Tirukkural .. part 5

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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. Also I request you , please try to pass this values as much as you can.

Tirukkural Part 5

 

Guard Against Deceivers

Protection against the heat of the sun is good. So also is water good. But sometimes even these become harmful and then they are to be avoided. Relatives, when they become evil-minded, are a danger to be guarded against.

There can be no real union in a community when there are mutual hatreds concealed in the mind, just as a lid of a vessel serves only to cover and does not become one with it.

Ruled By Women

Those who are governed by their wives are unable to act generously and boldly in respect of large interests of friends and society in general. Domination by one¢s wife leads to narrowness of outlook and initiative.

Inordinate attachment to one¢s wife is not only an impediment to the attainment of spirituality, but in the world of action even it is to be avoided.

Again, he who neglects his duties on account of his attachment to his wife will find himself overwhelmed by public scandal.

On Lust And Wine And Gambling

[Note: Thirty Kural couplets are devoted to warning men against lust, wine and gambling.]

The false embrace of a woman who sells her body for money is like trying to find pleasure in the embrace of the dead body of an unknown person in a dark room.

[The evil of indulgence in the false sense of well-being obtained from spirituous drinks, is in Kural, a subject matter for emphatic condemnation.]

To show reason to one who has indulged in liquor is like taking a light to search for a man who has drowned in deep water.

Will one in his free moments watch someone else who is drunk and realise what happens to one when under the mischief of the potion?

Those who drink in secret soon become the laughing stock of the locality, for the effects of the indulgence cannot for long remain unknown.

Gambling, even if you win, is a thing to be avoided. The winning is like the fish swallowing the hook.

[Note: ¡Pon¢ is now used to denote gold was originally a word to denote metal in general and in this couplet it refers to the iron hook used in fishing.]

Even when losing, gambling is sweet and holds the victim in its grip, resembling in this the attachment to life in spite of excruciating physical agony, which would be relieved by death. The sick victim avoids death and holds on to life

[Note: the point is more emphatically enforced by the couplet reversing the comparison:]

Attachment to life is like the grip that the game (gambling) gets on its victim.

On The Art Of Healing

Make a careful diagnosis, discover the true cause of the disease, think out the proper remedy and apply it effectively.

In prescribing the treatment, the good physician takes into consideration the strength of the patient, the progress of the disease and the season.

Four elements go to make effective treatment: the patient, the doctor, the remedy and the attendant.

[Note: The co-operation of the patient and the skilled service of an attendant were considered no less important than the doctor and the drugs, even as in modern medical treatment.]

[Note: The following verses recognise restraint in eating as the great secret of good health. Modern science has confirmed the importance of the advice.]

If we eat only after making sure that what has been already eaten has been digested, no drugging will be required to keep the body in good health.

Make sure that the previous meal has been digested, and wait till you are quite hungry. Then eat what you have found to agree with your health.

Even then, the food should be taken in right measure. Moderation in eating is the secret of longevity.

The man, who stops just a little before he feels he has had enough, retains the joy of eating; on the other hand, the big eater invites disease.

Much pain is saved if one learns to eat only what has been found to suit one¢s health and to say ¡no¢ i.e., exercise self-restraint in respect of quantity.

The ignorant man, who eats beyond the measure of the fire or beyond his power of digestion, must be prepared for all sorts of ailments.

The three humours postulated by those learned in the science of the human body cause disease if there is superfluity or deficiency, i.e., if excess or deficiency in food or work upsets the balance.

Self-respect

When you have wealth, cultivate humility. When your means are strained, then it is that you should hold your head high.

The hair on the head is a thing of beauty. Removed from its place, it becomes filth. The same is the fate of men who descend from their own level of honourable conduct and demean themselves.

[Note: many verses in the Kural are devoted to describing the wretchedness of a life of dependence on the wealthy with the consequent loss of self-respect.]

Death by starvation is preferable to the maintenance of comfort and show of respectability by dependence on those who look down upon you and do not take you as one of them but only render help as to one inferior.

The world will admire and worship the glory of men who give up life when overtaken by dishonour.

Glory

Glory consists in wealth of spirit. To decide to live though devoid of it is inglorious.

Equal are all in birth. Distinctions are the result of greatness in action in some and the absence of it in others.

As a virgin guards her own purity, men should guard their unsullied greatness.

The high-minded man hides the faults of others from view, but the little ones busy themselves only about the faults of others.

Looking After The Tribe

The crow does not hide it when it finds something to pick and eat, but calls its fellows and then starts eating. Prosperity comes only to men who develop this disposition.

Those relatives that go away for some reason will come back as soon as you have discovered in yourself the cause of their desertion and the defect is removed.

If any go away but come back not for affection but for a known selfish object of their own, the king should not on that ground summarily reject them.

He should do what they want, but before taking them back into confidence test them.

Niggardliness

When wealth is neither enjoyed by oneself nor given to deserving persons, the possessor becomes a disease to society.

[Note: Disease, because instead of being healthy units, such men block circulation.]

