Golden Lay Verses

Verse 70 (மணி வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

நிறைவுடனே சொல்லுகிறேன் பாடம் கேளாய்

நெறியறிந்து தக்கபடி பூட்டைப் பூட்டே

குறையறியாப் பூரணத்தைக் குறைவில் லாமல்

கோத்தெடுத்தும் குறையாத மீதங் காட்டி

சிறையறியா வாசிதனை மீட்டி யோட்டிச்

செப்பினுளே ரேசகபூ ரகத்தை வாங்கி

பறையறியாப் பத்துவகை நாதங் கேட்டிப்

பற்றிடுவாய்க் ககனமணிக் குளிகை தானே

Transliteration

NiRaivudanE sollugiREn pAdam kELAi

NeRiyaRindu thakkapaDi pUttaip pUttE

KuRaiyaRiyAp pUraNaththaik kuRaivil lAmal

KOtheduththum kuRaiyAtha mIdhang kAtti

SiRaiyaRiyA vAsithanai mItti yOttich

SeppinuLE rEsagapU rakaththai vAngi

PaRaiyaRiyAp paththuvagai nAdhang kEttip

PaRRiduvAyk kaganamaNik kuLigaI thAnE.

Literal Translation

I speak with fullness; listen to the lesson.

Knowing the proper way, lock the lock as it should be.

That “wholeness” which knows no lack—without any diminution—

Even when drawn out/removed (or strung and taken), show a remainder that does not decrease.

Recover and set in motion the Vāsi (the breath/force) that knows no prison.

Within the vessel, take up (work with) the recaka and pūraka.

Hear the ten kinds of nāda that are not of the drum (not openly sounded).

You will grasp/attain the pill (kuḷikai) that is the jewel of the sky (kakanamaṇi).

Interpretive Translation

Attend: I am teaching a complete method. Learn the right procedure and apply the “locks” correctly (the disciplined closures that bind and direct the vital force).

Realize the paradox of the Perfect: even when something is “taken out,” the Whole is not reduced—its remainder is still whole.

Free the subtle breath-current (vāsi/prāṇa) from confinement and make it move in its proper course.

Inside the bodily “vessel,” regulate exhalation and inhalation (recaka–pūraka), and by that interior work come to hear the hidden, unstruck inner sounds—tenfold nāda.

Through this, the sought “medicine” is obtained: the akasha-jewel pill—either a literal siddha alchemical kuḷikai or the condensed inner elixir/gnosis that grants siddhi and steadiness in the sky-like expanse of awareness.

Philosophical Explanation

The verse interweaves three registers typical of Siddhar speech: (1) yogic technique, (2) paradoxical metaphysics of wholeness, and (3) alchemical “medicine” language.

1) “Lock the lock” points to bandha-like restraints: disciplined closures that prevent dissipation and redirect prāṇa. Siddhar manuals often encode pelvic/abdominal/throat seals, fixation of attention, and containment of sexual/vital essences under the same imagery of locks and keys.

2) The lines on “wholeness” and an undiminishing “remainder” echo the Upaniṣadic idea of pūrṇam (the Whole): subtracting from the Whole does not reduce it. Here it functions as both a metaphysical claim (non-dual plenitude that is not depleted by manifestation) and a practical hint (the inner “essence” can be extracted/raised without loss when conserved and circulated correctly).

3) Breath regulation (recaka–pūraka, with retention implied) leads to inner nāda perception. “Ten nādas” signals a nāda-yoga map in which progressively subtler sounds are heard as prāṇa becomes internalized and the mind steadied. Calling them “not of the drum” suggests anāhata—sound not struck by external means—hence secret, inward, and not publicly demonstrable.

The culmination, “kakanamaṇi kuḷikai,” holds deliberate doubleness: it can mean an actual Siddha pill (prepared through rasavāda/mercurial processes) said to confer resilience and longevity; or, more inwardly, the ‘pill’ is the condensed attainment—amṛta/bindu-like essence or stabilized awareness—described as a jewel in the vast sky (ākāśa) of consciousness. In Siddhar logic these are not mutually exclusive: outer alchemy mirrors inner alchemy, and both are framed as the production of an incorruptible “medicine.”

Key Concepts

  • pūrṇam (wholeness) and the undiminishing remainder
  • pūṭu / “lock” imagery (bandha, mudrā, containment of prāṇa/essence)
  • recaka (exhalation)
  • pūraka (inhalation)
  • kumbhaka (breath-retention, implied by the lock and the regulation of breath)
  • vāsi / subtle breath-current (prāṇa) and its release from bondage
  • nāda-yoga
  • anāhata (unstruck inner sound) suggestion in “not of the drum”
  • tenfold nāda (a graded schema of inner sounds)
  • śarīra as vessel/crucible (uḷe / “within the vessel”)
  • kakanamaṇi (sky-jewel / ākāśa-jewel)
  • kuḷikai (pill; medicine; alchemical or inner elixir)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “பூட்டைப் பூட்டே” (lock the lock): may indicate physical yogic bandhas, retention of breath, restraint of senses, or coded sexual/essence conservation; Siddhar diction often intends several at once.
  • “கோத்தெடுத்தும்” can read as “having extracted/removed” (alchemical extraction, withdrawing prāṇa) or “having strung/arranged” (weaving a process); the key point is the paradox of no-loss remainder.
  • “மீதங் காட்டி” (show the remainder): may be metaphysical (pūrṇam doctrine), mathematical metaphor, or practical proof-sign (an experiential ‘remainder’ such as calm, nectar, or luminosity that persists).
  • “வாசி” (vāsi): could mean a particular prāṇic current, the disciplined breath itself, or a technical term within a specific Siddhar lineage; “freeing it from prison” may refer to unblocking nāḍīs or releasing prāṇa from habitual outward flow.
  • “செப்பினுளே” literally “within copper/within the vessel”: may mean inside the body (as the vessel) or hint at an alchemical crucible/copper apparatus; both readings are plausible in Siddhar texts.
  • “பறையறியாப்” literally “not knowing the drum”: can imply anāhata (unstruck, not externally produced), secrecy (not publicly announced), or subtlety (beyond gross sound).
  • “பத்துவகை நாதம்” (ten nādas): could be ten inner sound-stages, ten prāṇa functions heard as nāda, or a lineage-specific enumeration.
  • “ககனமணிக் குளிகை” may be a literal rasavāda pill (mercurial/mineral medicine) or a metaphor for inner amṛta/bindu/realization; the verse preserves this intentional doubleness.