Tirukkural .. Part 4

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Let us continue with Reading TIRUKKURAL written by Tiruvalluvar. This one also a Treasure to Sanathana Dharma Same like Neetisara ,Arthasastra and Viduraniti. If anyone miss to read or interest to read Neetisara , Arthasastra and Vidura niti pls mail to me , I will send again to you.

Tirukkural Part 4

 

True Knowledge

Those who have learnt to perceive the Real, will surely take the path leading to deliverance from rebirth.

Root out the three evils, Desire, Anger and Delusion, and all grief shall end.

The miseries of life are born of error that deems the worthless as things of value.

The cause of all our grief is that we base life on false values. Life based on true values ends in deliverance.

Heaven is nearer than the earth they stand on, to the enlightened that have freed themselves from the entanglements of doubt.

If there is no true understanding all the knowledge that the five senses give is of no avail.

True understanding is that which uncovers and shows the reality behind the apparent and diverse exteriors of all things.

Renouncing Of Desire

[Note: The desirelessness recommended in Indian philosophy does not appeal to the modern mind, which depends upon hope and faith in human effort. Religious dogma apart, detachment is recognised as a great and necessary virtue in all human endeavour. The philosophy of non-desire is intimately associated with detachment in work.]

Desire is the seed out of which is born the unending cycle of birth and death.

There is no worthier object to be desired than deliverance from births, and this worthy desire can be fulfilled if we renounce desires.

There is no possession so great as Non-desire either in this world or in the worlds beyond.

Purity is attained by freedom from desire. And this freedom from Desire can be attained if one sincerely desires to attain the Real.

It is only those who along with the thing given up have given up the desire for it that can be said to have renounced. Those who have not done this have not truly renounced.

[Note: Mere external giving up is not enough. The emphasis on the renunciation of desire was very relevant in the days of Tiru-Valluvar when large numbers took up celibacy and Sannyas. Compare Gita 2-59. ("The objects of the senses turn away from the abstinent man leaving the longing behind; but his longing also turns away on seeing the Supreme" – Gita.]

Desire is the greatest deceiver. Dread and guard against it. This vigilance is the whole of the moral code.

If the pain of pains called Desire were kept out, one can, even in this life attain unbroken happiness.

The Law Of Karma

[Note: The doctrine of Karma as enunciated in Hindu scriptures is accepted in toto and without any modification in the Kural. ‘Oozh’ is the Tamil word for the Law of Karma, by which the sum of man’s thoughts, desires and actions in one birth becomes his start in the next birth or re-embodiment of his soul.

Neither Karma nor its Tamil equivalent ‘oozh’ is to be mistaken for belief in blind luck. The Hindu doctrine of Karma links all good and bad luck to what was done or thought in previous births. Men reap the just and natural reward of every act and build their natures and tendencies as a result thereof. The law is unfailing in its rigour. The account is not closed by death, but carried forward from one birth to another. Causes not traceable to oneself now must be traced to oneself in past births. That we do not remember the pat is irrelevant.]

The industry that produces wealth and the indolence that brings about adversity in this life are brought about by how you lived in the previous life. Past deeds produce the industry and indolence, which are the apparent causes of the acquisition and the loss of wealth in this life.

[Note: The doctrine of Karma is made consistent with the inescapable relation between work and wealth. This is further clarified in the next couplet.]

Folly seizes even the wise when it is decreed by the law that they must lose their possessions, and the dull become shrewd when their past good deeds are ripe for being rewarded by prosperity.

Men are of two categories. Some are decreed by the law of Karma to be prosperous and some are decreed to be wise.

[Note: i.e. the wise need not necessarily be prosperous and the prosperous need not be intellectually very capable.]

Prosperity comes by the decree of the law of previous good and bad deeds. The best efforts in this life may not produce good results where it is not so decreed and the least may yield prosperity when it is so ordained.

The possessions that do not belong to one according to the unchangeable decree of Karma cannot be retained in spite of the most vigilant care, and that which belongs to a man by that decree cannot be lost even if he were most careless about it.

Even those who have no possession to renounce will not give up the world and earn the fruits of renunciation, because they have not earned that wisdom by previous good deeds.

