ஒன்றொன்றாய் மாறுமெனில் மாற்றி னூடே
ஒன்றாகி யூடுருவிச் செல்லும் தெய்வம்
அன்றின்றா யப்பாலாம் காலத் தூடே
என்றென்று மின்றாகி யிருக்கும் தெய்வம்
மன்றொன்றாம் நாடகங்கள் பலவாம் சாட்சி
வண்ணங்கள் பாத்திரங்கள் வந்துபோவார்
மன்றதுதான் நாடகந்தான் நடிப்பவர்தான்
வண்ணங்கள் பார்ப்பவர்கள் யாவு மீசன்
onRonRaay maaRumenil maaRRi nooDe
onRaagi yooDuruvich chellum theyvam
anRinRaa yappaal aam kaalath thooDe
enRenRu minRaagi yirukkum theyvam
manRonRaam naadakangkaL palavAm saatchi
vaNNangkaL paaththirangkaL vanthupOvaAr
manRathuthaan naadakanthaan nadippavarthaan
vaNNangkaL paarppavarkaL yaavu meesan
If (things) change one by one—within that very change,
there is a divinity that, becoming One, pierces through and passes through (all).
Not as “that day” or “this day,” but beyond—through time itself,
there is a divinity that remains forever, neither “then” nor (merely) “now.”
Many dramas in many halls stand as the testimony;
colors and characters (roles) come and go.
The hall itself is the drama; the (one) who acts is also that;
and those who behold the “colors”—all are Īśan (the Lord).
Amid every sequence of change, the One Reality is not replaced; it is the very continuity that threads through transformations. It pervades all forms yet is not confined to past/present distinctions, standing beyond time while appearing within time.
The world is likened to a theatre: innumerable scenes, costumes, “colors,” and roles arise and vanish. Yet stage, play, actor, and witness are not ultimately separate. When seen with right knowing, the seer-of-appearances is none other than Īśan; indeed, even the spectatorship and what is witnessed resolve into the Lord.
The verse juxtaposes impermanence (மாறுதல், change) with an unbroken principle that “goes through” (ஊடுருவி) all modifications. This is a classic Siddhar/Śaiva-Advaitic move: phenomena shift “one by one,” but the divine is the non-fragmented unity that remains present in every shift without becoming one more changing object.
The time-language (“not that day / not this day,” “beyond time,” “forever”) points to a reality not measurable by temporal categories. It is not simply a being that lasts a long time; it is that which makes time and succession intelligible while not being exhausted by them.
The theatre metaphor clarifies the ontology: - “Colors” (வண்ணங்கள்) can denote sensory variety, emotional tones, or the three guṇas/qualities by which experience is diversified. - “Characters/roles” (பாத்திரங்கள்) suggest social identities, bodily/personality upādhis (limiting adjuncts), and the succession of lived states. - “Coming and going” stresses the transience of these appearances.
Yet the verse collapses the apparent separations: stage = drama = actor, and finally even the “viewers of the colors” are said to be Īśan. This can be read as (a) the Lord as the sole underlying substance of all relations (seer/seen), or (b) the purified witnessing awareness in each being being identical with Śiva. The line preserves a deliberate Siddhar ambiguity between theistic devotion (all is the Lord) and non-dual realization (the witness itself is Śiva).