தாமென்றும் தனதென்றும் தனக்குள் ளாகத்
தனையடக்கித் தண்டனிடும் தகுதி யுள்ளோர்
வாமென்றும் வாமியபி ராமி யென்றும்
வாதமில்லா வேதமதை யோதிக் கண்டார்
ஓமென்னும் உட்பொருளி னுளவைக் கண்டார்
ஊமையெழுத் துக்குள்ளாம் உணர்வைக் கண்டார்
தாமென்ன வாதமிடச் சாத மாகும்
தளதளவென் றேதங்கத் தழலு மாகும்
thaamendrum thanadhendrum thanakkul laaga
thanaiyadakkith thandanidum thaguthi yullor
vaamendrum vaamiyabi raami yendrum
vaadhamillaa vedhamadhai yodhik kandaar
omennum utporuli nulavaik kandaar
oomaiyezhuth thukkullaam unarvaik kandaar
thaamenna vaadhamidach saadha maagum
thalathalaven redhangath thazhalu maagum.
“Those who, taking ‘I’ and ‘mine’ as something to be held inside, restrain themselves within and impose punishment/discipline upon themselves—those who have the qualification—
‘Vām’ and ‘Vāmiyabirāmi’ (saying thus), they studied and saw the Veda that is without debate/disputation.
They saw the state/existence within the inner substance/inner meaning called ‘Om’.
They saw the awareness that is inside the mute (speechless) letters.
If one argues (raising contention) saying ‘I’, it becomes sādam (cooked rice / something “made” and ordinary);
it also becomes a blaze in the shining rētam (semen/vital essence).”
Those truly fit for the path turn inward and discipline themselves by subduing the twin delusions of ego (“I”) and possessiveness (“mine”). With mantra-recitation (hinted by “Vām” and “Vāmiyabirāmi”) and with a non-disputatious mind, they “read” the Veda as living inner knowledge rather than as an object for argument. They penetrate the secret core of Praṇava (Om) and recognize the current of awareness hidden within what appears silent—letters/mantras that are “mute” outwardly but resound inwardly. But if one clings to “I” and argues from ego, the result is not liberation: it becomes mere worldly “food” (something cooked up, ordinary), and it consumes one’s vital essence (rētam/ojas) as heat and agitation.
1) Ego (“I”) and possession (“mine”) as the primal knot: The verse begins by naming two fundamental bindings—aham (I-notion) and mamakāra (mine-ness). The ‘qualified’ (takuṟi uḷḷōr) are those who can perform an inner restraint (a kind of tapas) where the self disciplines itself, rather than seeking an external enemy. “Punishment” here can be read as deliberate self-training: austerity, ethical restraint, guarding the senses, and curbing speech and thought.
2) “Veda without debate”: Siddhar critique often targets mere scholastic disputation. “Vādam illā vēdam” suggests that scripture becomes true ‘Veda’ only when it is not turned into argumentative display. The verse implies that disputation strengthens the ego it claims to defend, whereas inward practice dissolves it.
3) Mantra code (“Vām”, “Vāmiyabirāmi”): This likely gestures to bīja-mantra practice and a deity-current (Śakti) rather than ordinary language. “Vām” can function as a seed-syllable (commonly linked to water/Śakti currents in later mantra systems) and “Abhirāmi” evokes the Goddess as ‘the delighting/beautiful one’—here possibly “Vāmiyābhi-rāmi,” a coded form indicating a particular śakti-mantra lineage or left-current (vāma) symbolism. The text does not spell out a ritual; it hints that the true ‘reading’ of Veda is inseparable from inner sound (nāda) and śakti.
4) Om as “inner substance”: “Om” is treated not as a mere syllable but as an ‘inner meaning/substance’ (uṭporuḷ). “They saw the uḷavai (the being/there-ness) within it”: i.e., realization of consciousness as the ground, accessed through Praṇava.
5) “Mute letters” and inner awareness: “Ūmaiy-eḻuttu” (mute letters) can indicate (a) letters that are not audibly pronounced yet are ‘present’ (like subtle phonemes), (b) the silent dimension of mantra where the sound is inward (mānasa-japa), or (c) the paradox that the highest meaning is ‘written’ in silence (mauna) rather than speech. The Siddhar claim: awareness is discovered not by multiplying words but by finding the consciousness that shines within and between them.
6) Medical/yogic-alchemical warning about rētam: The closing couplet reverses the movement. When one says “I” and enters vādam (contentiousness), the fruit is ‘sādam’—either (i) ordinary cooked rice (a symbol of the mundane, the merely consumable), or (ii) something ‘cooked up’ by the ego. Then the verse adds a bodily consequence: it becomes a blaze in rētam. In Siddhar-yoga physiology, rētam (semen/ojas/essence) is a conserved potency; agitation, anger, argument, and uncontrolled speech are said to generate heat that wastes or “burns” this essence, undermining steadiness and siddhi. Thus the text links metaphysics (ego) with psycho-physical economy (loss of ojas through heat).