[Note: It may be easy for the poor and the homeless to become hermits, but they do not, and struggle with poverty and continue wallowing in worldly attachments and misery, because they have not earned by their past deeds a mind inclined to renunciation.]

When men have good luck as a result of good deeds in past births, they accept it without raising any question and enjoy the full benefit of it. But when they get bad luck, they complain and vex themselves. Truly men are unreasonable!

Tirukkural Book 2

Vigilance

The negligence that is apt to arise out of the intoxication of achievement is more harmful than even inordinate anger.

Those who are not vigilant cannot attain greatness. This applies to all the orders of life; and all codes accept this conclusion.

To the languid and negligent, wealth can give no benefit, even as fortification cannot give security to cowards.

There is nothing so good as vigilance in dealing with everyone and at all times without any lapse.

Watch beforehand. He who is not vigilant will repent later in vain.

There is nothing that is impossible if one brings to bear on one’s work the instrument of a vigilant and resourceful mind.

When you are feeling elated by your prosperity, think of those who in the past were ruined by lapse of vigilance.

Every aspiration may indeed be achieved if one knows to keep his aim ever before his mind.

Industriousness

Family virtues (i.e., inherited qualities) naturally persist, but are apt to disappear unless kept up by unflagging industry, even as a temple light will go out unless the wick is properly snuffed and looked after.

When men are fated to be destroyed, procrastination, forgetfulness, languor and sleep are festive boats that wait to tempt and take them.

He who falls a victim to inaction, and does not labour strenuously, first meets with censure from friends, but will finally have to put up with every one’s contempt.

One can make up for many natural defects through industry.

The king who is fired by the spirit of ceaseless effort will find the whole world under him.

The Strenuous Life

Let not the magnitude of any task unman you. Strenuous effort ever brings victory.

Guard against inaction in respect of your allotted task. Man is born to action. He who fails in this is lost to the world.

The pride of being useful to others can be enjoyed only by those who are blessed with the spirit of ceaseless effort.

The wish to be useful to society entertained by one who is not prepared for a strenuous life is like the fond desire of a weakling to wield weapons of war.

He who is in love with work, and spurns pleasure, can remove the troubles of his friends and relatives and stand as a pillar for their support.

The dark elder Sister dwells with idleness. She of the lotus dwells in human effort.

[Note: Sri or Lakshmi is the younger of the two sisters; the elder sister is the goddess of misfortune.]

No one can blame you if nature has not endowed you with superior intelligence; but to have knowledge and to fail to put forth your best effort is blameworthy.

Even if through misfortune the object aimed at is not attained, the effort pays its own wages.

[Note: That is, honest effort is its own reward. This means that every honest endeavour raises the man a step higher in the course of his evolution. In the measure of the energy put forth, there is improvement in strength and character.]

Sustained and courageous effort enables man to see Fate turn its back and flee from the field.

[Note: These three couplets lay down that the world may justly blame you for not making the best of your talents and putting forth your utmost effort, that sustained and courageous effort will overcome the course of past karma. And even if you fail to attain your object, the effort raises your character and takes you forward in the course of soul-evolution.]

Fortitude

[Note: One’s spirit should not be broken down by misfortune, adversity or defeat. What is dealt with in these verses is not the serenity of the mind of the ascetic, but the unperturbed spirit of the man of action.]

Laugh when you meet misfortune. There is nothing like this to overcome it and pass on to victory.

Misfortune may come like a flood. But it vanishes in the wise man’s mind by a thought.

[Note: i.e., misfortune operates on the mind; resolute thought can overcome it and proceed to the next step to be taken.]

Man is born to be the target of misfortune. The wise man knows this and will be unperturbed by it.

He who does not allow the craving for pleasure to grow in him, and who understands that it is the lot of man to meet with trouble, will not feel it difficult to face misfortune.

If when enjoying good fortune, you keep your mind free from excitement, you will be proof against grief in misfortune.

On Learning

[Note: The first thing laid down in Kural dealing with learning is the duty of relating one’s conduct to one’s knowledge. Knowledge thus translated becomes culture.]

