கட்டுமுதல் வேதித்துப் பந்தம் செய்து
ககனமுடிக் காத்தாயி கவினைக் காண
விட்டமுதல் வாசி நெறி லயயோ கந்தான்
விளையாட மந்திரங்கள் மறைகள் சொல்வேன்
எட்டுசித்தி எட்டுமடா மண்ணும் பொன்னாம்
என்மகனே சுழுனைமுடிக் ரந்தி யாவும்
வெட்டிடடா கட்டிடடா மேலே சென்றே
வேதாந்த வாலைபதம் பற்று வாயே
kattumuthal vethiththup pantham seythu
kakanamudik kaaththaayi kavinaiக் kaana
vittamuthal vaasi neri layayo kanthaan
vilaiyaada manthirangal maraihal solven
ettusiththi ettumadaa mannum ponnaam
enmagane suzhunaimudik ranthi yaavum
vettidadaa kattidadaa mele sendre
vedhaantha vaalaipatham patru vaaye
“First, having examined the ‘kattu’ (binding/lock), make the bond (bandham).
Protect the crown of the sky and see its beauty.
From the first ‘letting go’, the path of vāsi; he indeed is the laya-yogin.
So that (he may) play, I will speak the mantras and the Vedas.
The eight siddhis—eight-fold, even earth becomes gold.
My son, all the apertures at the crown of the suṣumṇā—
Cut (them), bind (them), and go upward.
Cling to the ‘tail-end’ state/step of Vedānta, O mouth (hold it in speech).”
“Begin with the yogic ‘locks’ and verify how bondage is formed; then deliberately create the needed ‘bandha’ (discipline/locking) for practice.
Guard the crown-center (the ‘sky-crown’) and perceive its subtle radiance.
By mastering the breath-route (vāsi-nēri) from the very first release of breath, one becomes a laya-yogin—one who dissolves the mind.
I will state the mantras and scriptural utterances that enable this ‘play’ (the divine sport of inner practice).
From this arise the eight siddhis; and by an eightfold art even earth can become gold.
O my son, at the crown of the suṣumṇā are the vital openings (the brahma-randhra and related ‘apertures’):
sever the obstructing knots, apply the locks, and ascend upward.
Then abide in (and “speak” only from) the final Vedāntic footing—the end-point where all is one.”
The verse reads as instruction in an internal yoga that moves from technique to realization.
1) “Kattu” / “bandham”: In Siddhar idiom these can be (a) literal “binding” (discipline, restraint), (b) bodily “locks” (bandha: mūla/uḍḍiyāna/jālandhara), and (c) the existential “bondage” that binds awareness to body–mind. The poet asks the practitioner first to *examine* how binding happens and then to use a controlled “binding” (yogic bandha) to reverse bondage.
2) “Sky-crown” (kaganamudi): The “sky” points to ākāśa/subtle space; “crown” suggests the sahasrāra region. “Guarding” it implies preserving prāṇa and attention from outward leakage, so the practitioner can witness the “beauty” (kavin) of inner luminosity.
3) “Vāsi-nēri” and laya-yoga: “Vāsi” is often used for breath-regulation and the subtle course of prāṇa through nāḍīs. The “first letting go” can be read as the primordial exhale/relaxation that begins regulation, or the first release of gross breath as the subtle breath becomes prominent. Laya-yoga here is not mere trance; it is the systematic dissolution of mental movement into its source through prāṇa’s refinement.
4) Mantras and “Vedas”: Siddhars frequently treat mantra and śruti as *operational* sound-forms, not only doctrinal texts. “To play” signals līlā: when the inner mechanism is correctly set, practice becomes effortless sport—yet still exacting.
5) “Eight siddhis” and “earth becomes gold”: This line deliberately straddles two registers. In one register, siddhis are yogic capacities (aṇimā, mahimā, etc.) that can arise as by-products of prāṇa-mastery. In another, Siddhar tradition includes iatrochemical/alchemical arts where “earth to gold” may be claimed literally (transmutation) and also morally/metaphysically: the “earth” of crude embodiment becomes “gold” (incorruptible awareness/imperishable body) through inner fire and refinement.
6) “Apertures” at the suṣumṇā crown: “Randhi” points to openings—classically the brahma-randhra at the crown, but the plural allows a wider mapping (channels, gates, subtle exits of prāṇa). “Cut and bind” suggests removing obstructions (granthis/knots, attachments, habitual dispersal) while simultaneously applying locks/containment to force upward movement.
7) “Vedānta tail-end footing”: The last phrase frames the goal as nondual completion: the ‘end’ (vāla/tail) of inquiry where speech itself is restrained or purified—either by silence, or by speech that arises only from realized unity. Thus the verse links bodily technique (bandha, nāḍī, ascent) with Vedāntic consummation (identity with the absolute), without fully collapsing one into the other—maintaining the Siddhar habit of holding practice and realization in a single cryptic weave.