நினைவினிலே நினைவுருவாம் நினைவு மாகும்
நினைவொன்றும் நினையாத நினைவு மாகும்
நினைவின்முடி நிலையத்தே நிறைவு மாகும்
நினைவுள்தனை தனையவனை நெறியு மாகும்
Ninaivinilē ninaivuruvām ninaivu mākum
Ninaivondrum ninaiyāda ninaivu mākum
Ninaivinmuḍi nilaiyattē niṟaivu mākum
Ninaivuḷtanai tanaiyavanai neṟiyu mākum.
Within thought (or remembrance), there is a thought that becomes the very form of thought.
There is also a thought that thinks of nothing at all.
At the state that is the ‘crown/peak’ of thought, there is completion (fulfilment).
The one who has (or knows) the inner core of thought—he himself becomes the path (the way).
When the mind moves, it manufactures its own images and calls that ‘knowing’.
Yet there is a mode of awareness that does not seize any object—thought that rests without thinking.
In the summit of that cessation (the mind’s crown-point), attainment ripens as completion.
Whoever discovers the Self within the mind’s movement—rather than being carried by it—becomes the very way to liberation.
This verse plays on the single word “நினைவு (niṉaivu),” which can mean thought, memory, attention, or the mind’s act of “remembering/holding.” The Siddhar sets up a graded inquiry into mind:
1) “Thought-form thought” (நினைவுருவாம் நினைவு): Ordinary cognition is self-referential and image-producing. The mind turns into the forms it entertains; its ‘content’ and its ‘knowing’ are not truly separate.
2) “Thought that thinks nothing” (நினையாத நினைவு): This points to a non-objectifying awareness—classically comparable to nirvikalpa (without mental constructions) or a mind in nirodha (restraint). The Siddhar keeps the paradox: it is still called “thought/niṉaivu,” suggesting a residual luminous attention rather than blankness.
3) “The crown/peak of thought” (நினைவின்முடி நிலையம்): The term “முடி” can mean peak, end, crown, or top-knot. Yogically it can imply the culmination-point of mentation where the mind resolves into its source; alternatively it can hint at the cranial ‘crown’ locus (often mapped to sahasrāra). “நிறைவு (completion)” is not mere stopping, but fulfilment—stability, wholeness, siddhi of realization.
4) “He becomes the path” (நெறி): The concluding line shifts from technique to being. One who knows/possesses the inner principle of mind (the Self within niṉaivu, or the witness of thought) does not merely follow a path; his very mode of being functions as the path—because the ‘way’ is precisely this recognition and abidance.
Overall, the verse teaches that liberation is not achieved by accumulating refined thoughts, but by tracing thought back to its summit/cessation where awareness stands without objects, and by recognizing the Self that is present both in thought and beyond thought.