Verse 1

In the hand-mill of jñāna–vicāra [awareness-investigation], [which is the practice of being keenly self-attentive in order to see] who am I, breaking and pulverising the black gram grains, which are the māna [attachment, identification, pride or conceit] ‘myself’ [the dēhābhimāna, the proud identification and attachment ‘this field of five sheaths is myself’] that grows [and flourishes] in this, the field of five sheaths [namely body, life, mind, intellect and will], which is not oneself, [thereby separating that entire field of five sheaths from oneself] as ‘not I’, (making appaḷam, see; eating it, put an end to your desire.)    

Verse 2

With juice of square-stemmed vine, which is sat–saṅga [association with what is real (sat), either directly by being self-attentive, or indirectly by dwelling on teachings that repeatedly encourage one to be self-attentive or by lovingly thinking about or being in the company of a jñāni who gives such teachings], with cumin and black pepper, which are [respectively] śama [tranquillity or calmness of mind] and dama [taming, curbing, restraining or subduing the mind by withdrawing it from both external and internal objects], and with that salt, which is uparati [cessation of mental activity by giving up interest in anything other than being self-attentive], mixing [adding or combining] asafoetida, which is the good vāsanā [namely sat–vāsanā, the inclination to know and to be what one actually is] in the heart, [that is, combining and mixing all these supportive ingredients with the main ingredient, namely black gram, the dēhābhimāna or false identification ‘I am this body composed of five sheaths’, which has been broken and pulverised in the hand-mill of jñāna–vicāra] (making appaḷam, see; eating it, put an end to your desire.)    

Verse 3

By [means of] the pestle of uḷ–mukha [the practice of facing inwards] without being agitated [or confused] [by allowing one’s attention to be distracted away from oneself under the sway of one’s viṣaya–vāsanās], incessantly pounding [the dēhābhimāna tempered with the other ingredients] [by recognising oneself as] as ‘I am I’ [the fresh degree of clarity (sphuraṇa) of self-awareness that shines in one’s heart as ‘I am I’ (that is, as awareness of oneself as oneself alone) to the extent that one keenly, calmly and steadily faces inwards to see who am I] in the heart-stone [the pure heart or mind that is imbued with steadfast titikșā (endurance, forbearance and patience), which is unshakably firm like a stone mortar], [and then flattening the resulting appaḷam dough (namely the thoroughly pounded dēhābhimāna) into round wafers] with the rolling-pin, which is śānta [peace, tranquillity, composure, contentment, resignation or subsidence], on the board, which is sama [sameness, constancy, evenness, equanimity, imperturbability or samādhi], without salippu [weariness, weakness, inattentiveness, negligence or pramāda] always joyfully (making appaḷam, see; eating it, put an end to your desire.)    

Verse 4

[In order] to experience [ātma–svarūpa, the real nature of oneself] as ‘oneself alone is oneself’ [‘myself alone is myself’ or ‘I alone am I’], in that, the excellent ghee [or pure clarified butter] of brahman, which is heated by jñānāgni [the fire of jñāna or pure awareness] in the infinite pan, which is mauna–mudrā [the sign that is silence, namely the infinite space of silence, which is the sign that inwardly reveals the real nature of oneself as ‘I am just I’], constantly frying [the dry wafers of appaḷam dough prepared in the manner described in the previous three verses in accordance with the unique language of silence described in the anupallavi] as ‘I am that [namely brahman, the pure awareness that always shines as I]’, (making) tanmaya (appaḷam [appaḷam composed of tat, ‘that’, namely brahman], see; eating it, put an end to your desire.)