The Tirukkural (Tiru = Sri or sacred; Kural = a couplet containing roughly seven words in two lines), was composed by the saintpoet Tiruvalluvar about two thousand years ago. He is said to have lived in Mylapore in Chennai and there stands a temple for him in this locality. ‘Valluvar’ is said to be the caste he belonged to. The Tirukkural has been translated into more than thirty Indian and foreign languages. The 1330 couplets are divided into 133 chapters in three sections: 1. ‘Aram’ (Dharma) 2.‘Porul’ (Artha) and 3. ‘Inbam’ (Kama) corresponding to the ‘Purusharthas’ or goals of life. Though he omitted ‘Veedu’ (Moksha), he has spoken of the liberation of the soul in many a couplet in the ‘Aram’ section, containing 37 chapters. Tiruvalluvar might have thought that a strict adherence to the moral, ethical and spiritual canons codified by him in the ‘Aram’ section might pave the way for one’s liberation or ‘Mukti’.

Since Tiruvalluvar is non-sectarian, he has followers from different faiths. This universal acceptance speaks for the life he led. It reminds us of what Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar said to Sri Ramakrishna: ‘What, then, should be our duty? It seems to me that we should live in such a way that, if others followed our example, this very Earth would be heaven. Everyone should try to do good to the world.’¹ Over the centuries some ten commentaries were written on Tirukkural, of which Parimelazhagar’s commentary is regarded as the best. Today, there are more than a hundred commentaries in different languages. The first English translation of Tirukkural was done by Rev. G. U. Pope in the year 1886. Some other English translators are Va. Ve. Su. Iyer, Kavi Yogi Suddhanandha Bharati, Sri Aurobindo, Sivaya Sivasubramuniyaswami, and V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar.

The immeasurable depth of Tirukkural is described beautifully by Avvaiyar, a contemporary saint-poetess. She describes Tirukkural as a mustard which is pierced and made to contain the seven seas! Subramania Bharati, the famous Tamil poet who wrote patriotic and devotional songs, rightly says, ‘Tamil Nadu gave Valluvar to the world and thereby won great renown.’

The Tirukkural is a treasure-house of moral and ethical maxims useful to master the art of living. In his ‘The Sermon on the Mount according to Vedanta’ Swami Prabhavananda says, ‘Like Krishna and Buddha, Christ did not preach a mere ethical or social gospel but an uncompromisingly spiritual one. He declared that God can be seen, that divine perfection can be achieved. In order that man might attain this supreme goal of existence, he taught the renunciation of worldliness, the contemplation of God and the purification of the heart through the love of God.’² Whatever is said of Christ here aptly applies to Tiruvalluvar the mystic.

‘Aram’ (Dharma) is defined by Tiruvalluvar as purity of mind, desirelessness, elimination of lust, anger, jealousy and the use of harsh words. ‘Aram’ not only enriches our life in this world, it also paves the way to liberation. If one studies, with the help of a good commentary, the 37 chapters in ‘Aram’ one finds that the couplets deal with all those spiritual and ‘dharmic’ values that we find recorded in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, which embodies Sri Ramakrishna’s life, conversations, anecdotes and parables.

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, first published in 1942, is the English translation of the Bengali text Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita written by Mahendranath Gupta, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. The book presents a detailed account of Sri Ramakrishna’s daily life and his conversations with his disciples, devotees and visitors.

 ‘Discrimination’ and ‘Renunciation’ are the two important spiritual disciplines dear to Sri Ramakrishna and Tiruvalluvar. Sri Ramakrishna makes the pithy maxims come to life with his characteristic rural humour, mild sarcasm and high seriousness. Talking about intense renunciation, Sri Ramakrishna tells Mahimacharan this story: ‘A certain woman said to her husband: “So-and-so has developed a spirit of great dispassion for the world, but I don’t see anything of that sort in you. He has sixteen wives. He is giving them up one by one.” The husband, with a towel on his shoulder, was going to the lake for his bath. He said to his wife: “You are crazy! He won’t be able to give up the world. It is never possible to renounce bit by bit. I can renounce. Look! Here I go.” He didn’t stop even to settle his household affairs. He left his home just as he was, the towel on his shoulder, and went away. That is intense renunciation!’³

It is interesting to note how Tiruvalluvar presents this precious truth in one and a half lines,

Curb the senses five and renounce, The craving desires all at once. (35,3)

The 35th chapter entitled ‘Renunciation’ begins with a couplet which translates thus,

From what, from what a man is free, From that, from that, his torments flee.

The wording of this couplet on detachment is such that, our lips are detached from each other when we read this in Tamil!

