கணநாதர் தாள்நினையார் குணநாத மில்லாதார்
கயவர் கோடி
மணிநாதக் கருக்கட்ட மனங்கட்ட லாகாத
மடையர் கோடி
Kaṇanāthar tāḷ-niṉaiyār kuṇanātham illāthār
kayaravar kōṭi.
Maṇināthak karukkaṭṭa maṉaṅkaṭṭa lākātha
maṭaiyar kōṭi.
Those who do not contemplate the feet of Gaṇanātha, and those who have no “guṇa-nātham,” are crores of scoundrels.
Those who cannot bind the mind by making a knot in the “maṇi-nāda,” are crores of dullards/ignorant ones.
Countless people live in baseness because they neither take refuge in the foundational principle (Gaṇanātha—remembrance of the “feet,” i.e., humble grounding in the first step) nor possess the inner refinement/attunement called “guṇa-nātham.” Likewise, innumerable aspirants remain confused because they cannot fasten the mind—make it stay—by fixing it on the subtle inner resonance (the bell-like nāda) that steadies awareness.
The verse divides the crowd into two large failures, using “crores” as a deliberate exaggeration to stress rarity of true attainment.
1) “Remembering Gaṇanātha’s feet” functions on multiple Siddha registers: (a) devotional—beginning with Gaṇapati as the remover of obstacles and guardian of thresholds; (b) yogic—“feet” imply the base/foundation (mūla), humility, and the first step of practice; (c) initiatory—taking refuge in the guru/first principle before attempting higher workings.
2) “Guṇa-nātham” is cryptic: it can mean (a) the possession of noble qualities (guṇa) that make the mind fit for yoga, or (b) an experiential “nāda” (inner sound) that becomes clear only when the guṇas are purified (especially toward sattva). In Siddha logic, ethical refinement and subtle perception are not separate: without inner purity/fitness, higher perception is dismissed as impossible or unstable.
3) “Binding the mind” is a classic yogic task, but the instrument named here is “maṇi-nāda”—often suggestive of the bell/jewel-like inner vibration heard in nāda-yoga. To “knot” (கட்ட) the mind there implies making awareness adhere to a single subtle support so that wandering thoughts are arrested. The verse mocks mere aspiration without the capacity to actually ‘fasten’ attention.
Overall, the poem is both ethical and technical: devotion/grounding + refinement/attunement + one-pointed absorption are presented as prerequisites; without them, the majority remain either morally coarse (“kayar”) or spiritually obtuse (“madaiyar”).