Verse 363 (சித்த வைப்பு)

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தமிழ் பாடல்

வாதமுறு வேதைபல வாயுரைத் திட்டார்

நீதமுறு மாமுனிவர் நேர்மையுறு சித்தர்

வாதவழி தேடுவதி லேதுமிலை சித்தி

வேதவே தாந்தமெனு வழலையது சக்தி

Transliteration

vādamuṟu vētaipala vāyuraith tiṭṭār

nītamuṟu māmṉivar nērmaiyuṟu cittar

vādavaḻi tēṭuvati lētumilai citti

vētavē tāntameṉu vaḻalaiyatu cakti

Literal Translation

Those who, being contentious, plan many “Vedas” as mouth‑speech (verbal) arguments;

The great sages who are grounded in right conduct, the siddhars who are grounded in straightforwardness;

In searching by the path of disputation, there is not even a little siddhi;

The mire/slush called “Veda–Vedānta”—that is (their) śakti/power.

Interpretive Translation

People who pride themselves on scriptural talk and debate—however many Vedic citations they marshal—do not attain siddhi through that route. Siddhi belongs to the ethically established, direct, and inwardly realized siddhar-way. “Veda and Vedānta,” when used as fuel for argument, become a conceptual quagmire; the only ‘power’ there is the power to entangle the mind (or the power of mere rhetoric), not liberating power.

Philosophical Explanation

The verse sets up a contrast between (1) contentious verbalism and (2) the siddhar ideal of nīti (ethical rectitude) and nermai (straightforward integrity). In much Siddhar literature, “vāda” (disputation) is treated as a surface activity of speech and ego: it multiplies doctrines, but does not transform the being.

“Siddhi” here is not merely intellectual certainty; it implies accomplished realization and/or yogic attainment—something embodied and operative. The implied method is therefore experiential: inner discipline, yogic integration, and the awakening of śakti (transformative power) rather than argumentative mastery.

The last line calls Veda–Vedānta a “vazhalai” (mud/slush/quagmire). This metaphor criticizes getting stuck in conceptual systems: like mud, they can hold and immobilize. Yet the word “śakti” keeps the verse deliberately double-edged: it can mean (a) the limited ‘power’ of those systems as arenas for rhetoric, or (b) a hint that the real potency (śakti) is what must be extracted from beneath scriptural mire through practice and realization, rather than through debate.

Key Concepts

vāda / vātam (disputation; possibly also ‘wind’ as a secondary echo)
vāy-urai (speech/argument)
nīti (ethical righteousness)
nermai (straightness/integrity)
māmunivar (great sages)
siddhar
siddhi (attainment/accomplishment)
Veda
Vedānta
vazhalai (mud/quagmire; confusion)
śakti (power; transformative energy)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

“வாதம்” primarily reads as ‘debate/disputation,’ reinforced by “வாயுரை” (mouth-speech). However, in Siddha registers it can also faintly echo “வாதம்” as vāta (wind principle). The verse may allow a secondary insinuation that mere ‘wind-route’ manipulation without true śakti-realization does not yield siddhi.
“வேதைபல” can be read as “many Vedas/scriptural authorities,” but it can also suggest “many stratagems/learned formulas” (i.e., a multiplication of citations and techniques).
“வழலை” commonly means mud/slush/quagmire, but can also imply muddle, babble, or entangling confusion—so the critique may be of doctrinal complexity rather than Veda/Vedānta per se.
“அது சக்தி” can mean ‘that is their power’ (i.e., the debater’s power is only in that mire), but it can also be read more mystically as: ‘the (true) potency within what is called Veda–Vedānta is śakti,’ hinting that the essence is experiential energy rather than disputable doctrine.
“நீதமுறு… நேர்மையுறு சித்தர்” can be taken as an appositional definition (the righteous great sages are the straightforward siddhars), or as a contrastive juxtaposition against the first line’s debaters.

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