Golden Lay Verses

Verse 376 (சித்த வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

எல்விட முஞ்சென் றேயமரும்

ஈயா காமற் றேனீயாய்

செவ்விட மொன்றே சேர்ந்திட்டால்

சித்தர்கள் ஞானச் சித்தியதே

Transliteration

elviṭa muñcen ṟēyamarum

īyā kāmaṟ ṟēnīyāy

cevviṭa moṉṟē cērndiṭṭāl

cittarkaḷ ñāṉac cittiyatē

Literal Translation

Having gone to every place and dwelling there in a fitting manner;

being without (worldly) desire—like a honeybee;

if (you) have joined/merged with the single right place,

that indeed is the Siddhars’ siddhi of wisdom (jñāna-siddhi).

Interpretive Translation

Move through many places/conditions without clinging, taking only the essence like a bee gathering nectar. When the roaming mind–breath finally arrives at, and abides in, the one ‘true’ locus (the correct inner seat/center), the Siddhars’ attainment—wisdom itself as a siddhi—arises.

Philosophical Explanation

The verse juxtaposes dispersion and convergence: first “going everywhere,” then “joining one right place.” In Siddhar idiom this often points to the ordinary state of consciousness scattering through many objects, teachings, and experiences, contrasted with yogic completion where attention (and prāṇa) becomes gathered into a single stable center.

The “honeybee” (தேனீ) image is a classical metaphor for a seeker who does not possess, injure, or cling. A bee visits many flowers, yet takes only nectar—the subtle essence—without uprooting the plant. Read spiritually, the practitioner may learn from many sources while remaining “desireless” (காமற்று): not driven by craving for status, sensory pleasure, or spiritual display. Read yogically/alchemically, “nectar/honey” can hint at amṛta (inner “sweetness”), the refined essence drawn from disciplined practice; the bee then becomes the discriminating intelligence that extracts the subtle from the gross.

“செவ்விடம்” literally means “the right/proper place,” but Siddhar usage can also hint at an inner ‘spot’ or locus in the body where realization stabilizes. Thus the line can mean: when the mind-prāṇa finds the correct internal seat—often glossed in traditions as the heart-center, the suṣumṇā axis, the ājñā point, or the crown where ‘nectar’ is tasted—then jñāna is no longer conceptual but becomes a lived siddhi (a consummation rather than a mere power).

The concluding phrase “Siddhars’ jñāna-siddhi” is not merely an occult ability; it indicates a perfected knowing in which wandering ceases. Yet the verse remains deliberately compact: it can be read as practical advice (seek widely but cling to one true center), as a yogic map (from scattered nāḍi-flow to a single channel/center), or as an alchemical rule (many ingredients/processes, one correct vessel/heat/point of union).

Key Concepts

  • kāma (desire) and vairāgya (non-attachment)
  • bhramara/bee metaphor (extracting essence without harm)
  • cevv-idam (the ‘right place’ / correct seat / inner locus)
  • ekāgratā (one-pointed abiding)
  • prāṇa–mind convergence (from dispersion to a single center)
  • jñāna-siddhi (wisdom as consummate attainment)
  • Siddhar cryptic instruction (outer travel vs inner centering)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “எல்விட” can be read as a contracted form of “எல்லிடமும்” (everywhere), but the phrase may also imply not merely physical travel but movement through many states, objects, or teachings.
  • “காமற்று” can mean simple desirelessness, or more specifically freedom from lust/sensual craving, or even freedom from craving for spiritual powers/recognition.
  • “தேனீயாய்” may function as an ethical metaphor (take essence without harming/possessing) and also as a yogic-alchemical hint toward inner ‘nectar’ (amṛta) and its tasting/collection.
  • “செவ்விடம்” may mean (a) the right external place: the correct guru, fellowship, or practice-context; (b) the right bodily locus: heart/ājñā/crown/mūlādhāra; (c) the correct channel/axis (suṣumṇā) where prāṇa is ‘joined.’
  • “சேர்ந்திட்டால்” (if joined/merged) can denote simple residence, devotional union (with the Guru/Śiva), or technical yogic union of mind and prāṇa, or of subtle essences in an alchemical ‘meeting.’
  • “ஞானச் சித்தி” can be read as the highest ‘siddhi’ (realization itself), but it can also be read among Siddhar texts as a specific fruition accompanying inner nectar/clarity—without committing to a single doctrinal map.