The verse is structured as a chain of interrogations—short verbs that can point simultaneously to ordinary bodily events, yogic stages, and alchemical operations. Karai Siddhar’s style here is not to “teach” directly but to force discernment: the seeker must locate, in lived practice, what each verb refers to.

On one level, the questions target impermanence and identity: if things “die,” “appear,” “smell,” “separate,” “expand,” “bind,” “laugh,” “heat,” “signal,” “mark,” and “grow,” then what is the underlying ‘iruppu’ (abiding being) that is not merely another event? The final line turns the whole list into a test: amidst transformations, where/when is stable presence?

On a yogic/medical reading, the verbs can map to subtle-body processes: “death” as the dropping of egoic identification or the temporary ‘death’ of the outward breath; “clarity” as the dawning of inner seeing; “fragrance” as the perception of subtle vāyu/ojas (often described as scent, taste, nectar); “separating” as viveka (discriminating the real/unreal) or separating vāta–pitta–kapha/pañca-bhūta influences; “expanding” as consciousness unfolding (nāḍī opening, kuṇḍalinī ascent); “binding” as bandha/yoking mind and breath; “laughter” as ānanda; “roasting” as inner heat (tapas, jaṭharāgni/kuṇḍalinī-agni) that ‘cooks’ impurities; “signifying” as noticing lakṣaṇa (symptoms/signs) that confirm a stage; “marking lines” as the writing of fate/karma on body and mind, or the deliberate inscription of discipline.

On an alchemical reading (which Siddhar poetry often preserves), the same verbs can denote laboratory stages: “killing” (marippu) as calcination/neutralizing a substance, “clarifying” as purification, “fragrance” as a diagnostic cue during processing, “separating” and “spreading” as extracting/expanding the essence, “binding” as coagulation/fixation, “roasting” as controlled heating, “signs” as color-change or other stage-marks, “lines/marks” as striations, layers, or written ‘vari’ instructions. The core philosophical point remains: whether in body, mind, or substance, transformation is not the final aim; the aim is the stabilized state that can “remain.”