கண்ணிமைப் போதிலே கருவான குறியிலே
கானலுறுங் கானல் தனிலே
தண்ணுமையி னளவிலே தன்னிருகை நடுவிலே
தலைமாறி வரு தாளிலே
எண்ணா மெழுத்திலே பண்ணாஞ் சுழுத்திலே
ஏணிமே லுச்சி தனிலே
கண்ணாத கண்ணிலே எண்ணாத எண்ணிலே
காணாத காட்சி வானே
kaṇṇimaip pōtilē karuvāna kuṟiyilē
kānal uṟuṅk kānal tanilē
taṇṇumai yi ṉaḷavilē tannirukai naṭuvilē
talaimāṟi varu tāḷilē
eṇṇā meḻuttilē paṇṇāñ cuḻuttilē
ēṇimē lucci tanilē
kaṇṇāta kaṇṇilē eṇṇāta eṇṇilē
kāṇāta kāṭci vāṉē.
In the very moment of a blink,
within the sign/point that has become an embryo/seed,
within the mirage that rises as mirage—
within the measure of “thannumai,”
in the middle between one’s two hands,
in the step/beat that comes with the head reversed—
within letters that are beyond counting,
within a whirl/spin that admits no tune,
on the summit at the top of the ladder—
in an eye that does not (ordinarily) see,
in a thought that cannot be thought—
that unseeable vision is the Sky / O Sky.
In an instant, the Siddhar points to a realization hidden inside what seems unreal: in the seed-point of awareness, in the very mirage of experience. By a measured inner rhythm (as in breath or subtle sound), by bringing the two “sides” into the middle (as if between two hands), and by reversing the usual orientation (turning inward / turning upside-down), one ascends the inner ladder to its crown.
There, beyond mantra’s letters and beyond mind’s counting, in the soundless whirl of the central channel, a different “eye” opens: a seeing that is not ordinary seeing. What is “seen” is not an object at all, but vast space itself—ākāśa-like consciousness, the Sky.
The verse is built as a chain of location-markers (“in… in… in…”) that are deliberately paradoxical: it locates the Real in what the ordinary mind dismisses as fleeting (a blink), embryonic/subtle (a seed-point), and deceptive (a mirage). This is a classic Siddhar strategy: to force the reader away from gross, external referents into yogic interiority.
1) Mirage (கானல்): Phenomena are presented as kānal—an appearance that seems real at a distance but cannot be grasped as substance. Yet the Siddhar does not say “reject the mirage”; he says “in the mirage itself.” That preserves a non-dual nuance: liberation is not elsewhere; it is discernment within appearance.
2) Seed-point / sign (குறி, கரு): “Kuṟi” can be a mark, target, sign, or subtle point; “karu” can be embryo/seed or dark/hidden. Together they suggest the bindu-like locus where perception and prāṇa collect—the germ of experience and also the clue (sign) to the formless.
3) Measure/rhythm (அளவு) and “thannumai”: The text invokes “measure,” which fits yogic regulation—breath-count, prāṇa proportion, or inner pulse (laya). If “thannumai” is also heard as the drum (a rhythmic instrument), it becomes an analog for regulated vibration: the body as an instrument whose correct tempo reveals subtle sound.
4) Between two hands (இருகை நடுவிலே): This can point to bringing dualities into a central balance—most commonly read yogically as the harmonizing of iḍā and piṅgalā into suṣumṇā (the ‘middle’). “Hands” may also hint at mudrā (hand-seals) and the tactile immediacy of practice rather than mere theory.
5) Head reversed (தலைமாறி): Inversion has literal yogic possibilities (viparīta-karaṇī-like reversal), but also a philosophical one: reversing the habitual ‘head-first’ outward cognition—turning attention back upon its source.
6) Uncountable letters; tune-less whirl (எண்ணா எழுத்து; பண்ணா சுழுத்தி): Letters stand for articulated mantra and conceptualization. “Uncountable letters” hints at what precedes articulation (nāda/anāhata, the pre-verbal). “Tune-less” suggests it cannot be fitted into musical categories—an ungraspable vibration or the spinning movement of inner energy. Read another way, “suzhuthi” may cryptically echo suṣumṇā (central channel), describing its inner dynamism.
7) Ladder summit (ஏணி மேலுச்சி): The ladder is an ascent-image for kuṇḍalinī/yogic elevation through centers to the crown (sahasrāra-like “summit”).
8) The eye that does not see; the thought that cannot be thought: This marks the crossing from sensory cognition into a witnessing mode. The “unseeable vision” is not a new object; it is the openness (Sky/space) in which all objects appear. Hence “vāṇē” can be read both as identification (“it is the sky”) and address (“O Sky”), preserving devotion and metaphysics together.
Overall, the verse compresses a soteriology: regulate and invert the ordinary, merge dual currents into the middle, ascend the inner axis, and arrive at a non-objective knowing—spacious awareness—found not outside the world-mirage, but at its core.