Tamils - a Trans State Nation..

'To usall towns are one, all men our kin.
Life's good comes not fromothers' gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seenin visionsof the wise!.'
- Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C

Thirukkural ofThiruvalluvar
திருவள்ளுவரின் திருக்குறள்

Thirukural - English Translation: Himalayan Academy

[also in PDF]

'The following works of art and literature are amongthe most remarkable contributions of the Tamil creative genius to theworld's cultural treasure and should be familiar to the whole world andadmired and beloved by all in the same way as the poems of Homer, thedramas of Shakespeare, the pictures of Rembrandt, the cathedrals ofFrance and the sculptures of Greece..... the Thirukural, one of thegreat books of the world, one of those singular emanations of the humanheart and spirit which preach positive love and forgiveness and peace.....'TheTamil Contribution to World Civilisation - Czech ProfessorDr. Kamil Zvelebil in Tamil Culture - Vol. V, No. 4. October, 1956

[see also

Thirukural in Tamil Original
Thirukural with Commentary by M.Karunanithi
Thirukkural inTamil with English Translation by Kaviyogi Maharishi ShuddhanandaBharatiar
ThirukuralEnglish Translation and Commentary - by Rev Dr G U Pope, Rev W H Drew, Rev JohnLazarus and Mr F W Ellis]

Introduction - Index

Thiru Kural - An IntroductionAn inspiredtalk bySatguruSivaya Subramuniyaswami, on Saint Tiruvalluvar's Guru Puja Day,February 15, 1979, introducing selections from the Holy Kural, theSaint's 2,100 year-old Tamil classic on virtuous living. (see also*Weaver'sWisdom - Ancient Precepts for a Perfect Life - Satguru SivayaSubramaniyaswami)

'This edition of the Holy Kural has been several years in the preparation. Itwas during a pilgrimage in 1975 to pay respects at my Satguru's mahasamadhi in Sri Lankathat the decision was made to bring the Tirukural to the West. I instructed oneof the sannyasins of our Order traveling with me to bring into American Englishthe essential meaning of the verses.

There had never been a translation in modern American English. He studied thevarious translations. Later he returned to the monastery here in Hawaii and withanother Sannyasin worked in the hours before dawn for many months. There werefive objectives in their work - to be faithful to the original Tamil in meaningand style, to be clear and understandable, to be brief whenever possible so asto capture the saint's succinct style, to be subtle and profound, and finally tohave the verses as graceful and refined in English as they are in Tamil. Thiswas not an easy task, as you can imagine.

It was further complicated by the fact that the text was written twentycenturies ago in a classical form of Tamil that is difficult to understandtoday. It is like trying to read the Old English works of Chaucer. They had toreflect on exactly what the saint meant, for often his verses are obscure andsubtle. They had to catch the same meaning, the same insight, to discover thesame area of consciousness which the saint held as he wrote. And then they hadto speak out that perception in the vernacular of our day. Realizing that muchmeaning would be lost if the attempt was made to use rhyming verse in thetranslation, I asked the Sannyasins to not attempt that, but to work in proseinstead.

Of the 133 chapters in the original work, 108 are included in this presentabridged edition, comprising the sections on virtue and wealth but not the final25 chapters on marital love. Each chapter consists of ten verses.

The total scripture is divided into four sections: the Preface, Virtue,Wealth and Love. In not speaking of the fourth and final objective of humanexistence, moksha or spiritual liberation, Saint Tiruvalluvar was able toreach out with his message of goodness and touch the lives of manygenerations.

Certainly he knew that in speaking of virtue and love he was leading the soulto the liberation which he perhaps held too sacred, or too advanced, to openlydiscuss. That is why it was awesome to be at the puja today and to see the twolarger-than-life black granite statues made for us in South India sittingtogether - the one who spoke on virtue, wealth and love and the other who spokeso potently on liberation in his great work, the Tirumantiram.

The whole of the way of Saivite Hinduism is contained in the works ofthese two eminent saints. The Holy Kural should be used in everyday life - itsverses committed to memory and meditated upon, to quote freely as your very own.

