PART I. VIRTUE - Domestic Virtue

Chapter. 11. The Knowledge of Benefits Conferred: Gratitude

Kural-101
Assistance given by those who ne'er received our aid,
Is debt by gift of heaven and earth but poorly paid.
(The gift of) heaven and earth is not an equivalent for a benefit which is conferred where none had been received.

Kural-102
A timely benefit, -though thing of little worth,
The gift itself, -in excellence transcends the earth.
A favour conferred in the time of need, though it be small (in itself), is (in value) much larger than the world.

Kural-103
Kindness shown by those who weigh not what the return may be:
When you ponder right its merit, 'Tis vaster than the sea.
If we weigh the excellence of a benefit which is conferred without weighing the return, it is larger than the sea.

Kural-104
Each benefit to those of actions' fruit who rightly deem,
Though small as millet-seed, as palm-tree vast will seem.
Though the benefit conferred be as small as a millet seed, those who know its advantage will consider it as large as a palmyra fruit.

Kural-105
The kindly aid's extent is of its worth no measure true;
Its worth is as the worth of him to whom the act you do.
The benefit itself is not the measure of the benefit; the worth of those who have received it is its measure.

Kural-106
Kindness of men of stainless soul remember evermore!
Forsake thou never friends who were thy stay in sorrow sore!
Forsake not the friendship of those who have been your staff in adversity. Forget not be benevolence of the blameless.

Kural-107
Through all seven worlds, in seven-fold birth, Remains in mem'ry of the wise.
Friendship of those who wiped on earth, The tears of sorrow from their eyes.
(The wise) will remember throughout their seven-fold births the love of those who have wiped away their affliction.

Kural-108
'Tis never good to let the thought of good things done thee pass away;
Of things not good, 'tis good to rid thy memory that very day.
It is not good to forget a benefit; it is good to forget an injury even in the very moment (in which it is inflicted).

Kural-109
Effaced straightway is deadliest injury,
By thought of one kind act in days gone by.
Though one inflict an injury great as murder, it will perish before the thought of one benefit (formerly) conferred.

Kural-110
Who every good have killed, may yet destruction flee;
Who 'benefit' has killed, that man shall ne'er 'scape free!
He who has killed every virtue may yet escape; there is no escape for him who has killed a benefit.

Chapter. 12. Impartiality

Kural-112
The just man's wealth unwasting shall endure,
And to his race a lasting joy ensure.
The wealth of the man of rectitude will not perish, but will bring happiness also to his posterity.

Kural-113
Though only good it seem to give, yet gain
By wrong acquired, not e'en one day retain!
Forsake in the very moment (of acquisition) that gain which, though it should bring advantage, is without equity.

Kural-114
Who just or unjust lived shall soon appear:
By each one's offspring shall the truth be clear.
The worthy and unworthy may be known by the existence or otherwise of good offsprings.

Kural-115
The gain and loss in life are not mere accident;
Just mind inflexible is sages' ornament.
Loss and gain come not without cause; it is the ornament of the wise to preserve evenness of mind (under both).

Kural-116
If, right deserting, heart to evil turn,
Let man impending ruin's sign discern!
Let him whose mind departing from equity commits sin well consider thus within himself, "I shall perish."

Kural-117
The man who justly lives, tenacious of the right,
In low estate is never low to wise man's sight.
The great will not regard as poverty the low estate of that man who dwells in the virtue of equity.

Kural-118
To stand, like balance-rod that level hangs and rightly weighs,
With calm unbiassed equity of soul, is sages' praise.
To incline to neither side, but to rest impartial as the even-fixed scale is the ornament of the wise.

Kural-119
Inflexibility in word is righteousness,
If men inflexibility of soul possess.
Freedom from obliquity of speech is rectitude, if there be (corresponding) freedom from bias of mind.

Kural-120
As thriving trader is the trader known,
Who guards another's interests as his own.
The true merchandize of merchants is to guard and do by the things of others as they do by their own.

Chapter. 13. The Possession of Self-restraint

Kural-121
Control of self does man conduct to bliss th' immortals share;
Indulgence leads to deepest night, and leaves him there.
Self-control will place (a man) among the Gods; the want of it will drive (him) into the thickest darkness (of hell).

Kural-122
Guard thou as wealth the power of self-control;
Than this no greater gain to living soul!
Let self-control be guarded as a treasure; there is no greater source of good for man than that.

Kural-123
If versed in wisdom's lore by virtue's law you self restrain.
Your self-repression known will yield you glory's gain.
Knowing that self-control is knowledge, if a man should control himself, in the prescribed course, such self-control will bring him distinction among the wise.

Kural-124
In his station, all unswerving, if man self subdue,
Greater he than mountain proudly rising to the view.
More lofty than a mountain will be the greatness of that man who without swerving from his domestic state, controls himself.

Kural-125
To all humility is goodly grace; but chief to them
With fortune blessed, -'tis fortune's diadem.
Humility is good in all; but especially in the rich it is (the excellence of) higher riches.

