முதுகேறும் தண்டென்னும் மத்தைக் கொண்டு
முன்பின்னாய் வாசியெனும் கயிற்றி னாலே
முதுதயிராம் பழவினைகள் கடைந் தெடுத்த
முக்தியெனும் வெண்ணையினால் முதுமை தள்ளி
விதியதுவாம் காலனையும் உதைத்துமேலே
விண்ணாண வேதாந்த வெளியைக் காண
இதமுடைய தாமஜபா மந்திரம்போல்
இவ்வுலகில் வேறெது மில்லை யில்லே
mudugERum thaNdennum maththaik koNdu
munpinnaay vaasiyenum kayiRRi naalE
muduthayiraam pazhavinaihaL kadaindh eduththa
mukthiyenum veNNaiyinaal mudhumai thaLLi
vidhiyadhuvaam kaalanaiyum udhaiththumElE
viNNaaNa vEdhaantha veLiyai kaaNa
idhamudaiya thaamajapaa manthirampOl
ivvulagil vERedhu millai yillE
Taking the churning-staff called the “thandu” that mounts the back,
with the rope called “vāsi” (breath) moving to front and back,
churning and drawing out the old deeds (karmas) that are like aged curd,
with the white butter called liberation, pushing away old age;
trampling even Kāl(a)an (Death), which is none other than destiny,
and rising to behold the sky-like Vedāntic expanse;
as with the pleasant “ājapā” mantra—
in this world there is nothing else, nothing at all (comparable).
Using the spinal axis as the churning-stick and the in–out flow of prāṇa as the rope, one “churns” the accumulated karmic residues. From that inner churning arises the “white butter” of mokṣa (purity/essence), which drives away senescence and overcomes the tyranny of fate and death. Ascending beyond conditioned limits, one directly sees the vast, open Vedāntic Reality. This is intimated as the effortless ajapā-japa (the self-sounding mantra of breath); in the world, no other support equals it.
The verse is built on a household image—churning curd into butter—but it is repurposed as yogic and inner-alchemical instruction.
1) Churning apparatus as subtle-body symbolism - “Thandu”/“mattai” (churn-staff): read as the meru-daṇḍa, the central spinal axis (sushumṇā framework). “Mounts the back” implies it is seated along the spine rather than an external tool. - “Vāsi” (rope): in Siddhar usage, vāsi commonly denotes the regulated breath or prāṇic current. “Front/back” can point to inhalation/exhalation, or to the polarity of prāṇa–apāna (or iḍā–piṅgalā) alternation.
2) Yogic process as karmic refinement - “Old curd = old deeds”: karma is portrayed not as abstract moral bookkeeping but as a thick, fermented residue that can be worked and separated. Churning signifies repeated, disciplined cycling of breath/attention until latent impressions “separate” from consciousness. - “White butter = mukti”: butter is the extracted essence—purity, steadiness, and liberation. In Siddhar idiom this can also shade into ojas/amṛta imagery: a refined, cooling essence obtained by sublimation and inner restraint.
3) Medical/alchemical undertone: conquering aging and death - “Pushing away old age”: points to kāya-siddhi/rasāyana ideals (rejuvenation, stabilization of vital essence). It need not promise literal immortality; it can also mean freedom from the fear and decay-sense that define ordinary embodiment. - “Trampling Kālan (Death) who is destiny”: Kālan is both Yama (death) and Time. Calling him “vidhi” (fate/ordainment) merges cosmic determinism with mortality; the yogic claim is transcendence of time-bound compulsion through realization.
4) Vedāntic culmination - “Seeing the Vedāntic expanse”: the sky-space metaphor signals non-dual awareness—limitless, ungraspable, yet self-evident. The movement “upward” can be read as kuṇḍalinī ascent, but the stated endpoint is Vedāntic openness rather than a mere energetic feat.
5) Ajapā as the unique mantra - Ajapā-japa is the “unuttered” or spontaneous mantra tied to breath (often glossed as so’ham/haṃsa). The verse implies that this natural mantra, when understood through disciplined inner churning, is unsurpassed as a means—because it is continuous, intimate, and already present.