வரநெறி யறியா வானரங்கள்
வாகடம் தேடி யலைவதுமேன்?
புலநெறி யறியாப் புவிமாந்தர்
போக்கிடம் தேடிப் புலம்புவதேன்?
உளநெறி யடக்கி யாண்டல்லோ
உயர்வன வாசத் துறுவதெலாம்?
வெறுநெறி விட்டால் வேதையெலாம்
வித்துக் குள்ளே விளையாடும்
varaneRi yaRiyA vAnarangkaL
vAkaDam thEdi yalaivathumEn?
pulaneRi yaRiyAp puvimAnthar
pOkkiDam thEdip pulambuvathEn?
uLaneRi yaDakki yANDallO
uyarvana vAsath thuRuvathelAm?
veRuneRi viTTAl vEthaiyelAm
viththuk kuLLE viLaiyADum.
Monkeys that do not know the “noble/right path”—why do they wander about searching for “vākadam”?
Earthly humans who do not know the path of the senses—why do they lament, searching for a place to go?
If one restrains the inner path and rules there, will not all that is exalted come to “vācam” (to dwell / as fragrance)?
If the empty/aimless path is abandoned, all the Vedas (or all ‘vedai’) will play within the seed.
Beings with an untrained, restless mind (like monkeys) chase an outer scent—pleasure, reputation, holy places, or other sensory bait—and only end up roaming. Ordinary people who do not understand how the senses operate keep searching for a “destination” (a site of salvation, a new circumstance, an external remedy) and therefore grieve.
But when one turns inward and masters the mind’s own pathway—disciplining attention, desire, and the sense-stream—the higher state arrives by itself and abides within. When the futile outward chase is dropped, the essence of scripture/knowledge is found inside one’s own “seed”: the embodied core (bindu/essence), where realization becomes self-luminous rather than borrowed from outside.
The verse moves by a Siddhar-style analogy: the “monkey” is the mind driven by smell, taste, and impulse—jumping branch to branch. “Searching for vākadam” functions as a critique of chasing a tantalizing external object (a fragrance/perfume-like lure), i.e., sensory gratification or an imagined sacred ‘somewhere else.’
The next couplet shifts from animals to humans: even as humans pride themselves on higher aims, they too may remain sense-led (“pulaneṟi”) and therefore seek “pōkkiṭam” (a place to go)—pilgrimage, status, new environments, external teachers, or ritual itineraries—hoping the change of location will cure inner disorder. The Siddhar reverses this: the true ‘place’ is not elsewhere; it is the stabilized inner route (“uḷaneṟi”).
“Restrain the inner path and rule there” points to yogic governance: manonigraha (mind-restraint), indriya-saṃyama (sense-control), and the inward turning where breath, attention, and desire are gathered. The line about “vācam” deliberately carries a double sense: (1) fragrance—subtle bliss, refinement, the ‘scent’ of attainment; (2) dwelling/abiding—higher reality takes residence in the practitioner.
The closing line condenses a classic Siddha claim: when the ‘vain path’ (mere outward roaming, hollow ritualism, or unintegrated learning) is abandoned, the Vedas/true knowing are not merely studied but become an inner play—spontaneous insight within the “seed.” In Siddha physiology this “seed” can indicate bindu/essence (often linked to preservation and transmutation into ojas), or more generally the microcosmic body as the locus where macrocosmic truth is realized. Thus, scripture is internalized: not a text to carry, but a realization that “sports within.”