வருந்தித்தான் சொல்வதிலென் வலுவுண் டாமோ?
வழுத்துவதாற் பலங்குறையும் மௌனம் போகும்
அருந்தித்தான் பருகிடுவான் ருசியைக் காணான்
அமுதப்பால் குடித்தவனே அமர னாவான்
துருந்தித்தான் பசியறியான் வாணி யானை
சோபையுறுஞ் சேணியனை விலக்கி யப்பால்
பொருந்தித்தான் திருந்தினவன் பொருந்தி நிற்கும்
பொக்கமதே யாசனமாம் யோகங் கண்டீர்
varundhiththaan solvadhilen valuvuN DaamO?
vazhuththuvadhaaR palanguRaiyum maunam pOgum
arundhiththaan parugiduvaan rusiyaik kaaNaan
amudhappaal kudiththavanE amara naavaan
thurundhiththaan pasiyaRiyaan vaaNi yaanai
sObaiyuRuNY sENiyanai vilakki yappaal
porundhiththaan thirundhinavan porundhi niRkum
pokkamathe yaasanamaam yOgaNG kaNdeer.
“In speaking with distress/strain, what strength is there?
By praising/exhorting, one’s strength diminishes and silence departs.
He who drinks (by gulping) will not perceive the taste.
Only the one who drank the milk of nectar becomes deathless.
When stuffed/packed, the ‘elephant of Vāṇī (speech)’ does not know hunger.
Pushing away the radiant ‘Cēṇiyan’ (the shining one) to the side,
he who set himself right and became well-aligned will stand in fitting harmony.
The hollow/void itself is the seat (āsana)—behold this yoga.”
Speech, especially agitated or performative speech, leaks strength and breaks true inner silence. One who rushes to consume (outer pleasures, foods, experiences) does not know real ‘taste’. But the one who receives and ‘drinks’ the inner amṛta—described as “nectar-milk”—enters a deathless mode (a state beyond ordinary decay and fear of death).
When the power of speech/tongue is turned inward and made still, hunger itself is transformed: the body-mind no longer depends on crude craving. By setting aside the glittering distraction (the “shining one”), and correcting one’s alignment, one can abide steadily. The true yogic seat is not merely a posture but the ‘hollow/void’—an interior emptiness or cavity where awareness rests.
1) Speech as loss of force (vital economy): The opening rhetorical question treats “speaking with strain” as powerless. In Siddhar idiom, speech is not neutral; it spends prāṇa/śakti. “Praising/exhorting” can also imply social performance—talk that feeds ego or agitation. Such speech “diminishes strength” and “drives away silence” (mauna), which is not merely not-talking but a yogic interior stillness.
2) Taste vs. gulping (experience vs. appropriation): “He who gulps does not know taste” is both ethical and yogic. Literally, haste ruins enjoyment; symbolically, grasping ruins discernment. In yogic reading, those who chase sensations cannot recognize subtler rasa (inner flavor/bliss).
3) Amṛta as inner secretion / alchemical elixir: “Milk of nectar” (amudhap-pāl) is a classic Siddha-yoga marker for amṛta—often linked to an inner distillation connected with the head/palate region (bindu, soma, sahasrāra symbolism). The ‘drinking’ is not ordinary drinking but a controlled inward reception of subtle essence. “Becoming amar(a)n” (“deathless”) may indicate (a) liberation-consciousness, (b) longevity/imperishability sought by Siddha medicine and inner alchemy, or (c) both, without forcing a single meaning.
4) Hunger transformed (physiology + metaphor): The line about the “elephant of Vāṇī” is deliberately odd: an elephant suggests great force and appetite. If that “elephant” is speech/tongue, then “stuffed/packed” can mean either (a) satiated by nectar (so hunger ceases), or (b) restrained/blocked (speech-energy sealed inside), producing a state where ordinary hunger no longer dominates. Siddhar texts often connect control of vāyu (breath), tongue, and bindu with reduction of hunger and stabilization of the body.
5) Removing the ‘shining one’ (distraction, desire, or a technical referent): “Shining Cēṇiyan” is unclear but reads like a luminous attraction—sensual lure, pride, or an outward-facing fascination. Philosophically, it functions as “that which dazzles and pulls attention outward.” The instruction is to set it aside.
6) The void as āsana (seat of yoga): “Pokkām” can mean hollow, cavity, emptiness, or void. Calling it the “āsana” suggests that real yogic stability is abiding in inner emptiness/stillness rather than merely arranging limbs. It hints at a meditative ‘seat’ located in interior space (possibly the cranial cavity, palate region, or the experiential śūnya where mind rests). The verse closes by pointing: this is the yoga—recognize it.