Golden Lay Verses

Verse 315 (மந்திர வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

குலச்சியகு லச்சிகோ லாகலச்சி

குலாகுலக் கொங்கணக் கோமளச்சி

பிலச்சியே பிந்தம் பிலைச்சு பூஜை

பெற்றுக் களிச்சியுள் ளத்தொளிச்சி

கலச்சிநா தாந்தமுடிக் காரணச்சி

கட்டளைக் கடகச்சி கங்கணச்சி

மலச்சிமன மற்றமனை வாழ்மணிச்சி

வாலச்சி பென்னிதய மாலச்சியே

Transliteration

Kulacchiyagu lacchikō lāgalacchi

Kulākulak koṅgaṇak kōmalacchi

Pilacchiyē pindam pilaicchu pūjai

Peṟṟuk kaḷicchiyuḷ ḷattoḷicchi

Kalacchinā tāntamuḍik kāraṇacchi

Kaṭṭaḷaik kaḍakacchi kaṅgaṇacchi

Malacchimana maṟṟamaṉai vāḻmaṇicchi

Vālacchi peṉṉidaya mālacchiyē

Literal Translation

“Kula-ācchi, Aku-lakṣi, Ko-lakṣi, O-laka-lakṣi;

Kula-of-kulas—Kongan’s Komala-ācchi (the gentle/soft Mother);

O Pilā-ācchi: (you who accept) worship done with the ‘pinda’ (the body/microcosm), (even when it is) ‘pilaichchu’ (split/mistaken/escaped—unclear);

having received (that worship), you rejoice, (and) you hide/shine as light within the heart.

O Kala-ācchi: the causal Mother of the ‘nāda-anta’ crown/topknot (the place where sound ends);

O Mother of command/ordinance; O Kaḍaka-ācchi; O Kaṅkaṇa-ācchi (bangle/armlet Mother);

O Mala-ācchi: jewel that lives in the house where the mind is without ‘mātram’ (change/otherness);

O Vāla-ācchi; O Māla-ācchi (garland-Mother), O tender-hearted woman.”

Interpretive Translation

O inner Śakti—named in many cryptic forms as Kula-Lakṣmī / Komalā—

you accept the body itself as the field of worship.

When that inward pūjā is offered (even with human flaws and divisions),

you delight and reveal yourself as a hidden light in the heart.

You are the force that carries the subtle sound-current to its ending at the crown,

issuing the inner command that binds and governs the senses.

In the changeless, undivided mind you dwell as the living jewel,

adorning the aspirant’s inner being like a garland of grace.

Philosophical Explanation

1) Form as mantra-list / deity-catalogue: The verse reads less like discursive Tamil and more like a chain of vocative epithets ending in “-ācchi” (Mother/Lady). Siddhar verses often compress practice-instructions into strings of divine names; the sound-pattern itself can function mantra-like.

2) ‘Pindam’ (body as microcosm) and internal pūjā: “pindam” in Siddhar idiom is the embodied system (nāḍi, vāyu, agni, fluids). Saying pūjā is done “with pindam” points to internal worship—breath-regulation, bandha, inner offering of prāṇa and attention—rather than external ritual alone.

3) Heart-light (uḷḷattu oḷi): “hiding/shining in the heart” matches the Siddhar theme that the deity is not elsewhere but as an inner luminosity (hṛdaya-jyoti). This can indicate the heart-lotus as a yogic station where experience shifts from devotional emotion to direct radiance.

4) Nāda-anta and crown (mudi): “nāda-anta-mudi” suggests the terminal point of inner sound (anāhata/nāda) culminating at the cranial apex (often mapped to sahasrāra). Calling the goddess the “cause” (kāraṇam) implies she is not merely worshipped but is the operative power that lifts and resolves the sound-current into silence (nāda → nādānta → amṛta/samadhi).

5) ‘Kattalai’ (command) and ‘kaṅkaṇam’ (armlet/binding): In yogic reading, “command” is the regulating principle—disciplined prāṇa and the guru’s/śakti’s inner injunction. “Bangles/armlets” can remain literal ornament, but also hint at “binding” (bandha) or restraint of sense-motion; Siddhar diction often turns ornaments into coded practice terms.

6) ‘Mala-ācchi’ and alchemical purification: “mala” can mean impurity (āṇava/karma/māyā malas) or garland. If read as impurity, she is the Mother who deals with/remove malas, turning the practitioner’s base condition into “maṇi” (jewel)—a classic Siddhar-alchemical move: gross → subtle, poison → nectar, lead → gold (metaphorically and sometimes literally).

7) ‘Mind without mātram’ (change/otherness): “mana mātram” can indicate fluctuation/alteration, or the sense of difference/duality. A “house where the mind is without mātram” points to absorption (niṣkala/advaita tone): the stable inner abode in which śakti ‘lives as jewel’—the realized core of consciousness.

Key Concepts

  • Ācchi (Mother/Lady) as a vocative suffix for Śakti
  • Kula (lineage/clan; also ‘kula-kuṇḍalinī’ connotation)
  • Lakṣmī/Komalā as names masking inner Śakti
  • Pindam (body as microcosm of practice)
  • Inner pūjā (internalized worship via yogic discipline)
  • Uḷḷattu oḷi (heart-light; inner luminosity)
  • Nāda and nādānta (inner sound and its dissolution)
  • Mudi (crown/apex; sahasrāra mapping)
  • Kāraṇam (causal power; operative principle of ascent)
  • Kattalai (inner command/discipline; regulating force)
  • Kaṅkaṇam (bangle/binding; possible bandha/restraint symbolism)
  • Mala (impurity or garland) and purification/transmutation
  • Maṇi (jewel; perfected essence)
  • Mind without change/duality (samādhi-like steadiness)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • Many terms appear as phonetic epithets rather than standard lexical Tamil (“aku-lacchi / ko-lacchi / o-lakalacchi”), suggesting mantra-sound, regional deity-names, or intentionally scrambled code; exact segmentation is uncertain.
  • “Konganak” can mean ‘of Kongu region’, ‘of Konganar (the Siddhar)’, or a clan-marker; the line may point to a local temple tradition or a guru-lineage identity.
  • “pilaichchu” can be read as ‘mistaken/erring’, ‘split/divided’, or ‘escaped/saved’ depending on derivation and oral tradition; each changes whether the verse emphasizes flawed worship, internal division, or liberation.
  • “olicchi” can mean ‘to hide’ or ‘to shine as light’ in poetic usage; Siddhar style may keep both—Śakti is hidden to the outer eye yet luminous inwardly.
  • “nāda-anta-mudi” may denote sahasrāra specifically, or more generally ‘the cranial terminus where inner sound ceases’; different yoga lineages place nāda’s culmination differently.
  • “kadakacchi” could be a proper deity-name, a regional epithet, or an astrological allusion (Kaṭakam/Kadagam etc.); the intended referent is unclear without lineage commentary.
  • “malacchi” can mean ‘impurity-Mother’ (remover/transformer of mala) or ‘garland-Mother’ (mālā); the verse later also says “mālacchi,” intensifying deliberate pun/ambiguity.