Acquire a sound knowledge of things that should be learnt, and then act accordingly.

Learning is divided into two simple divisions, ‘mathematics and literature or numbers and letters’. They are like two eyes to human life.

The uneducated man’s life, whatever his station may be, is no better than that of a man cursed with blindness.

Only the literate can be said to have eyes. The unlettered have but two openings in the face, not eyes.

Learning has to be acquired in fear and humility. The seeker of knowledge must stand before the learned even as a man in want stands before the rich giver, eager and trembling. He who is proud and does not care to undergo this must remain ignorant and is doomed to inferiority in life.

Study brings knowledge in proportion to the industry bestowed, even as water oozes into the sandpit in the riverbed in the measure of the digging.

[Note: The peculiar characteristic of learning is that it is a double source of pleasure, an intrinsic joy to him who has the knowledge, and a source of happiness to others who benefit by it.]

While really the learned man finds in his learning his own pleasure, he sees that others look upon him as a benefactor, conferring pleasure on them. Hence the truly learned are in love with knowledge.

On Being Unlettered

[Note: The Tamil classics lay very great emphasis on education. It is indeed often considered as important as the moral virtues.]

Uneducated men are like alkaline soil. Their existence is worthless and nominal.

Even if unlettered man displays great good sense, it will not be recognized by the learned.

[Note: This is not a remark against learned men, but is intended to insist on the importance of education.]

An unlettered man’s conceit will find its end when the occasion for speech arrives.

The size and personality of a man who is externally grand but has not an intellect improved by learning is like the grandeur of large clay images made beautiful with coloured paste.

Wealth in the hands of ignorant men, and poverty that afflict learned men, cause grief to them as well as to the world at large. But between the two misfits, the latter is not so great a misfortune as the former; for, while poverty cannot cause real harm to the spirit of the learned, wealth in the hands of the ignorant is a danger to the world.

The unlettered though born in a higher social class are inferior in status to those who though born low have acquired learning.

True Knowledge (Book 2)

[Note: ‘Arivu’ is nearer to Discrimination and Wisdom than to mere knowledge.]

True knowledge is an inner fortification that enemies cannot destroy, and is the ultimate impregnable defence.

True knowledge controls thought and conduct and keeps both away from evil, and helps one to keep in the right path.

True knowledge enables one to understand the true import of things from whomsoever one learns them and not to be misled by the circumstances in which they appear.

It finds easy and convincing expression for one’s own thoughts, and enables one to grasp the essence of what is said by others, be it however complicated.

Knowledge befriends the world. It fosters a spirit of equanimity saving one from both excitement and depression.

The man of True Knowledge understands how the world moves, and moves accordingly.

[Note: ‘Ulagam’ occurs often in Tamil didactic poetry. Though it literally means the world, it is used here to describe the elite among the people and not the mass of the people.]

Unlike the ignorant man, the man of True Knowledge knows beforehand what will befall. Thereby he escapes even stunning grief.

He fears what is truly to be feared, and refrains from it. It is a folly not to fear what should be feared.

A discriminating mind is the greatest of possessions. Without it, all other possessions will come to nothing.

Knowledge Through Listening

[Note: Knowledge acquired or confirmed by listening to the teachings and expositions of learned men was a major division of learning in our ancient system, apart from knowledge acquired study. This is called Kelvi in Tamil and the phrase Kalvikelvi expresses the complete accomplishment of a learned man.]

Listening as a means of learning is particularly prescribed for the illiterate. It will be a staff to lean upon when beset by weakness.

[Note: But the teacher should not only be learned but also be one who leads the right life. Indeed, the latter is more important.]

The oral precepts of a teacher who leads a good life help one as a staff helps the weak to walk.

[Note: The poet realises the feeling of despair that must sometimes come over men who seek to learn by merely listening, and says, as if for consolation:]

Be it but little, listen and assimilate. It will produce great good.

Study marked by searching enquiry and much listening to learned men will save one from foolish statements even if labouring under error.

Listening to the expositions of learned men gives one the humility of speech that appertains to true learning. Mere study is apt to leave one conceited.

On Friendship

The friendship of men of character is like the young moon, which grows as the days pass, but friendship with fools diminishes with familiarity like the moon after her full phase.