Wealth that is not utilised for helping the distressed is like a maiden who is possessed in abundant measure of all the qualities a wife and a mother should have, being barren to remain and die unmarried.

Repugnance To Evil

[Note: The quick and instinctive shrinking from wrong and improper actions is one of the essential elements of good character.

We use the same word ¡naan¢ or ¡naanam¢ in Tamil to denote the repugnance to wrongdoing which a good man feels as to describe the good woman¢s shrinking from immodesty.]

Eating, covering oneself against the weather and the rest are common to all, but the distinction of good men is the spontaneous repugnance to impropriety.

Even as life finds its abode in the body and separation from it means death, so is honour inseparably lodged in a sensitive conscience, without which it cannot but die.

A sensitive conscience is a jewel that sets off the virtue of good men. Without it pride becomes a disease of the flesh.

Honour¢s true home is the conscience of the man who shrinks from causing dishonour to others even as he does from soiling his own reputation.

Men of honour would give up life for honour¢s sake, but never abandon honour even to save life.

If you break the rules of religion, you are lost to your caste, but if you act against the dictates of honour, you are lost to virtue itself.

The movements of a man who has not a sensitive conscience are like the simulation of life by marionettes (puppets) moved by strings.

Unscrupulous Men

Strange indeed is the complete physical resemblance of the unscrupulous to the human species. It is the best example of mimesis we know of.

[Note: ¡Oppaari¢, mimesis is close external resemblance of one animal species to another though of an entirely different nature amounting almost to mockery.]

Blessed indeed are the unscrupulous, for they do not suffer from the anxieties and troubles of those who have scruples.

The unscrupulous resemble the gods, for, like gods, they do what they please and are bound by no restraints of conduct.

[Note: These three couplets illustrate Tiru-Valluvar¢s irony.]

Fear of punishment is the only code for unscrupulous men. They observe restraints only under the pressure of fear. Sometimes a little good may be got out of them by operating on their greed.

Good men serve at the mere call to serve. But the worthless serve only when crushed, like the sugarcane.

What is the use of unscrupulous men in this world? When occasion arises they hasten to sell themselves.

On Agriculture

Many other industries may be taken up, but ultimately the world depends on agriculture. So despite its troubles, it is the worthiest occupation.

The tillers of the soil are the axle-pin of the revolving world. On them depends the sustenance of life for those that, unable to take up the plough, follow other occupations.

They only live by right that till the soil and grow their food. The rest are parasites.

The state that has fields waving with full-eared corn will see the sovereignty of many princes resting under the shade of its munificence.

If the tillers of the soil withdraw their labour, even the serenity and concentration of spirit of those who have renounced the world will cease to be.

If the ploughed soil is left to dry to a fourth of its bulk there will be a plentiful crop without even a handful of manure being put in.

[Note: Adequate aeration of the soil is necessary for raising a good crop. ¡Thodi¢ and ¡kahsa¢ are measures of weight related as 4 to 1.]

More important than ploughing is manuring. Then, after weeding the field, more important than even watering is the guarding of the crop.

If the good man fails to bestow personal attention on his field, then like a neglected wife it turns its face away in loving anger.

[Note: ¡Oodal¢ is the reaction of anger to any real or supposed lapse of attention on the part of the lover or husband. The farmer¢s field too, like the wife or sweetheart, will forgive and forget as soon as affection and attention are shown again.]

The goodwife Earth laughs at the foolishness of men who sit idle, bemoaning their poverty.

On Poverty

Every morning opens with the blighting thought of the struggle for existence that must again be faced.

[Note: ¡Nirappu¢ is extreme poverty.]

Even truth gets depreciated in value by reason of indigence (poverty). The exposition of truth coming from the mouth of the needy man carries no weight and proves ineffective.

A mother¢s love is the one thing that can be expected to stand unaffected by the exigencies of fortune. Even this is likely to grow lukewarm when the son is a poor man.

[Note: ¡Aramsaaraanalkuravu¢ indigence not associated with religious duty; or indigence which generally renders even the performance of man¢s essential duties impossible.]

If there were no poor people to seek help, this beautiful world would be only like a temporary stage for a marionette (puppet) show.

[Note: i.e., life would be mere physical motion without any stirring of the soul within.)

If a man approached has an open heart and knows his debt to society, then, indeed, to be in need and to receive help becomes a beauty and a pleasure.

Labour

If the world were so ordered that some of its inhabitants must live in dependence and on the mercy of others, the Creator would indeed deserve the curse of becoming a wandering beggar himself.

There is no dish so sweet as that earned by one¢s own labour, be it but the thinnest gruel.

The ¡No¢ of the unwilling man is poison and death to the suppliant. But it is strange that such mortal poison did not hurt the man through whose mouth it passed and with whom it was in primary physical contact.

The Prosperous State

A prince will be a lion among princes whose state has an adequate army, whose people are industrious, whose country has ample food resources, who has wise and vigilant ministers, who commands the friendship of foreign princes, and whose forts are dependable. The prince who commands these six essentials is a lion among rulers.

They are fit to rule who possess in unfailing measure fearlessness, liberality, wisdom and enthusiasm in action.

