Golden Lay Verses

Verse 22 (பீட வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

காட்டு மலர் தொட்டுக் காண் தொட்டி லாட்டி

வாட்டி மலர் சூட்டி வா ளமுரி கூட்டி

ஏட்டி லவர் தீட்டி ஏற்றி யது காட்டி

கூட்டி னுளே கண்டார் கூற் றினையும் வென்றார்

Transliteration

kāṭṭu malar toṭṭuk kāṇ toṭṭi lāṭṭi

vāṭṭi malar sūṭṭi vā ḷamuri kūṭṭi

ēṭṭi lavar tīṭṭi ēṟṟi yatu kāṭṭi

kūṭṭi ṉuḷē kaṇṭār kūṟ ṟiṉaiyum veṉṟār

Literal Translation

Touch the wild/forest flower and see; in the trough/mortar rock (pound) it.

Dry (wither) it; adorn (it) by placing flowers; gather the “valamuri” (right-turning conch / rightward spiral).

Sharpen the spear/point; kindle/raise it and show (what was raised).

Having joined (things) together, within it they saw; and they conquered even Death (Kūṟṟu).

Interpretive Translation

Take what is found “in the wild” (raw nature)—touch it, examine it, and process it by controlled churning/pounding. Dry and refine it; bind it in an auspicious form; draw in the rightward, beneficent spiral-force (valamuri). Sharpen the inner instrument (attention/weapon/medicine), raise the fire or upward current, and reveal the result. In the very act of perfect union (of ingredients—or of inner currents), the adept “sees within” and thereby overcomes Death.

Philosophical Explanation

The verse reads simultaneously as (1) an alchemical/medical recipe-outline and (2) a yogic instruction disguised in workshop imagery.

On the outer (siddha–maruthuvam / rasavāda) level, the poem describes a sequence familiar to Siddhar operations: collecting a ‘wild flower’ (a forest herb or unregulated raw substance), pounding or churning it in a “tொட்டி” (which can be read as a mortar/trough), drying/refining it, then ‘adorning/garlanding’—a possible hint toward binding, coating, pelletizing, or ritually consecrating a preparation. The mention of “valamuri” (right-turning conch) can function as an auspicious marker, but in Siddha code it often points to a rightward spiral principle: correct directionality in processing, the “right-side” current, or a specific spiral/turn in a distillation/fermentation vessel or in subtle physiology.

On the inner (yoga) level, ‘wild flower’ can mean sense-objects or desire arising in the “forest” of the mind. ‘Touch and see’ becomes discernment rather than indulgence. Pounding/rocking in the trough suggests disciplined repetition—mantra, breath-work, or the churning of prāṇa—until the raw impulse is ‘dried’ (de-moistened of craving) and transformed into an offering (‘garlanded’). “Sharpen the spear” then points to making awareness single-pointed (a weapon against dispersal), and “raise/kindle” hints at lifting kuṇḍalinī/prāṇa or igniting inner heat (tapas/agni). When the currents/ingredients are truly ‘joined’ (kūṭṭi), the adept ‘sees within’—an interior vision of the deathless principle—thereby ‘conquering Kūṟṟu’ (Death), i.e., transcending fear, karma-bound mortality, or attaining kaya-siddhi in Siddhar terms.

The closing claim—victory over Death—is a standard Siddhar signature for successful transformation: not merely curing disease, but converting the perishable body-mind into a stabilized, death-transcending state (literal longevity in some readings; realization beyond death in others).

Key Concepts

  • Siddhar cryptic recipe-language
  • Herbal/alchemical processing (collecting, pounding/churning, drying, refining, binding)
  • Valamuri (right-turning conch / rightward spiral symbolism)
  • Inner fire / upward current (raising or kindling)
  • Single-pointedness (sharpening the inner ‘weapon’)
  • Union/combination (kūṭṭi) as completion of work
  • Kūṟṟu (Death) and its conquest
  • Kaya-siddhi / death-transcending attainment

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “காட்டு மலர்” may be a literal forest herb/flower, or a code for untamed desire/sense-object arising in the ‘forest’ of the mind.
  • “தொட்டி” can mean a trough/cradle/tub, and in practice can be read as a mortar-like vessel for pounding; symbolically it can suggest a womb-like container where transformation occurs.
  • “லாட்டி” literally ‘rock/swing’ can indicate agitation/churning in preparation work, or repeated yogic cycling (breath/mantra) that ‘rocks’ the mind into stillness.
  • “மலர் சூட்டி” can be ritual garlanding/consecration, or a technical hint toward coating/binding a medicine; inwardly, it may mean converting impulse into offering/devotion.
  • “வாளமுரி/வாலமுரி (valamuri)” may be the sacred right-turning conch, a rightward spiral principle in alchemy, or the right-side energetic flow (often associated with the solar/pingala current).
  • “ஏட்டி” can be read as ‘spear/point’ (hence ‘sharpening’ makes immediate sense), but Siddha usage can also hide substance-names; the line may encode a specific ingredient or tool not explicitly named.
  • “லவர்” is unclear in the received text: it could be a compound-word fragment, a scribal/phonetic variant, or a coded substance/tool paired with “ஏட்டி”; the verse preserves deliberate opacity here.
  • “ஏற்றி” can mean ‘raise’ (as in lifting energy) or ‘kindle/ignite’ (as in heating a preparation); both readings fit Siddhar method.
  • “கூட்டி னுளே” can mean ‘within the mixture/compound’ (laboratory sense) or ‘within the union’ of inner channels/forces (yogic sense).
  • “கூற்றினையும் வென்றார்” may mean literal conquest of death through kaya-kalpa/medicine, or metaphysical conquest through realization of the deathless Self; the verse leaves both possibilities open.