தேரோடித் தெருப்புழுதி யொருகை தூக்கிச்
செப்புகிறேன் பிறர்செப்பாச் சேதி தன்னை
வேரோடும் மருதுளசி மடியில் வைத்து
விளைவான சாறுபடி யிறுத்துக் கொண்டு
எரோடிக் கொழுவிட்டே யிருப்புச் சட்டி
எரியோடக் காய்ச்சியபின் னெடுத்துக் கொண்டு
பாரோடுங் காலைசிவத் தகட்டி லூற்றிப்
பதமூட வேயாற்றிக் கொள்ளு வாயே
thErOdi thERuppuzhuthi yorukai thUkkich
seppugiREn piRarseppAch sEthi thannai
vErOdum maruthuthulasi madiyil vaiththu
viLaivAna sARupadi yiRuththuk koNdu
ErOdi kozhuvittE yiruppuch chatti
eriyOdak kAychchiyapin neduththuk koNdu
pArOdung kAlaisivath thagatti lURRip
pathamUda vEyARRik koLLu vAyE.
Taking up a handful of street-dust, I speak (to you) a matter that others do not speak. Place (it) together with maruthu–tulasi, roots intact, and press/strain it so that the essence-juice forms; keep that extract. Put (that) in an iron pot, along with the ploughshare (or: after “ploughing/mixing” it), and heat it with fire; after it has boiled in the fire, take it out. At dawn, pour it onto a red slab/plate (resting on the ground), let it cool and set to the right consistency, and preserve it.
From what the world tramples underfoot (“street dust”), draw out a secret teaching: combine the low and the common with the rooted, life-bearing herb (tulasi), and extract its hidden essence. Then submit that essence to the discipline of fire—cooking it in the “iron vessel” of embodied practice—until it is transformed. At the auspicious time of dawn, pour it onto the firm, reddened base and let it settle into a stable potency; thus is the prepared medicine/realization obtained and stored.
The verse reads like a Siddha pharmaco-alchemical recipe (extraction, heating in an iron pot, decanting, cooling to “padam”/proper stage). Yet Siddhar language frequently doubles as yoga-instruction.
Literal/medical-alchemical layer: street dust (a deliberately humble, impure-sounding material) is combined with an herb identified as “maruthu–tulasi” with roots. The emphasis on “roots” suggests taking the plant whole (root-power), a common Siddha cue for potency. The “juice/essence” (sāru) is expressed and then cooked in an iron vessel—iron often signifies both a practical cooking medium and a metal-associated strengthening/tonic logic in Siddha pharmacology. Heating “with fire” until a stage is reached, then pouring onto a slab/plate and allowing it to cool to “padam” indicates staged processing (pakkuvam), where efficacy is believed to arise from controlled transformation, not mere mixing.
Inner-yogic layer: “street dust” can signify worldly residue—habit, karma, shame, and what is discarded—while tulasi (a devotional, purifying plant) signifies sattva, prāṇa, and bhakti-infused refinement. Extracting “essence” points to drawing ojas-like subtlety from gross life. The iron pot suggests the hardened, disciplined body-mind container; the “ploughshare” hints at cutting and turning the inner field—piercing knots and tilling the psycho-energetic ground. Heating in fire parallels tapas and kuṇḍalinī-agni: sustained inner heat transforms base material into a stable elixir. Pouring “at dawn” implies the liminal, sāttvic hour suited for yogic work; the “red slab/plate” can be read as a grounding base (earth/support) or a coded reference to the reddening of inner fire/blood-life, where the product must be stabilized rather than allowed to dissipate. “Padam” (right stage/consistency) also resonates with the maturation of practice: realization must ‘set’ into steadiness and be preserved.
The opening claim—“a matter others do not speak”—frames the instructions as esoteric: either a guarded medicinal preparation or a guarded yogic technique, or both at once.