The necessary good characteristics of a good ruler are diligence, learning and courage.

A good government never swerves from dharma (righteousness), it puts adharma out of the kingdom, and its military honour is unsullied.

The duties of the ruler are production of wealth, conservation of resources, defence of the state and right expenditure. In a good government these duties are well performed.

If the ruler is accessible and is not harsh in speech, the state will attain fame.

If the king acts according to the law and protects his people, he will be regarded as a god.

[Note: the law in ancient India was not made by legislators, but was to be culled from the scriptures and established custom. The king was also to obey the law.]

The people will rest happy under the umbrella of a prince who has the quality of listening to the advice of his ministers even when it is unpleasant.

Action

In every action there are the three elements of loss, acquisition and value. The quality and measure of each of these three elements should be weighed before undertaking any action.

The prince whose undertakings are carefully launched after deliberation with a body of tried counsellors will find no impediment in the achievement of his objects.

The wise do not launch an undertaking by which, for a possible future gain, they will lose what is already got.

Ill-considered aggressive operations serve only to mobilise and strengthen an enemy.

But it should be remembered that a merely passive attitude is ruinous if the occasion calls for action.

Plan fully before launching out on action. To think of devising ways and means in the course of the action is fatal.

The energy that is spent on action without being first adequately spent on planning it out, will be empty of results, whatever may be the manpower placed in the field.

The means adopted should be such as would not be condemned by an enlightened world which never approves of unworthy means.

[Note: ¡The world¢ in Indian classics, Sanskrit as well as Tamil, means enlightened people. It is not the mere majority of the population.]

Many are those whose ambition has led them into aggressive campaigns without properly estimating the strength at their command, taking them to destruction.

He meets his end speedily who does not behave wisely towards alien powers and who does not realise the limitations of his own strength but loses himself in self over-estimation.

Too great a load of even peacock feathers will break the axle-tree of the cart.

[Note: It may be a surprise to many that the words ¡achchu¢, ¡chaakaadu¢, ¡pandam¢, whose shape suggests a pure Tamil origin are Sanskrit words Aksha, Shakat and Bhanda respectively.]

The tree climber can negotiate the branches up to a limit. If his enthusiasm takes him beyond the limit, he falls and meets with death.

It is not a great misfortune for a state if its revenues are limited, provided the expenditure is kept within bounds.

The seeming splendour of a career carried on without adjustment to means, will suddenly disappear leaving no vestige behind.

Judging The Time

Is there anything impossible if the right means are adopted and the right hour is chosen?

[Note: Tamil absorbed some Sanskrit words thousands of years ago and so thoroughly that one may not even note them as such; ¡Karuvi¢, tool is an example of this kind: ¡Kri¢ do.]

The kings who desire to conquer wait calmly for the right time to arrive for striking.

[Note: ¡Kalangaadu¢, without losing their heads, without being tempted into premature action.]

The restraint of the energetic is like the rearward (backward) steps that the fighting ram always takes before charging.

[Note: Ram fighting was an amusement common among the Tamils of Tiru-Valluvar¢s day.]

The anger of the wise does not exhibit its heat immediately on provocation, but smoulders within until the time arrives for action.

Do not stint in courtesies, but show obsequious humility before your humility before your enemy; when the time arrives for action, you will be able to make him bow his head before you.

[Note: ¡Kizhakkaamtalai¢- the head will go down. This may mean, as the commentator interprets, will roll down, i.e., by death. But it is perhaps more in keeping with the spirit of Tiru-Valluvar¢s teaching to take it as bowing in subordination.]

Occasion comes but rarely. When it comes, seize it promptly if you are intent on a great aim.

Imitate the stork in bidding your time; but when the time is ripe, act with swift and sure aim as the stork does.

Tactics

Till you find the place suitable for surrounding the opposing force, do not begin your attack, and do not commit the fatal mistake of underestimating the enemy¢s strength.

Even if your force is numerous and eager, defensive fortifications are not to be neglected, as that advantage helps in many ways.

Though you are weaker in your army, if you choose the right place to give battle and your operations are conducted with care, you may win as if you had a bigger army.

The enemy¢s plans will be upset if you attack choosing an advantageous place, and if your forces are well protected.

If full (adequate or proper) thought is spent over the plan of operations and you are able to choose your own place of action, there is no need for other support; the courage of your men will carry victory.

With a large army you should not engage in battle in a place fit only for a smaller force; for then your full force will not have room for action and is likely to be demoralized.

Even though their fortifications and army may be weaker, it is not easy to attack and overcome those who have the advantage of operating in their native country.

[Note: The importance of favourable time is stressed by the simile of the owl being defeated by the crow if the fight is during daytime. The difference wrought by a right choice of place is brought out by the analogies of the crocodile and of the boat.]

In deep waters, the crocodile triumphs, but out of the water it is powerless.

The crow defeats the owl in daytime. The kings who intend to defeat the operations of their strong enemies must choose the right time.

The strong-wheeled chariot cannot be driven on the sea, and the boat that moves swiftly on the water cannot be used on land.

Will continue on part 6

with regards

dilip