முன்னாக்கைப் பின்னாக்கி யுண்ணாக் கிட்டே
மோஹமற மனஞ்சிணுக்கா மோனம் காண்பீர்
மின்னாக்கி வெளியாக்கி மேவா ஞானி
மேதினியி லவர்க்குநிக ரவரே கண்டீர்
munnaakkaip pinnaakki yuNNaak kittee
mohamaRa mananchiNukkaa monam kaaNppeer
minnaakki veLiyaakki meevaa nyaani
meethiniyi lavarkkunika ravare kaNteer.
“Turning the fore-tongue to the back, make it ‘eat’ there;
With delusion removed, with the mind not even twitching, behold Silence (mouna);
Making (it) into lightning, making (it) into the open/outer expanse, the sage who does not ‘attach/approach’—
On this earth, you will see: for him there is none equal; he alone is his own peer.”
“Reverse the tongue inward/backward and ‘feed’ on what is found there (the hidden inner taste/nectar).
As infatuation and confusion fall away, the mind loses its last tremor; then true inner Silence is seen.
The inner force becomes a flash—radiant, unobstructed—spreading into boundless space; the knower remains unattached.
Such a realized one has no equal in the world; only he can be said to match himself.”
This verse compresses a yogic instruction and its fruition into four tightly coded images.
1) “Turning the fore-tongue to the back…make it eat” points most directly to a haṭha-yogic technique akin to khecarī-mudrā: the tongue is turned upward/backward toward the palate and deeper passages. Siddhar texts often describe this as “eating” or “drinking” what is secreted above—interpretable as amṛta (nectar), subtle saliva, or an inner savor linked to prāṇa-control. The phrase can also carry a metaphorical layer: retract speech (tongue) from outward talk and let it ‘consume’ inwardly.
2) “With delusion removed…mind not twitching…see mouna” emphasizes that true silence is not mere absence of speech but cessation of mental vibration (the ‘quiver’ of thought). “Moha” (delusion/attachment) is treated as the root agitation; when it drops, the mind settles into a non-reactive stillness where “mouna” is directly apprehended.
3) “Making (it) into lightning…making (it) into the open expanse” evokes an inner alchemy of energy and awareness. “Lightning” (min) can signify kuṇḍalinī’s sudden brilliance, a flash-like awakening, or the rapid illumination of insight. “Veli/veḷi” can mean the outside, the open space, or the manifest expanse—suggesting that what was confined inwardly becomes vast, transparent, and space-like. The “sage who does not attach/approach (mēvā)” indicates non-clinging: he does not ‘go after’ objects, experiences, or even siddhis; he abides without adhesion.
4) The final line is both praise and criterion: the realized state is portrayed as singular and incomparable. In Siddhar idiom, this can mean either (a) no one else equals such a jñāni, or (b) in the deepest sense, he is “equal only to himself,” since the measure of realization is not social comparison but identity with the Real.
Overall, the verse links bodily yogic reversal (tongue/speech turned inward), dissolution of delusion, stabilization of mind into mouna, and the emergence of luminous, space-like awareness—culminating in the jñāni’s incomparable freedom.