கனமிகுக்கக் கற்றாலும் கவிதைவரப் பெற்றாலும்
தனமிகுக்கக் கற்றாலும் தயைமிகுதி பெற்றாலும்
சினமிறக்கக் கற்றாலும் சித்தியெலாம் பெற்றாலும்
மனமிறக்கக் கல்லார்க்கே வாலைபத மெட்டாதே
kanamikukkak kaRRaalum kavithaivarap peRRaalum
thanamikukkak kaRRaalum thayaimikuthi peRRaalum
sinamiRakkak kaRRaalum siththiyelaam peRRaalum
manamiRakkak kallaaṟkkē vaalaipatham ettaathē.
Even if one has learned weighty (profound) learning, even if one has obtained the gift of poetry;
Even if one has learned to increase (amass) great wealth, even if one has obtained abundant compassion;
Even if one has learned to drop anger, even if one has obtained all siddhis (occult attainments);
For those who have not learned to make the mind die—“Vālai-padam” is not reached.
However great one’s scholarship, poetic skill, wealth, compassion, angerlessness, or even supernatural powers may be, they do not culminate in the final spiritual ‘state’ if the fundamental practice is missing: the death of the mind (egoic mind). Without mind-death, the coded supreme attainment—called “Vālai-padam”—remains unreachable.
The verse builds a deliberate ladder of socially admired and spiritually praised attainments—learning, poetic charisma, wealth, compassion, mastery over anger, and even siddhis—only to dismiss them as insufficient. In Siddhar discourse, these can become refined forms of ego ("I know," "I create," "I possess," "I am virtuous," "I am powerful").
The pivotal phrase is “மனமிறக்க” (manam iṟakka): “to make the mind die.” This is not merely psychological calmness; it points to the cessation of the mind’s self-constructing movement—desire, identity-making, and the subtle doership that appropriates virtues and powers. In yogic terms it can align with ego-dissolution (ahaṅkāra-laya), vṛtti-nirodha, or the cutting of identification with the mind. The Siddhar emphasis is that ethical refinement (compassion, angerlessness) and extraordinary capacities (siddhis) are still within the field of mind unless the root “I”-sense collapses.
“வாலைபதம்” (Vālai-padam) is left cryptic, functioning as a code for an ultimate station/abode/state (padam). It may denote liberation, the deathless state, or a specific inner yogic ‘stage’ known within a lineage. The verse’s logic, however, is clear: whatever “Vālai-padam” is, it is not a reward for accomplishments; it is accessed only through the decisive inner ‘death’ of the mind.