அரியை அறிந்த பின் னல்லோ
அருளைத் தேடிப் பெறவேண்டும்
அரணை யறிந்த பின்னல்லோ
குருவைப் பேணிக் கொளவேண்டும்
புரியை யறிந்த பின்னல்லோ
புதைபொருள் காணப் புகவேண்டும்
புரியின் புதையல் கண்டல்லோ
பொன்னைப் புடமிட வேவேண்டும்
ariyai aRintha pin nallO
aruLai-th thEdip peRavENdum
araNai yaRintha pinnallO
guruvai-p pENik koLavENdum
puriyai yaRintha pinnallO
pudhaiporuL kANap pugavENdum
puriyin pudhaiyal kaNdallO
ponnai-p puDamida vEvENdum.
“Only after knowing ‘Ari’, is it not so?
One must seek grace (aruḷ) and obtain it.
Only after knowing ‘Araṇ’, is it not so?
One must cherish and care for the Guru.
Only after knowing ‘Puri’, is it not so?
One must enter in order to see the buried/hidden substance.
Only after finding Puri’s buried treasure,
One must indeed place the gold into pudam (a firing/calcining furnace).”
“First discern the ‘Ari’—the power that rules or the foe that binds—and then seek the descent of grace.
Next discern the ‘Araṇ’—the inner fort/Protector—and only then take refuge in the Guru and keep the Guru close.
Then discern the ‘Puri’—the subtle place/path/method by which the hidden essence is reached—and enter to behold the concealed ‘treasure’.
When that inner treasure is obtained, perform pudam: the disciplined ‘firing’ that purifies and ripens the gold (the attained essence / the self) into a higher state.”
The verse is structured as a sequence of prerequisites: “after knowing X, then Y must be done.” This is characteristic of Siddhar instruction—competence and right recognition must precede practice.
1) Ari → aruḷ (grace): “Ari” can point to a ruling deity-name (Hari/Vishnu) or to “ari” as an enemy/foe (especially ego, karma, sensory compulsion). Either way, the instruction is that discernment of the governing power—whether divine or obstructive—must come first; only then can grace be rightly sought and received. In Siddhar logic, grace is not merely begged for; it is ‘obtained’ when the seeker’s perception aligns.
2) Araṇ → Guru-care: “Araṇ” literally means a fort/stronghold/protection, and can also function as a divine epithet (often resonant with Shiva as protector), or the body-as-fort in yogic discourse. Knowing the ‘fort’ implies knowing the field where sādhanā occurs (body, breath, discipline, protective boundaries). Once that is known, the text insists on ‘peṇi koḷ’—sustaining, tending, maintaining the Guru-connection. This frames the Guru not as optional devotion but as the stabilizing principle for entering subtle domains.
3) Puri → hidden substance/treasure: “Puri” can mean a ‘place/city’, a ‘coil/spiral/turn’, or in practical Siddhar usage, a coded reference to an inner locus, pathway, or technical procedure by which concealed matter/essence is accessed. “Puthai-poruḷ” (buried object/substance) can be literal treasure, but in Siddhar alchemical-yogic idiom it often indicates a concealed siddha-dravya (secret substance such as mercurial principle, bindu-like essence, or a rare catalytic ‘medicine’) or an inner attainment hidden from ordinary perception.
4) Puri’s treasure → pudam of gold: “Pudam” is a precise alchemical term for heating/firing/calcination (also metaphorically tapas—intensifying discipline). “Gold” (pon) may be actual metal in rasavāda practice, yet it commonly doubles as a symbol for the perfected bodily essence or purified awareness. The line “only after finding the treasure” warns against premature ‘firing’: transformation (outer metallurgical or inner yogic) is legitimate only after the true catalytic/essential principle is secured.
Overall, the verse binds together devotion (grace), lineage (Guru), yogic interiority (the fort and the puri), and alchemical transformation (pudam, gold). It preserves Siddhar ambiguity by allowing the same words to operate simultaneously on the planes of deity-devotion, yogic anatomy, and laboratory metallurgy.