Kural-126
Like tortoise, who the five restrains
In one, through seven world bliss obtains.
Should one throughout a single birth, like a tortoise keep in his five senses, the fruit of it will prove a safe-guard to him throughout the seven-fold births.

Kural-127
Whate'er they fail to guard, o'er lips men guard should keep;
If not, through fault of tongue, they bitter tears shall weep.
Whatever besides you leave unguarded, guard your tongue; otherwise errors of speech and the consequent misery will ensue.

Kural-128
Though some small gain of good it seem to bring,
The evil word is parent still of evil thing.
If a man's speech be productive of a single evil, all the good by him will be turned into evil.

Kural-129
In flesh by fire inflamed, nature may thoroughly heal the sore;
In soul by tongue inflamed, the ulcer healeth never more.
The wound which has been burnt in by fire may heal, but a wound burnt in by the tongue will never heal.

Kural-130
Who learns restraint, and guards his soul from wrath,
Virtue, a timely aid, attends his path.
Virtue, seeking for an opportunity, will come into the path of that man who, possessed of learning and self-control, guards himself against anger.

Chapter. 14. The Possession of Decorum

Kural-132
Searching, duly watching, learning, 'decorum' still we find;
Man's only aid; toiling, guard thou this with watchful mind.
Let propriety of conduct be laboriously preserved and guarded; though one know and practise and excel in many virtues, that will be an eminent aid.

Kural-133
'Decorum's' true nobility on earth;
'Indecorum's' issue is ignoble birth.
Propriety of conduct is true greatness of birth, and impropriety will sink into a mean birth.

Kural-134
Though he forget, the Brahman may regain his Vedic lore;
Failing in 'decorum due,' birthright's gone for evermore.
A Brahman though he should forget the Vedas may recover it by reading; but, if he fail in propriety of conduct even his high birth will be destroyed.

Kural-135
The envious soul in life no rich increase of blessing gains,
So man of 'due decorum' void no dignity obtains.
Just as the envious man will be without wealth, so will the man of destitute of propriety of conduct be without greatness.

Kural-136
The strong of soul no jot abate of 'strict decorum's' laws,
Knowing that 'due decorum's' breach foulest disgrace will cause.
Those firm in mind will not slacken in their observance of the proprieties of life, knowing, as they do, the misery that flows from the transgression from them.

Kural-137
'Tis source of dignity when 'true decorum' is preserved;
Who break 'decorum's' rules endure e'en censures undeserved.
From propriety of conduct men obtain greatness; from impropriety comes insufferable disgrace.

Kural-138
'Decorum true' observed a seed of good will be;
'Decorum's breach' will sorrow yield eternally.
Propriety of conduct is the seed of virtue; impropriety will ever cause sorrow.

Kural-139
It cannot be that they who 'strict decorum's' law fulfil,
E'en in forgetful mood, should utter words of ill.
Those who study propriety of conduct will not speak evil, even forgetfully.

Kural-140
Who know not with the world in harmony to dwell,
May many things have learned, but nothing well.
Those who know not how to act agreeably to the world, though they have learnt many things, are still ignorant.

Chapter. 15. Not coveting another's Wife

Kural-142
No fools, of all that stand from virtue's pale shut out,
Like those who longing lurk their neighbour's gate without.
Among all those who stand on the outside of virtue, there are no greater fools than those who stand outside their neighbour's door.

Kural-143
They're numbered with the dead, e'en while they live, -how otherwise?
With wife of sure confiding friend who evil things devise.
Certainly they are no better than dead men who desire evil towards the wife of those who undoubtingly confide in them.

Kural-144
How great soe'er they be, what gain have they of life,
Who, not a whit reflecting, seek a neighbour's wife.
However great one may be, what does it avail if, without at all considering his guilt, he goes unto the wife of another ?

Kural-145
'Mere triflel' saying thus, invades the home, so he ensures.
A gain of guilt that deathless aye endures.
He who thinks lightly of going into the wife of another acquires guilt that will abide with him imperishably and for ever.

Kural-146
Who home ivades, from him pass nevermore,
Hatred and sin, fear, foul disgrace; these four.
Hatred, sin, fear, disgrace; these four will never leave him who goes in to his neighbour's wife.

Kural-147
Who sees the wife, another's own, with no desiring eye
In sure domestic bliss he dwelleth ever virtuously.
He who desires not the womanhood of her who should walk according to the will of another will be praised as a virtuous house-holder.

Kural-148
Manly excellence, that looks not on another's wife,
Is not virtue merely, 'tis full 'propriety' of life.
That noble manliness which looks not at the wife of another is the virtue and dignity of the great.

Kural-149
Who 're good indeed, on earth begirt by ocean's gruesome tide?
The men who touch not her that is another's bride.
Is it asked, "who are those who shall obtain good in this world surrounded by the terror-producing sea ?" Those who touch not the shoulder of her who belongs to another.

Kural-150
Though virtue's bounds he pass, and evil deeds hath wrought;
At least, 'tis good if neighbour's wife he covet not.
Though a man perform no virtuous deeds and commit (every) vice, it will be well if he desire not the womanhood of her who is within the limit (of the house) of another.

 

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