Golden Lay Verses

Verse 324 (மந்திர வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

க்ரீம் ஹ்ரீம் க்ரீம் குககாமேஸ் வரியின் கோலம்

க்ரீம் ஐம் க்ரீம் குகவாகேஸ் வரியின் லோலம்

க்ரீம் ஸ்ரீம் க்ரீம் குகவாமேஸ் வரியின லாலம்

க்ரீம் ஸௌம் க்ரீம் குகதாமேஸ் வரியின் ஜாலம்

க்ரீம் க்லீம் க்ரீம் குகராமேஸ் வரியின் சீலம்

க்ரீம் ஹௌங்ரீம் குகப்ரேதேஸ் வரிமாய் மாலம்

கிரீம் த்ராம் த்ரீம் குகபீமேஸ் வரியின் மூலம்

க்ரீம் க்ரீம் க்ரீம் குகராத்யா குணவி சாலம்

Transliteration

kreem hreem kreem gugakaames variyin kolam

kreem aim kreem gugavaakes variyin lolam

kreem sreem kreem gugavaames variyina laalam

kreem saum kreem gugathaames variyin jaalam

kreem kleem kreem gugaraames variyin seelam

kreem haungreem gugapreothes varimaai maalam

kireem thraam threem gugapeemes variyin moolam

kreem kreem kreem gugarathyaa gunavi saalam

Literal Translation

“Krīm Hrīm Krīm”—the kōlam (form/pattern) of the ‘kuka-kāmes’ line.

“Krīm Aim Krīm”—the lōlam (wavering/play) of the ‘kuka-vākēs’ line.

“Krīm Srīm Krīm”—the lālam (beauty/ornament; also ‘forehead-mark’) of the ‘kuka-vāmēs’ line.

“Krīm Saum Krīm”—the jālam (net/mesh; also ‘magic/illusion’, sometimes ‘water’) of the ‘kuka-tāmēs’ line.

“Krīm Klīm Krīm”—the sīlam (character/virtue/conduct) of the ‘kuka-rāmēs’ line.

“Krīm Haungrīm”—as the ‘kuka-prēthēs’ line, (it is) mālam (garland; also ‘impurity/stain’).

“Krīm Thrām Thrīm”—the mūlam (root/source) of the ‘kuka-bhīmēs’ line.

“Krīm Krīm Krīm”—the broad expanse (cālam/sālam) of qualities (guṇa) of the ‘kuka-rādhya’ (worship-worthy) [line].

Interpretive Translation

A chain of seed-syllables (bīja-mantras) is presented as eight “lines/formulas,” each joined to a cryptic epithet beginning with kuka-/kuga- (suggesting Guha/Murugan, “the Hidden One,” and/or “the cave/secret”). Each mantra-line is said to disclose a different mode of power: (1) form/diagram (kōlam), (2) vibration or playful movement (lōlam), (3) radiance/beautifying mark (lālam), (4) ensnaring net or occult weave (jālam), (5) disciplined virtue/operative conduct (sīlam), (6) garland or the washing away of impurity (mālam), (7) the root-source (mūlam), and (8) an all-encompassing field of qualities (guṇa-vistāra). The verse reads less like narrative and more like a coded manual: sound (mantra) is treated as a technical instrument whose permutations produce distinct psycho-physical and yogic effects.

Philosophical Explanation

1) Mantra as “medicine” and “alchemy”: In Siddhar thought, bīja-syllables are not decorative; they are subtle drugs (auṣadha) and alchemical reagents. Repetition (japa) and internal placement (nyāsa) are assumed practices even when not stated. The repeated “Krīm” functions like a base-element—an operative carrier—while the companion bījas (Hrīm, Aim, Srīm, Saum, Klīm, Haungrīm, Thrām/Thrīm) “tint” the operation toward specific functions (energizing, knowing, flourishing, nectar-like cooling, attraction/binding, fierce dissolution, rooting/ignition).

2) “Guha/kuka-” as the hidden locus: If read as Guha (Murugan/Skanda), the epithets suggest that the deity is not merely external but “hidden” (guhya) in the cave of the heart (hṛdaya-guhā). Thus each mantra-line is a method to encounter a different ‘face’ of the same inner power—diagrammatic form (kōlam), oscillation of prāṇa (lōlam), illumination/marking of consciousness (lālam), the binding web of māyā or mantra-siddhi (jālam), ethical steadiness that stabilizes power (sīlam), purification of mala or wearing of the guru/deity as a garland (mālam), awakening the root (mūlam—often suggestive of mūlādhāra and the “root-heat” of kuṇḍalinī), culminating in a widened field of qualities (guṇa).

3) Why the verse is intentionally cryptic: The closing rhymes (kōlam–lōlam–lālam–jālam–sīlam–mālam–mūlam–cālam) behave like a mnemonic ladder. The Siddhar habit is to encode practice in sound-play: the practitioner is meant to hold both levels at once—(a) literal mantra-lines and (b) their inner correspondences (diagram, vibration, radiance, binding, discipline, purification, root, totality). The verse therefore functions as a compact index to an eightfold mantra-technology rather than a single, fixed doctrinal statement.

Key Concepts

  • bīja-mantra (seed-syllables)
  • japa (repetition) and implicit nyāsa (placement)
  • Guha/Murugan as “the Hidden One” (guhya)
  • nāda (sound) as yogic instrument
  • kōlam (diagram/form), jālam (net/illusion), mālam (garland/impurity), mūlam (root)
  • mala (impurity) and purification
  • kuṇḍalinī / mūla (root-center) implication
  • mantra-siddhi (occult efficacy of mantra)
  • eightfold mnemonic structure

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “குக / kuka” may point to “Guha” (Murugan/Skanda) or to “guhā” (cave/hidden place), leaving open whether the referent is deity, inner cave, or both.
  • The epithets “kāmes, vākēs, vāmēs, tāmēs, rāmēs, prēthēs, bhīmēs, rādhya” are Tamilized/Sanskritized forms and could be read as names (Kāmeśa/Vāgīśa/Vāmadeva/Tāmasa/Rāma/Preta-īśa/Bhīma/Ārādhya) or as coded functional labels rather than proper names.
  • “வரி / vari” can mean a ‘line/row/stripe’ (a metrical line), a ‘mantra-formula/sequence,’ or even a ‘channel/track,’ which changes whether the verse describes poetry, a mantra-list, or a subtle-nāḍī procedure.
  • “கோலம் / kōlam” can mean visual diagram/design (yantra-like), bodily beauty/appearance, or a ‘guise/assumed form.’
  • “லோலம் / lōlam” can mean playful movement, restlessness of mind, or oscillation/vibration of prāṇa.
  • “லாலம் / lālam” can mean beauty/ornament, a lusterful ‘mark,’ or specifically ‘lālāṭa’ (forehead), hinting at ājñā/forehead symbolism.
  • “ஜாலம் / jālam” can mean a net/mesh (binding), magical display/illusion (māyā), or (less likely) water, producing either a ‘binding spell’ reading or an ‘elemental’ reading.
  • “மாலம் / mālam” can mean garland (devotional adornment) or mala/impurity (that which must be removed); the line can therefore signify either adornment-with-the-mantra or cleansing-by-the-mantra.
  • “சாலம் / cālam (written ‘சாலம்’/‘சாலம்’ sound)” can mean expanse/abundance, or a ‘hall/space,’ affecting whether the last line points to ‘vast qualities’ or an inner ‘field/space’ of qualities.