காமத்தை விட்டிடடா கலகத்தை வெட்டிடடா
கருநொச்சிக் கவசத்தில் காமினியைக் கட்டிடடா
ஊமைக்கும் அத்தையடா உலகோர்க்கு நத்தையடா
உரையெல்லாம் மித்தையடா உனக்கவளே வித்தையடா
சாமத்தைக் கண்டிடடா சர்மத்தை வென்றிடடா
சகலத்தை யுந்தழுவும் சத்தியத்தில் நின்றிடடா
வாமத்தி யருளாலே வாதத்தி லேவெற்றி
மண்ணெல்லாம் பொன்னாகும் மார்க்கத்தைக் கண்டிடடா
Kaamaththai vittidadaa kalagaththai vettidadaa
Karunochchik kavasaththil kaaminiyai kattidadaa
Oomaikkum aththaiyadaa ulagorkku naththaiyadaa
Uraiyellaam miththaiyadaa unakkavale viththaiyadaa
Saamaththaik kandidadeaa sarmaththai vendridadaa
Sagalaththai yunthazhuvum saththiyaththil nindridadaa
Vaamaththi yarulaale vaathaththi levetri
Mannellaam ponnaagum maarkkaththaik kandridadaa
“Leave (cast away) lust, O one; cut off turmoil/discord, O one.
In the ‘karu-nochchi’ (black nochchi) armour (kavacam), bind the kāmini (desire-woman), O one.
To the mute she is an aunt; to the world she is a snail.
All speech/explanations are false; for you, she alone is the ‘art/technique’ (vittai).
See (discover) the sāmam; conquer the skin.
Stand in the truth that embraces all.
By the grace of Vāmatti, victory in vāta.
See (discover) the path by which all earth becomes gold.”
Abandon lust and cut the inner agitation that follows it. Use a protective discipline—hinted as a “karu-nochchi kavacam” (a medicinal/talismanic protection and also a yogic “sheath”)—to restrain and “bind” the kāmini: not merely a woman, but the force of craving and the outward-flowing sexual impulse.
What the world dismisses as trivial or slow (a “snail”), and what cannot be explained by ordinary speech (hence “for the mute, an aunt”), becomes for the practitioner the real “vittai”: the operative method/secret that works beyond talk.
Discover sāmam (readable as equanimity, or the Sama-teaching/measure), transcend identification with the outer skin/body, and abide in an all-embracing truth.
Then, by the grace of “Vāmatti” (left-side/Idā, or a named power/deity/phase), master vāta (wind/prāṇa; and the vāta-doṣa). In that mastery lies the alchemical-yogic path where ‘earth becomes gold’: the transmutation of the base into the perfected.
The verse is structured as a series of imperatives (“…-iḍaḍā”) typical of Siddhar instruction: a practical sādhanā rather than a mere doctrine.
1) Ethics and psychophysiology: “Leave lust; cut discord.” In Siddhar physiology, uncontrolled kāmam is not only moral failure but a leak of vital essence and a generator of mental “kala(k)am” (agitation). Cutting discord implies stabilizing the mind so prāṇa can be governed.
2) Medical–talismanic symbolism: “Karu-nochchi kavacam.” Nochi (Vitex negundo, commonly associated with vāta-pacifying remedies) belongs to Siddha medicine and folk protection. “Kavacam” can mean an amulet/armour, but also a protective regimen or yogic containment (a ‘sheath’ that prevents energy from dispersing). Thus “binding the kāmini” can be read as (a) disciplining sexual desire, (b) retaining and redirecting sexual energy, or (c) stabilizing Śakti so it does not fall into sensory craving.
3) Epistemology: “All speech is false; for you she is the vittai.” Siddhar knowledge is often said to be incommunicable directly: talk (urai) multiplies opinions, while the real ‘vittai’ is the working key—mantra, herb, inner practice, or the very power (Śakti) that becomes the teacher when properly ‘bound’.
4) Yogic aim: “Conquer the skin; stand in truth embracing all.” ‘Skin’ signifies surface identity—body-pride, sensory boundary, and the outer sheath (sthūla). To conquer it is to pass from mere bodily life to a truth that is universal (sagalam-um thazhuvum).
5) Prāṇa/doṣa mastery and alchemy: “Victory in vāta… earth becomes gold.” Vāta is both a doṣa (wind-humour) and prāṇic movement. Siddhar alchemy often links bodily prāṇa-stability with material transmutation; metaphorically, it is the refinement of the practitioner (base earth) into siddhi (gold). The verse keeps both levels in play, refusing to reduce the ‘gold’ to only metaphor or only metallurgy.