You will sound wise if you do remember and share these jewels. One of thegreatest benefits of this scripture is to guide our actions and our thoughts, todirect our purpose in life and refine our interactions with our fellow man.Problems can be resolved in the light of the saint's wisdom. If something isgoing along wrong in your life, bring the forces of life back into harmony bystudying the Holy Kural and applying its knowledge.

That is perhaps its main function - to perfect and protect our lives in theeveryday world by preventing mistakes which can cause an unhappy karma, bypreventing erroneous attitudes which can bring unnecessary sorrow into ourexperience. Yet, there is nothing in the Kural that has to be obeyed.

Each of the couplets contains such insight, however, that we are drawn to itand want to obey. Use the verses in this scripture to provide guidelines foreffective and virtuous action in your life. It can be our refuge in times ofconfusion, a source of inspiration when we feel less than inspired, a centralhub around which the endless play of Lord Siva's maya revolves.

Of course, it can be studied so as to comprehend the nature of virtue and thedifficulties caused by transgressing virtue's natural laws. It does not containa single concept or expression that would offend another faith, and thus it is afine introduction to the scriptures of the East.

The Holy Kural may well be the meeting ground, the common ground, of allreligions. It could be called a Common Creed for the modern world. But above allit is to be used by the individual to bring the wisdom of the ages, the wisdomof Saivaite Hinduism, into our lives. I hope you will all allow SaintTiruvalluvar's insights to spark your own intuition and reveal from withinyourself the laws which he too discovered within himself. Do not look upon thisscripture as something 'out there.'

Meditation and reflection will reveal that its knowledge lies within,vibrantly alive, dynamically real. It is impossible to not be moved by the grandcompassion and the direct discernment of the Kural. Let it enrich your life asyour journey along this Eternal Path, the Sanatana Dharma.

I would suggest that you commit to memory as many stanzas as you can. Manyhave done this, keeping them on the tip of their tongue and in the forefront oftheir mind. Impress them on the subconscious mind and thereby make a gridworkfor living that takes you swiftly to the goal and brings joy in the process, forHinduism is a joyous religion.

I would also suggest that you teach these gems to the children. This adviceand admonition, coming from the world's most ancient faith and culture, willenrich every child's understanding of goodness, right conduct and right thought.It is one of the most astute scriptures in the world today. It should bememorized, especially by small children. It will create a positive consciencefor their inner decision, guiding how they will conduct themsevles through life.

Small children all through South India memorize the Holy Kural in order to beable to chant it verse after verse - many can recite the entire 1,330 verses byheart. This gives them a code of living that remains with them the rest of theirlives. It is crucial that children be given the benefit of strong principlesfrom an early age, especially in these times when television and the stories,plots and scenes that children see on television which form the code of livingfor their lives provide opposite and obscure values.

The Holy Kural is therefore most important. It is essential that the valueswhich are the substance of the Holy Kural - the do's as well as the don'ts - becarried over into the next generation with courage and persistence and fortitudeso that our descendants, the heirs of a future which we are even now in theprocess of creating, are benefited by these age-old insights into universallaws, humanitarian laws and plain common sense. This is the responsibility ofall parents and those who teach our children. They may use this translationfreely, drawing upon its storehouse of virtuous living.

Quote from these verses freely. Use them as your very own. In SaivaiteHinduism we believe that the soul, man's soul created by Siva, is returning tothe Source which it already is, and this maturation is effected and directed bykarma, through experience, through a succession of lives that provide experiencefrom which inner knowledge is attained. This passage through one life and thenanother brings the soul ever closer to its true, effulgent being.

Saivaites believe that the soul can and does ultimately merge with Siva, withGod, with Absolute Reality. It becomes one with God, united in an ultimateexperience, or non-experience, called Self-realization, which in turn leads tomoksha or liberation from the necessity for further incarnation. This is thefinal goal, and the Holy Kural provides a foundation upon which the quest forthat goal may proceed with confidence and stability. '