Golden Lay Verses

Verse 377 (சித்த வைப்பு)

தமிழ் பாடல்

படியிற் குருநா தன்துணையே

பரவச மான பணிவிடையே

கொடிய விடமும் நொடியளவில்

குடியோ டிப்புற மாகிடுமே

Transliteration

padiyil gurunaa dantunaiye

paravasa maana paNividaiye

kodiya vidamum nodiyaLavvil

kudiyO dippuRa maagidume

Literal Translation

At the step/stage, the Guru-Lord alone is the support.

Through rapturous (paravasa) attendance/obedient service,

Even a cruel/deadly poison, within a mere moment,

Will be driven out—made to go outside the “dwelling” (the body).

Interpretive Translation

When one takes the Guru as the sole refuge and serves with surrendered, trance-like devotion, even what is most toxic—whether literal poison or the inner poison of karma, desire, and delusion—can be expelled or neutralized with startling immediacy.

Philosophical Explanation

This verse places transformative power not primarily in a technique but in the Guru-principle (kuru-nāthan) and the disciple’s mode of relationship to it: “paravasa” (rapture/overwhelming absorption) joined to “paṇiviḍai” (humble service/obedience/attendance). In Siddhar idiom, such surrender is not mere sentiment; it is a yogic alignment that reorders prāṇa and mind. The claim that “deadly poison” departs “in a moment” can be read on several simultaneous registers:

1) Yogic-physiological: intense devotion and disciplined attendance on the Guru’s instruction calms agitation, steadies breath, and redirects vital force, thereby ‘expelling’ toxins—understood broadly as disturbances in vāyu, bile, phlegm, and subtle nāḍi flow.

2) Alchemical-medical: Siddhar rasavāda often speaks of rendering ‘poisons’ (viṣa)—including venomous or toxic substances and potent minerals—harmless through proper method and grace. The verse can hint that correct guidance (Guru) is what makes the dangerous safe, quickly.

3) Ethical-spiritual: “poison” is also a classic metaphor for inner contaminants—ego, anger, craving, jealousy, karmic residue. When surrender becomes complete and practice is exact, these can fall away abruptly (the “moment”), as if expelled from the body-mind ‘dwelling’.

The line “made to go outside the dwelling/body” keeps the Siddhar emphasis on purification: what harms does not remain inside; it is either transmuted or cast out. The poem remains intentionally terse, preserving the Siddhar style where bodily, yogic, and metaphysical meanings overlap without being pinned to only one.

Key Concepts

  • Guru (Guru-nāthan) as sole refuge/support
  • Paṇiviḍai (humble service/obedience/attendance)
  • Paravasa (rapture, absorption, trance-like devotion)
  • Viṣam/viḍam (poison: literal and metaphorical)
  • Instant transformation (noḍi-aḷavu: in a moment)
  • Purification/expulsion (casting out impurities from the body-mind)

Ambiguities or Multiple Readings

  • “படி (paṭi)” can mean a step/footstep, a stage/degree of practice, or ‘at the feet’ (of the Guru); each shifts the opening line’s emphasis.
  • “பரவசம் (paravasa)” may imply devotional ecstasy, yogic absorption, or an overpowering state (even ‘possession’-like intensity), leaving open whether the transformation is emotional, meditative, or mystical.
  • “பணிவிடை (paṇiviḍai)” can be read as literal service/attendance on the Guru, or as the disciple’s humble ‘response/answer’ of submission—action vs attitude.
  • “விடம்/விஷம் (poison)” can indicate actual poison/venom, toxic medicinal/alchemical ingredients, or inner poisons such as anger, desire, and karmic taint.
  • “குடி (kudi)” literally ‘dwelling/home’ can point to the physical body as the soul’s dwelling, or more specifically the inner organs/gut; thus ‘going outside’ can mean bodily elimination, energetic clearing, or spiritual dis-identification.
  • The ‘momentary’ expulsion can be taken as literal immediacy, or as Siddhar hyperbole indicating that genuine surrender makes the process seem instantaneous compared to ordinary effort.