Your shadow is with you, does it help you? How about wealth? - mantrA 170

srigurubhyO namahA |
In the 170th mantrA, the sage conveys the message using wordplay. He uses the twin meanings of the word 'chAyai' to great effect!

தன்னது சாயை தனக்குத வாதுகண்டு
என்னது மாடென்று இருப்பர்கள் ஏழைகள்
உன்னுயிர் போம்உடல் ஒக்கப் பிறந்தது
கண்ணது காணொளி கண்டுகொ ளீரே. I.3.3.170

Foolish they who claim their wealth their own,
Seeing their own shadows to them useless though nearby;
The life that with the body comes as surely departs;
They see not ;the light that lends lustre to the seeing eye. I.3.3.170

Com - Seeing their own shadows to them useless though nearby; Even after seeing that our own shadow which though is always beside us, is never of any use to us Foolish they who claim their wealth their own, It is only the really foolish who would consider their material wealth to be their own (i.e. false idea of ownership of a totally separate entity to oneself). The life that with the body comes though this body came into being together with the soul (life principle) and though the both of them have so far existed together as surely departs; yet, when this life principle departs from this body, the body will perish.the light that lends lustre to the seeing eye. That supreme principle which is ‘seen’ only by the mind’s all seeing eye (third eye), manifest in the form of pure light They see not must be attained before this life is exhausted.

*Bringing an original analogy to help us understand that this material wealth is not the prize worth seeking, the sage draws our attention to our shadows. When out in the burning sun and desperate for some shade, though our shadow is present just beside us, it is unfortunately not possible to utilise it for shade. The Tamil word ‘chAyai’ refers to chAyA or shadow, but it also refers to shade/nizhal. This is to show that anything that is separate to oneself (i.e. is outside of oneself) cannot be of use to one eternally. This is because everything has a life span or a time limit beyond which the cease to exist. This point is made clearer by the next analogy – this body and the life principle have always (atleast since birth) existed together, but someday the life force will desert this body and then this body will perish. Hence one must make use of the opportunity of life to realise the supreme siva who is visible only to the minds eye and not waste one’s life here in the pursuit of material objects  (that are apparent to the two physical eyes) which are transitory in nature.

thirucchitrambalam|