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

Posts: 4397 · Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:56 pm

2.3.16. Enmity within

881
Water and shade, if they unwholesome prove, will bring you pain.
And qualities of friends who treacherous act, will be your bane.
Shade and water are not pleasant, (if) they cause disease; so are the qualities of (one's) relations not agreeable, (if) they cause pain.

882
Dread not the foes that as drawn swords appear;
Friendship of foes, who seem like kinsmen, fear!
Fear not foes (who say they would cut) like a sword; (but) fear the friendship of foes (who seemingly act) like relations.

883
Of hidden hate beware, and guard thy life;
In troublous time 'twill deeper wound than potter's knife.
Fear internal enmity and guard yourself; (if not) it will destroy (you) in an evil hour, as surely as the tool which cuts the potter's clay.

884
If secret enmities arise that minds pervert,
Then even kin unkind will work thee grievous hurt.
The secret enmity of a person whose mind in unreformed will lead to many evils causing disaffection among (one's) relations.

885
Amid one's relatives if hidden hath arise,
'Twill hurt inflict in deadly wise.
If there appears internal hatred in a (king's) family; it will lead to many a fatal crime.

886
If discord finds a place midst those who dwelt at one before,
'Tis ever hard to keep destruction from the door.
If hatred arises among (one's) own people, it will be hardly possible (for one) to escape death.

887
As casket with its cover, though in one they live alway,
No union to the house where hate concealed hath sway.
Never indeed will a family subject to internal hatred unite (really) though it may present an apparent union like that of a casket and its lid.

888
As gold with which the file contends is worn away,
So strength of house declines where hate concealed hath sway.
A family subject to internal hatred will wear out and lose its strength like iron that has been filed away.

889
Though slight as shred of 'seasame' seed it be,
Destruction lurks in hidden enmity.
Although internal hatred be as small as the fragment of the sesamum (seed), still does destruction dwell in it.

890
Domestic life with those who don't agree,
Is dwelling in a shed with snake for company.
Living with those who do not agree (with one) is like dwelling with a cobra (in the same) hut.

2.3.17. Not Offending the Great

891
The chiefest care of those who guard themselves from ill,
Is not to slight the powers of those who work their mighty will.
Not to disregard the power of those who can carry out (their wishes) is more important than all the watchfulness of those who guard (themselves against evil).

892
If men will lead their lives reckless of great men's will,
Such life, through great men's powers, will bring perpetual ill.
To behave without respect for the great (rulers) will make them do (us) irremediable evils.

893
Who ruin covet let them shut their ears, and do despite
To those who, where they list to ruin have the might.
If a person desires ruin, let him not listen to the righteous dictates of law, but commit crimes against those who are able to slay (other sovereigns).

894
When powerless man 'gainst men of power will evil deeds essay,
Tis beck'ning with the hand for Death to seize them for its prey.
The weak doing evil to the strong is like beckoning Yama to come (and destroy them).

895
Who dare the fiery wrath of monarchs dread,
Where'er they flee, are numbered with the dead.
Those who have incurred the wrath of a cruel and mighty potentate will not prosper wherever they may go.

896
Though in the conflagration caught, he may escape from thence:
He 'scapes not who in life to great ones gives offence.
Though burnt by a fire (from a forest), one may perhaps live; (but) never will he live who has shown disrespect to the great (devotees).

897
Though every royal gift, and stores of wealth your life should crown,
What are they, if the worthy men of mighty virtue frown?
If a king incurs the wrath of the righteous great, what will become of his government with its splendid auxiliaries and (all) its untold wealth ?

898
If they, whose virtues like a mountain rise, are light esteemed;
They die from earth who, with their households, ever-during seemed.
If (the) hill-like (devotees) resolve on destruction, those who seemed to be everlasting will be destroyed root and branch from the earth.

899
When blazes forth the wrath of men of lofty fame,
Kings even fall from high estate and perish in the flame.
If those of exalted vows burst in a rage, even (Indra) the king will suffer a sudden loss and be entirely ruined.

900
Though all-surpassing wealth of aid the boast,
If men in glorious virtue great are wrath, they're lost.
Though in possession of numerous auxiliaries, they will perish who are-exposed to the wrath of the noble whose penance is boundless.

2.3.18. Being led by Women

901
Who give their soul to love of wife acquire not nobler gain;
Who give their soul to strenuous deeds such meaner joys disdain.
Those who lust after their wives will not attain the excellence of virtue; and it is just this that is not desired by those who are bent on acquiring wealth.

902
Who gives himself to love of wife, careless of noble name
His wealth will clothe him with o'erwhelming shame.
The wealth of him who, regardless (of his manliness), devotes himself to his wife's feminine nature will cause great shame (to ali men) and to himself;

903
Who to his wife submits, his strange, unmanly mood
Will daily bring him shame among the good.
The frailty that stoops to a wife will always make (her husband) feel ashamed among the good.

904
No glory crowns e'en manly actions wrought
By him who dreads his wife, nor gives the other world a thought.
The undertaking of one, who fears his wife and is therefore destitute of (bliss), will never be applauded.

905
Who quakes before his wife will ever tremble too,
Good deeds to men of good deserts to do.
He that fears his wife will always be afraid of doing good deeds (even) to the good.

906
Though, like the demi-gods, in bliss they dwell secure from harm,
Those have no dignity who fear the housewife's slender arm.
They that fear the bamboo-like shoulders of their wives will be destitute of manliness though they may flourish like the Gods.

907
The dignity of modest womanhood excels
His manliness, obedient to a woman's law who dwells.
Even shame faced womanhood is more to be esteemed than the shameless manhood that performs the behests of a wife.

908
Who to the will of her with beauteous brow their lives conform,
Aid not their friends in need, nor acts of charity perform.
Those who yield to the wishes of their wives will neither relieve the wants of (their) friends nor perform virtuous deeds.

909
No virtuous deed, no seemly wealth, no pleasure, rests
With them who live obedient to their wives' behests.
From those who obey the commands of their wives are to be expected neither deeds of virtue, nor those of wealth nor (even) those of pleasure.

910
Where pleasures of the mind, that dwell in realms of thought, abound,
Folly, that springs from overweening woman's love, is never found.
The foolishness that results from devotion to a wife will never be found in those who possess a reflecting mind and a prosperity (flowing) therefrom.