With deeper study one sees more and more beauty in a book and derives enhanced pleasure. Likewise good men’s friendship does not lose its freshness but gives increased pleasure every day.

True friendship is that which comes swiftly to the rescue in the hour of trouble, even as the hand goes instinctively to hold the dress, when it chances to slip down in company.

Identity of feelings makes friendship; it is needless for friends to meet often or be long together.

The face may wear a smile at the sight of one, but only he is a friend whose sight brings about an internal joy, which fills the whole soul.

The triple service of friendship is to take the friend out of the wrong path, to lead him into the right path, and to share in his misfortune.

There is nothing so harmful as friendship contracted without discrimination, because the quality of friendship is that friendship once made cannot be given up.

Let friendship be contracted only after knowing the man’s good points, his birth, his defects and his connections (relatives and friends).

It is worthwhile making sacrifices to acquire the friendship of one who is well born and is sensitive to public opinion about him.

Go out in search for those in whom you find the capacity to censure you and if necessary make you weep without flinching when you go wrong, and of leading you into the good path. Make friendship with such men.

Misfortune has its use in that it serves as a yardstick for you to spread out and measure the constancy of friends and relatives.

Do not entertain thoughts, which must lead to the shrinking of enthusiasm. Do not make friends with those who instead of giving you strength weaken you in difficult situations.

It is a gain by itself if one gets away from the friendship of fools.

Do not take trouble to keep up the friendship of worthless men. It is well to allow it to die out, be they ever so honey-like (sweet).

What does it matter whether we gain or lose the friendship of selfish men who when it is profitable to them befriend us and leave us when it is not?

[Note: ‘Oppilaar’ means men whose conduct is not shaped to further the life of the community, i.e., selfish, the reverse of ‘Oppuravu’.]

The friendship that weighs advantages is of the same class with the affections and courtesans and partnership among thieves.

It is better not to befriend than to depend on friends who when you face trouble desert you, as it is better to go on foot than ride to battle on an unbroken horse.

The opposition of wise and good men does infinitely greater good than the closest friendship of a fool.

One gets a million times more benefit from enemies than from the friendship of mere jolly good fellows and jesters and the like.

Allow your friendship silently to die out with men who fail to help where they could.

It is bad even in dream to associate with those whose words and deeds differ.

There are some who seek to befriend you at home and in private, but attack your fair name on public occasions. Avoid all advances on the part of such people.

Learning and culture have no effect on hatred. They do not help to remove enmity.

[Note: How true! The mind has a capacity in dividing itself into compartments, so that unreasoned hatred persists along with learning and philosophy.]

Do not be misled by politeness or courtesy of language on the part of enemies. The enemy bends his words as he bends his bow, which is not for your good.

An enemy’s hands clasped in salutation may conceal a weapon. So also are his tears (of pretended grief or sympathy) not to be trusted, i.e., be on your guard and do not be deceived by external signs of friendship.

Folly

The biggest folly among follies is to cherish a desire for a prohibited object.

[Note: When your reason or conscience tells you that a thing is unworthy of you, it is a folly to waste your mental energy indulging in thoughts about it.]

There is no bigger fool than the man who has acquired much learning and preaches the same to others, but who does not control himself.

A fool getting hold of wealth is like a lunatic taking intoxicating liquor, i.e., it was bad enough being mad but liquor is added to make it from bad to worse.

The friendship of fools is perhaps the best, for in this case separation brings no grief!

[Note: Tiru-Valluvar often uses sarcasm for enforcing an idea. It is a distinctive style of his.]

A fool’s entry into an assembly of wise men is like unwashed feet on a clean bed. One fool ruins the character of a whole assembly.

The self-inflicted miseries of ignorance are greater than what can be inflicted by enemies.

There is no folly so great as the folly that makes men proud of their own wisdom.

Pretending knowledge of things not learnt, one loses credit for even such faultless knowledge, as one really possesses.

It is a folly to imagine that by wrapping oneself in cloth, one has covered one’s indecency, when the greater indecency of a bad character is still exposed.

Will continue on part 5

with regards

dilip