சுத்தமுறத் தவஞ்செய்வா ரில்லை யில்லை
சொருபமுட னருபமதைக் கண்டா ரில்லை
சித்தசித்துத் தத்துவத்தைத் தேர்ந்தா ரில்லை
செப்புமரிச் சந்திரனாய்ப் பிறந்தா ரில்லை
சத்துருவை மித்துருவைக் கூர்ந்தா ரில்லை
சகரவிக ரக்கருவை யோர்ந்தா ரில்லை
சத்தசத்தை பிரித்தெண்ணும் சதுரரில்லை
சட்டுவத்தீச் சாதனையைச் சார்ந்தாரில்லை
suttamuṟat tavañceyvā rillai yillai
sorupamuṭa ṉarupamataik kaṇḍā rillai.
cittacittut tattuvattaith tērndā rillai
ceppumaric candiranāyp piṟandā rillai
catturuvai mitturuvai kūrndā rillai
cakaravika rakkaruvai yōrndā rillai
cattacattai piritteṇṇum caturarillai
caṭṭuvattīc cātaṉaiyaic cārndārillai
None—none at all—perform austerity (tapas) with thorough purity.
None have seen the formless (arūpa) together with the formed (sorūpa).
None have discerned the principle (tattva) of “citta/siddhi” (or the mind’s accomplished state).
None have been born as the “Moon” through copper’s transformation (reading uncertain: “seppu māri-c candiran” / “seppu maric candiran”).
None have keenly understood the enemy and the friend.
None have contemplated the womb/source of the “sa-kāra” and its modifications (or: the matrix of transformations—reading uncertain: “sakāra-vikāra-k karu”).
None are skillful who can separate and reckon being and non-being (sat/asat).
None have taken refuge in the discipline (sādhana) of the “fire of sattva” (sattuva-t-tī).
Rare indeed is one who undertakes tapas after purifying oneself; rarer still is one who realizes the One that is both with-form and without-form. Few penetrate the tattva of mind and its perfected state, or complete the inner alchemy hinted as “copper becoming Moon.” Few can discriminate their true inner enemies and allies, trace the hidden womb of mantra/energy-transformations, distinguish the Real from the unreal, and abide in the purificatory “sattvic fire” of authentic practice.
The verse is constructed as a repeated negation (“none… none…”)—a Siddhar rhetorical device that does not necessarily mean absolute absence, but emphasizes extreme rarity. Each line points to a different dimension of Siddha accomplishment:
1) “Purity in tapas” (சுத்தமுறத் தவம்) is not merely moral cleanliness; it can imply bodily, dietary, breath, and mental purification prerequisite to yoga and Siddha medicine/alchemy.
2) “Seeing sorūpa with arūpa” signals a non-dual or integral realization: the Divine as both manifest (form, qualities, names) and unmanifest (formless). It also implies the capacity to hold opposites without collapsing into either crude materialism (only form) or escapist abstraction (only formless).
3) “Citta/siddhi tattva” suggests discerning the underlying principle of mind (citta) and its ‘accomplished’ condition (siddha/siddhi). It can be read as: (a) understanding the mind that becomes perfected, or (b) understanding the metaphysical principle behind siddhis and not being deceived by mere powers.
4) “Copper becoming Moon” is a classic Siddha alchemical idiom: copper (a base metal) transmuted into “Moon” (often silver, or the lunar/cooling principle). In yogic code, “Moon” can also indicate soma/amṛta (nectar), the cooling counterforce to inner heat, or the mind itself (chandra). Thus the line may simultaneously refer to literal metallurgical transmutation and to the inner conversion of a coarse body-mind into a refined, nectar-bearing state.
5) “Enemy and friend” can be external (social/political) but in Siddhar usage typically turns inward: passions, habits, and sense-impulses as ‘enemies’; disciplines, virtues, and discriminative wisdom as ‘friends.’ To ‘sharpenly know’ them is viveka—precise inner discernment.
6) “The womb/source of sakāra-vikāra” is cryptic. It may point to the generative matrix of sounds/letters (seed-phonemes and their vowel-modifications) used in mantra-yoga, or to a ‘matrix of transformations’ in subtle physiology (e.g., shifts in chakras/naḍīs). In either case it implies knowing the generative root-cause rather than only surface effects.
7) “Separating sat/asat” is a direct statement of philosophical discrimination: distinguishing the enduring/real from the transient/unreal, or being from seeming. In Siddha-advaitic contexts this aligns with cutting through māyā and conceptual confusion.
8) “Sattva-fire sadhana” joins two seemingly opposite motifs: sattva (clarity, purity) and fire (agni, heat, tapas). This can indicate a disciplined inner heat that is not rajasic agitation but a clarified, purifying yogic fire—often linked to kuṇḍalinī, prāṇāyāma, and internal alchemical ‘cooking’ (pākam) of substances and tendencies.
Overall, the verse critiques superficial religiosity and claims that genuine Siddha attainment requires simultaneous mastery of ethics/purity, non-dual vision, subtle psychology, discriminative wisdom, and (possibly) both external and internal alchemy.