Golden Lay Verses

Verse 267 (இல்லற வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

தேவியடா திரிசடையாள் தெய்வத்தாயார்

ஸ்ரீமாதா திரிபுரைகாண் லலிதாவுக்கே

ஆவியடா முன்னூறா மதனைச் செப்பு

அப்பாலா யிரத்தெட்டை நேர்மாறாகப்

பாவியடா பாவித்தால் பாவம் போகும்

பாக்யமடா ஸ்லாக்கியமடா யோக்யம் பாக்யம்

மேவுமடா மேவாதும் மேவும் மேவும்

மேன்மையடா வாய்மையடா விரைந்து செய்யே

Transliteration

Deviyadaa Thirisadaiyaal Deivaththaayaar

Sreematha Thiripuraikaan Lalithaavukkee

Aaviyadaa Munnooraa Mathanaich Cheppu

Appaalaa Yirattettai Nermaraaga

Paaviyadaa Paaviththaal Paavam Pogum

Baaghyamadaa Slaakkiyamadaa Yoghyam Baaghyam

Mevumadaa Mevaathum Mevum Mevum

Menmaiyadaa Vaaymaiyadaa Virainthu Seyyee

Literal Translation

O Devi—she of the three tresses, the divine Mother! She is Śrī Mātā, Tripurā; behold, it is for Lalitā. O life(-breath)/O dear one: utter that (hymn) of three hundred; beyond that, (utter) one thousand and eight—(both) in direct order and in reverse order. O sinner: if you contemplate/recite (it), sin will depart. It is fortune; it is praiseworthiness/fame; it is worthiness and good destiny. It will come to you; even what does not come will come—will come and come. It is exaltation; it is truthfulness; do it quickly.

Interpretive Translation

The Siddhar points to Lalitā Tripurasundarī (Śrī Mātā, Tripurā) as the Divine Mother and prescribes a concrete sādhana: recite/meditate on her “three-hundred” (Trisati) and then the “thousand-and-eight,” performing the recitation both forward and reversed. Done with steady contemplation—possibly tied to the life-breath—this practice is said to erase wrongdoing/karma, confer auspiciousness and social-spiritual recognition, and even draw near what seems otherwise unattainable. He urges immediate practice, framing it as a truth-bearing path to higher standing and inner rectitude.

Philosophical Explanation

1) Identification of the Deity: The piling of names—“three-tressed,” “Divine Mother,” “Śrī Mātā,” “Tripurā,” “Lalitā”—functions like a yantra of epithets: not mere praise, but a mapping of the Goddess as the ground of the ‘threefold’ (tri-) cosmos/experience. “Tripurā” can imply the three states (waking/dream/deep sleep), the three bodies, or the three channels; “Lalitā” adds the sense of the ultimate as ‘play’ rather than burden.

2) The ‘300’ and the ‘1008’: The phrase “three hundred—say that” naturally reads as an instruction to recite a set of 300 divine names (classically, Lalitā Trisati). “One thousand and eight” may refer either to (a) a long name-hymn counted as 1000/1008, or (b) a japa-count of 1008 repetitions. The Siddhar keeps it numeric and therefore portable across lineages.

3) Direct and reverse (ner-māṟāka): The instruction to do it “in direct order and in reverse” is a technical marker. In mantra culture, pratiloma/viloma recitation (reversing order) is used to intensify attention, break habitual mental drift, and symbolically ‘undo’ karmic sequences—hence the immediate claim that “sin goes.” The reverse may also hint at reversing the outward flow of mind (pravṛtti) back into inward return (nivṛtti).

4) ‘Āvi’ (life-breath): Addressing “āvi” suggests the sādhana is not only verbal but embodied: mantra synchronized with prāṇa steadies the mind and makes the recitation alchemical in the Siddhar sense—transforming the practitioner’s inner substance (habit/karma) rather than merely accumulating merit.

5) Results-language: The verse lists outcomes—removal of pāvam (sin), arrival of bhāgyam (fortune), ślāghyam (praiseworthiness/fame), yogya-ness (fitness/eligibility), and even the attainment of what ordinarily ‘does not come.’ In Siddhar idiom this is not purely worldly promise: it also points to inner eligibility—refinement of the instrument (body-mind) so that higher states can ‘come’ and remain.

6) Ethical thrust: Ending with “excellence…truth…do quickly” ties devotion to moral-psychic alignment: mantra is presented as a means to vāymai (truthfulness/inner integrity), not as a license to bypass it.

Key Concepts

  • Lalitā Tripurasundarī (Śrī Mātā, Tripurā)
  • Divine Mother (Śakti) devotion
  • Trisati (300 names) / three-hundred recitation
  • 1008 (japa-count or name-set) and its ritual significance
  • Forward and reverse recitation (viloma/pratiloma; ner-māṟu)
  • Breath-linked practice (āvi / prāṇa)
  • Removal of pāvam (karma/sin) through mantra and contemplation
  • Bhāgyam (auspicious destiny), ślāghyam (praise/fame), yogya (fitness/eligibility)
  • Triplicity symbolism (three states/bodies/cities/channels)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “திரிசடையாள்” (three-tressed) can be read literally as a goddess with three braids, or symbolically as mastery over the ‘three’ (three guṇas, three states, three nāḍīs).
  • “ஆவியடா” may mean “O life-breath” (indicating prāṇāyāma-synchronized japa) or simply an affectionate address to the practitioner (“O dear one”).
  • “முன்னூறா மதனைச் செப்பு” most naturally indicates a 300-name hymn (Trisati), but it could also mean 300 repetitions of a mantra or a 300-syllable/lettered scheme.
  • “யிரத்தெட்டை” (1008) may refer to a count of repetitions, or to a larger name-cycle (1000/1008 names); the verse intentionally stays numeric rather than titling a specific text.
  • “நேர்மாறாக” can mean reciting the list in reverse order, reversing syllabic order within mantra, or—more yogically—reversing the mind’s outward current (and in some traditions is associated with alternate-flow practices like anuloma/viloma, though that is not explicit).
  • “பாவம் போகும்” may signify moral ‘sin’ in a devotional register, or karmic residues/mental impurities in a yogic-psychological register; both fit Siddhar usage.
  • “மேவாதும் மேவும்” can be read as worldly acquisition (‘even what doesn’t come will come’) or as attainment of subtle states/siddhis that do not arise for the unprepared.