’ or ‘fully conformed to/established in principle,’ allowing either a nondual absolutist or a principled-cosmological nuance.
  • The final “நாமே” (‘we ourselves’) can be the siddhas’ collective voice, or a deliberate identity-instruction to the aspirant; the grammar supports both.