TIRUKKURAL, Mysticism, reading, forums, Numerology, Sun Signs, Divination

Posts: 4397 · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:06 pm

1.2.18 The knowledge of what is Befitting a Man's Position

211
Duty demands no recompense; to clouds of heaven,
By men on earth, what answering gift is given?
Benevolence seeks not a return. What does the world give back to the clouds ?

212
The worthy say, when wealth rewards their toil-spent hours,
For uses of beneficence alone 'tis ours.
All the wealth acquired with perseverance by the worthy is for the exercise of benevolence.

213
To 'due beneficence' no equal good we know,
Amid the happy gods, or in this world below.
It is difficult to obtain another good equal to benevolence either in this world or in that of the gods.

214
Who knows what's human life's befitting grace,
He lives; the rest 'mongst dead men have their place.
He truly lives who knows (and discharges) the proper duties (of benevolence). He who knows them not will be reckoned among the dead.

215
The wealth of men who love the 'fitting way,' the truly wise,
Is as when water fills the lake that village needs supplies.
The wealth of that man of eminent knowledge who desires to exercise the benevolence approved of by the world, is like the full waters of a city-tank.

216
A tree that fruits in th' hamlet's central mart,
Is wealth that falls to men of liberal heart.
The wealth of a man (possessed of the virtue) of benevolence is like the ripening of a fruitful tree in the midst of a town.

217
Unfailing tree that healing balm distils from every part,
Is ample wealth that falls to him of large and noble heart.
If wealth be in the possession of a man who has the great excellence (of benevolence), it is like a tree which as a medicine is an infallible cure for disease.

218
E'en when resources fall, they weary not of 'kindness due,'-
They to whom Duty's self appears in vision true.
The wise who know what is duty will not scant their benevolence even when they are without wealth.

219
The kindly-hearted man is poor in this alone,
When power of doing deeds of goodness he finds none.
The poverty of a benevolent man, is nothing but his inability to exercise the same.

220
Though by 'beneficence,' the loss of all should come,
'Twere meet man sold himself, and bought it with the sum.
If it be said that loss will result from benevolence, such loss is worth being procured even by the sale of one's self.

1.2.19 Giving

221
Call that a gift to needy men thou dost dispense,
All else is void of good, seeking for recompense.
To give to the destitute is true charity. All other gifts have the nature of (what is done for) a measured return.

222
Though men declare it heavenward path, yet to receive is ill;
Though upper heaven were not, to give is virtue still.
To beg is evil, even though it were said that it is a good path (to heaven). To give is good, even though it were said that those who do so cannot obtain heaven.

223
'I've nought' is ne'er the high-born man's reply;
He gives to those who raise themselves that cry.
(Even in a low state) not to adopt the mean expedient of saying "I have nothing," but to give, is the characteristic of the mad of noble birth.

224
The suppliants' cry for aid yields scant delight,
Until you see his face with grateful gladness bright.
To see men begging from us in disagreeable, until we see their pleasant countenance.

225
'Mid devotees they're great who hunger's pangs sustain,
Who hunger's pangs relieve a higher merit gain.
The power of those who perform penance is the power of enduring hunger. It is inferior to the power of those who remove the hunger (of others).

226
Let man relieve the wasting hunger men endure;
For treasure gained thus finds he treasure-house secure.
The removal of the killing hunger of the poor is the place for one to lay up his wealth.

227
Whose soul delights with hungry men to share his meal,
The hand of hunger's sickness sore shall never feel.
The fiery disease of hunger shall never touch him who habitually distributes his food to others.

228
Delight of glad'ning human hearts with gifts do they not know.
Men of unpitying eye, who hoard their wealth and lose it so?
Do the hard-eyed who lay up and lose their possessions not know the happiness which springs from the pleasure of giving ?

229
They keep their garners full, for self alone the board they spread;-
'Tis greater pain, be sure, than begging daily bread!
Solitary and unshared eating for the sake of filling up one's own riches is certainly much more unpleasant than begging.

230
'Tis bitter pain to die, 'Tis worse to live.
For him who nothing finds to give!
Nothing is more unpleasant