கார்முகிலின் வண்ணமெனக் கழறுவதுன் மேனி
கதிரொளியின் காந்தமெனக் காட்டுவது மாரன்
வேர்மறிதாய் மேலேறும்விந்துவதே வானம்
மின்னும்வலம் புரிவாசி யோகமதே நாதம்
kārmukilin vaṇṇamenak kaḻaruvatuṉ mēṉi
katiroḷiyin kāntamenak kāṭṭuvatu māran
vērmariṟāy mēlēṟumvintuvatē vāṉam
miṉṉumvalam purivāci yōkamatē nātam.
“Your body is spoken of as the colour of a dark rain-cloud;
what displays (it) as the ‘magnetism’ of sun‑rays is Māran.
The bindu (seed‑drop) that rises upward—(as) the root is reversed—is the sky.
The Vāsi‑yoga that turns to the right, flashing, is Nādam (inner sound).”
The verse sketches a Siddha–yogic physiology in cryptic images: when the adept’s body takes on the dense, rain‑cloud hue (a sign of altered bodily essence), it also acquires a solar “magnetism” that can enthrall desire itself (Māran). By reversing the “root” flow—making the bindu that normally falls descend instead rise upward—the yogin enters an inner “sky/space” (vānam), i.e., the opened interior expanse of consciousness. In that state, the right‑turning, lightning‑like circulation of breath–prāṇa (vasi/yogic control) reveals itself as nāda, the subtle sound-current.
1) Body as alchemical sign: “dark cloud colour” can indicate a bodily transformation (kāya-siddhi / kāya-kalpa imagery) where the flesh becomes a vessel of condensed essence—clouds holding rain suggest retained, gathered potency rather than dispersal.
2) Desire reframed, not denied: “Māran” (often Manmatha, the god of erotic force) is invoked as the agent that “shows” magnetism. This keeps open a Siddha ambiguity: the same power that binds through sensual attraction can, when mastered, become a yogic radiance that draws and commands (vasi/vāśīkaraṇa). Thus the verse hints at sublimation rather than suppression.
3) Bindu‑ascension as ‘sky’: “Vindu” is semen/seed‑essence or the subtle drop (ojas) in yogic anatomy. “Root reversed” points to a technique principle—turning the downward tendency upward (ūrdhva‑retas; mūla‑bandha; inner reversal). When bindu rises (rather than falls), “vānam” names the resultant inner space: either the cranial ‘sky’ at the crown, or the expanded field of awareness that appears when essence and breath are conserved and lifted.
4) Nāda as sign of prāṇic rotation: “valam‑puri” (right‑turning) suggests a clockwise spiral/circulation, commonly mapped to the solar channel (piṅgalā) or a regulated right‑nostril/breath dominance. The ‘flashing’ image evokes prāṇa’s quickening and the felt luminosity of movement in the subtle body. In Siddha yoga, such regulated circulation culminates in nāda—an experiential marker of interiorization and awakening that accompanies bindu–prāṇa integration.
Overall, the verse compresses a Siddha program: conserve and transmute sexual essence (bindu), harness desire’s force (Māran) rather than merely fighting it, regulate prāṇa in a right‑turning spiral, and recognize the arising of nāda and inner ‘sky’ as signs of successful inner alchemy.