கந்தகத்தைக் கட்டுதற்கே யொருநூல் போதும்
கயிறு திரித் திடவென்றால் பலநூல் வேண்டும்
அந்தகத்தைக் கட்டவொரு பெருநூ லுண்டு
அந்தரத்தை யேகட்டு மருநூ லுண்டு
சிந்தகத்தைச் சித்தத்தைக் கட்ட வென்றே
சிவக்கயிற்றின் திருநூலைச் சித்தர் சொன்னார்
விந்தகத்தைக் கட்டியேமே லேறிச் சென்று
வேதாந்தங் காணவைக்கும் சிவநூல் தன்னை
kandakaththaik kattutharkaey orunool pothum
kayiru thirith thidavendraal palanool vendum
anthakaththaik kattavoru perunoo lundu
antharaththai yaekattu marunoo lundu
sinthakaththaich siththaththaik katta vendrae
sivakkayirrin thirunoolai siththar sonnaar
vinthakaththaik kattiyaemae laerich sendru
vaedhaanthang kaanavaikkum sivanool thannai.
To bind (stabilize) sulphur, a single thread is enough.
But if one says, “Twist a rope (into strands),” many threads are needed.
There is a great treatise to bind darkness;
there is another treatise that binds the ether/inner space.
To bind the thinking (thought-stream) and to bind the mind,
the Siddhars spoke of the sacred thread/text of the Shiva-rope.
Having bound the vindakam (bindu/essence), one rises upward and goes on;
that Shiva-text makes one behold Vedānta.
For coarse alchemy, a small instruction suffices; for forming a strong cord, many strands are required—so too for spiritual mastery.
There are teachings meant to arrest “darkness” (ignorance/death), and others meant to steady the inner expanse (ākāśa-like awareness or the subtle field of breath).
But to restrain the restless thought and the mind itself, the Siddhars prescribe the “Shiva-cord”: a sacred thread/teaching that functions as a yogic tether.
When the bindu (vital essence/seed-drop) is secured and conserved, consciousness ascends, and the Vedāntic vision is revealed through that Shiva-teaching.
This verse plays on the double-meaning of நூல் (nūl) as both “thread” and “treatise/scripture.” The progression moves from tangible craft to inner discipline:
1) **Material/alchemical level (கந்தகம் / sulphur):** Sulphur is volatile and “runs” in fire; “binding sulphur” evokes Siddha rasavāda procedures where substances are fixed, purified, or made stable. The claim that “one thread is enough” hints that a limited technique or single guiding principle can stabilize a single gross element.
2) **Methodological level (rope made from many threads):** A rope gains strength from multiple strands; analogously, higher disciplines require layered methods—ethics, breath, mantra, bodily regimen, and sustained practice—rather than a single trick.
3) **Existential level (அந்தகம் / darkness):** “Darkness” can mean ignorance, delusion, or even **death** (since antaṅka/andhakam can connote Yama/ending). A “great treatise” that binds darkness thus suggests a comprehensive soteriology: teaching that arrests ignorance and the fatal pull of mortality.
4) **Subtle-space level (அந்தரம் / inner ether):** “Binding the antarā” can be read as stabilizing the inner space of awareness (ākāśa), or controlling the “in-between” domain—breath-gaps, subtle channels, or the liminal state between waking and sleep—where yogic mastery is said to occur.
5) **Mental level (சிந்தகம், சித்தம்):** Thought (cintakam) and mind-stuff (cittam) are what must be “tied” (disciplined) for liberation. The “Shiva-rope” points to a binding principle that is not merely intellectual: a practical yogic cord—mantra, prāṇāyāma, nāḍi-control, or guru-upadēśa—that restrains mental dispersion.
6) **Causal/vital level (விந்தகம் / bindu-essence):** “Binding the vindakam” strongly resonates with **bindu**-doctrines (retention/conservation/transmutation of vital essence). In Siddha-yoga, securing bindu is linked to upward movement (kundalinī ascent, sublimation of vital force) and the emergence of nondual insight.
The culminating claim—“it makes one see Vedānta”—frames Vedānta not as mere philosophy but as a realized vision enabled by disciplined ‘binding’: stabilizing the gross, ordering the subtle, restraining mind, and conserving/transmuting essence under the aegis of “Shiva” (the principle of auspicious consciousness).