Golden Lay Verses

Verse 308 (மந்திர வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

உக்ரமிக்க ருதிரத்தான் ருத்ரனுக்கே

உக்கார ரௌத்திரியர யுற்றா என்னை

விக்ரமத்து மாகேஸன் நெற்றிக் கண்ணின்

விக்ரமியாய் மாகேஸி யானா என்னை

அகரமத்த திக்ரமித்த சதாசிவத்தின்

ஆன்மமுடி மனோன்மணியாய் நின்றா என்னை

எக்ரமத்து மெட்டாஉன் மணிக்குள் ளேதான்

எகரவக ரந்தாண்டி யிருப்பா என்னை

Transliteration

ukramikka rutirattāṉ rutraṉukkē

ukkāra rauṭṭiriyara yutrā eṉṉai

vikramattu māgēsaṉ neṟṟik kaṇṇiṉ

vikramiyāy māgēsi yāṉā eṉṉai

akaramatta tikramitta satāsivattiṉ

āṉmamudi maṉōṉmaṇiyāy niṉṟā eṉṉai

ekramattu meṭṭāuṉ maṇikkuḷ ḷētāṉ

ekaravaka rantāṇṭi yiruppā eṉṉai

Literal Translation

To Rudra, the one of fierce, surging rudhira (blood / rudhira-power),

I became (or was taken as) Raudrī of the “U-kāra”; that is me.

In the prowess of Mahēśa’s forehead-eye (third eye),

I became the one who acts with that prowess; I am Mahēśī—(that) me.

Of Sadāśiva who has overstepped (transcended) the “A-kāra”,

I stood as Manōnmaṇi at the crown of the soul; that is me.

By (or in) the course of the “E-kāra”, within your jewel itself,

I remain, having crossed beyond “E-kāra” and “Va-kāra”; that is me.

Interpretive Translation

The voice is that of Śakti (the inner power) identifying herself through increasingly subtle stations.

She says: “For the fierce Rudra I am Raudrī; as Mahēśa’s third-eye force I am Mahēśī; as the supreme companion of Sadāśiva I stand at the soul’s crown as Manōnmaṇi. And within the ‘jewel’ in you, I abide after passing beyond the very syllables (E and Va)—beyond articulated sound and its limits.”

Philosophical Explanation

1) Identity of Śakti across Śiva-aspects: The verse lists Śiva-names (Rudra, Mahēśa, Sadāśiva) and pairs them with their corresponding Śakti-forms (Raudrī, Mahēśī, Manōnmaṇi). This is a classical Siddhar/Saiva move: one power appears as many “wives/consorts,” but the yogin is meant to recognize a single continuum of inner energy.

2) Third eye and crown as yogic anatomy: “Forehead-eye” (நெற்றிக் கண்ணின்) points to the ājñā/command-center symbolism: insight, burning of karmic obscuration, and a force that “acts” (vikrama) by transforming perception. “Soul’s crown” (ஆன்மமுடி) points to the summit locus (often read as the crown center / sahasrāra-bindu region) where Manōnmaṇi—‘the jewel beyond mind’—is said to stand.

3) Letter-mysticism (A-kāra, U-kāra, E-kāra): The repeated “-kāra” terms suggest bīja/phoneme yoga: vowels and letters as mapped to tattvas, energies, or inner stations. “Transcending A-kāra” implies moving beyond the primal utterable origin of sound (A as the beginning of varṇa/phonemic manifestation) into a subtler, unstruck (anāhata) or pre-verbal realization.

4) ‘Jewel’ imagery: “Maṇi” (jewel) in Siddhar idiom can indicate (a) an inner bindu/essence-drop (amṛta/ojas), (b) a crystalline point of awareness, (c) the perfected inner elixir (rasāyana), or (d) a ‘gem’ of mantra or consciousness housed in the head/heart. The verse locates Śakti “within your jewel,” implying immanence: the sought divinity is not external but seated in the aspirant’s own subtle core.

5) Beyond E and Va: The claim “having crossed beyond E-kāra and Va-kāra” frames liberation as surpassing the domain of letters—i.e., beyond mantra as sound into mantra’s silence, beyond expression into direct gnosis. It may also hint that even sacred phonemes are provisional rafts; the final station is the letterless (avarṇa) awareness.

Key Concepts

  • Rudra / Ugra
  • Raudrī (Śakti-form)
  • Mahēśa and the third eye (ājnā symbolism)
  • Mahēśī (Śakti-form)
  • Sadāśiva
  • Manōnmaṇi (beyond-mind Śakti; ‘jewel’ of transcendence)
  • Ānmamudi (soul’s crown; summit center)
  • Varṇa/bīja (A-kāra, U-kāra, E-kāra) as yogic code
  • Maṇi (inner jewel/bindu/elixir)
  • Transcending sound/letters (beyond articulated mantra)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “ருதிரம் (rudhira)” can be read literally as blood (fierce vitality) or as a technical ‘rudhira’ principle/energy associated with Rudra’s terrifying transformative power.
  • “உக்கார (U-kāra)” may indicate the vowel/phoneme ‘u’ in mantra-yoga; alternatively it may function as a coded marker for a specific śakti, nāḍi, or internal station rather than a mere letter.
  • “விக்ரமம் (vikrama)” can mean valor, stride, force, or operative power—so the ‘vikrama of the third eye’ may be insight, destructive fire, or the active capacity of awakened consciousness.
  • “ஆன்மமுடி (soul’s crown)” can be interpreted anatomically (crown center) or metaphysically (the pinnacle of the self’s maturation/realization), without fixing to a single chakra model.
  • “மணி (jewel)” may be bindu/amṛta/ojas, the mantra-seed itself, a subtle ‘stone’ of alchemical perfection, or simply the luminous core of awareness.
  • “எட்டா உன் மணிக்குள்” (as it appears in the line) is textually/phonologically uncertain: it could suggest ‘within your (unreached) jewel,’ or ‘within your eighth jewel,’ or ‘within the jewel of the eight (aṣṭa-…)’—leaving open readings such as aṣṭa-siddhi, eightfold energies, or an ‘eighth’ transcendent state beyond seven stations.
  • “எகரவக ரந்தாண்டி” can be read narrowly as ‘beyond E-kāra and Va-kāra’ (letters), or more broadly as ‘beyond the bounds of speech/signification’—a gesture to the ineffable rather than a literal phonetic instruction.