While conversing with Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Sri Ramakrishna tells him, ‘“I” and “mine” – these constitute ignorance. “My house”, “my wealth”, “my learning”, “my possessions” – the attitude that prompts one to say such things comes of ignorance. On the contrary, the attitude born of Knowledge is: “O God, Thou art the Master, and all these things belong to Thee. House, family, children, attendants, friends, are Thine.”’⁴ This same idea is wonderfully presented in a nutshell by Tiruvalluvar:

Give up that ego, ‘I and mine’- pure ignorance To heaven they go. (35,6)

He follows it up with:

Those who give up not the ego,
Woes give up not
In grief, they are caught!

Talking about the importance of regular spiritual practice Sri Ramakrishna tells a devotee, ‘Through the discipline of constant practice one is able to give up attachment to “woman and gold.” That is what the Gita says. By practice one acquires uncommon power of mind. Then one doesn’t find it difficult to subdue the sense-organs and to bring anger, lust, and the like under control. Such a man behaves like a tortoise, which, once it has tucked in its limbs, never puts them out. You cannot make the tortoise put its limbs out again, though you chop it to pieces with an axe.’⁵ In Kural 7 of chapter 13 Tiruvalluvar uses the same simile. In this chapter that speaks of humility, control of the tongue, avoiding anger and unpleasant words Tiruvalluvar focuses mainly on the need for curbing sense-pleasures. He writes,

If one were to withdraw within oneself the five senses like a tortoise
It would afford him protection all the seven births

Sri Ramakrishna tells a Brahmo devotee, ‘It is enough to feel that God is a person who listens to our prayers, who creates, preserves and destroys the universe and who is endowed with infinite power.’⁶ In the first ‘Adhikaram’ (chapter) ‘Invocation’, Tiruvalluvar worships God as a person. He refers to the twin feet of God in all the couplets, which is common to the Gods of all faiths. He asks

Of what avail is learning if the learned do not adore
the good feet of Him, who is Immaculate Wisdom?

When a devotee asks for blessings, Sri Ramakrishna tells him of the blessings that Yasoda prayed from Radhika. Yasoda says, ‘Please bless me, that with all my body, mind, and speech I may think of God and serve Him; that with my ears I may hear the singing of God’s name and glories; that with my hands I may serve Hari and His devotees; that with my eyes I may behold His form and His devotees.’⁷ Sri Ramakrishna then assures the devotee that he does not have to worry as Divine love has grown in him.

Tiruvalluvar does exactly what Yasoda asks for. His worship of God is on all the three levels—body, mind and speech.

Those who incessantly think of the great feet (of Him) who lives in the lotus of the heart (of the devotee) live eternally in heaven. (1, 3)

The head that does not bow down before and worship the Lord with attributes will be like the palsied senses. (1, 9)

Actions both good and bad that spring from the darkness of the mind will never touch those who ever chant the glories of the Lord.

Speaking of discrimination, Sri Ramakrishna gives a wonderful description, ‘Discrimination is the reasoning by which one knows that God alone is real and all else is unreal. Real means eternal, unreal means impermanent. . . With the awakening of this spirit of discrimination, a man wants to know God.’⁸ In Kural 2, Chapter 36 Tiruvalluvar uses the words ‘darkness’ and ‘light’ in a spiritual sense and writes,

Men of pure vision are led from darkness.

He uses the words ‘marul’ and ‘mayakkam’ for delusion. He counsels in Kural 8, Chapter 36,

Seek the Truth to remove delusion; that is wisdom.

Again he says,

Out of ignorance which mistakes things unreal for things real, springs the wretched cycle of births.

In Kural 2, chapter 36 he uses the words, ‘Inbam payakkum’ which means ‘will bestow joy’. This is similar to the ‘mansion of mirth’ that Sri Ramakrishna speaks of. Sri Ramakrishna tells a pundit, ‘This world is, no doubt, “a framework of illusion”, unreal, as a dream. One feels that way when one discriminates following the process of “Not this, not this”. But after the vision of God, this very world becomes “a mansion of mirth.”’⁹

Sri Ramakrishna often pointed out that the staircase leading to the roof is made of the same substance as the roof. It may not be far from the truth that Tiruvalluvar prescribed the moral and ethical disciplines as steps leading to the realisation of the Absolute.

References

1. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, p. 101, (hereafter, ‘The Gospel’)
2. The Sermon on the Mount according to Vedanta, p 15
3. The Gospel, p 410-411
4. The Gospel, p. 105.
5. The Gospel, p. 179.
6. The Gospel, p. 149.
7. The Gospel, p. 598.
8. The Gospel, p. 327.
9. The Gospel, p. 836.

Glimpses from Tirukkural

Four ills eschew and virtue reach,
Lust, anger, envy, evil-speech.

What bolt can bar true love in fact
The trickling tears reveal the heart.

Who holds His feet who likes nor loathes
Are free from woes of human births.

The seat of life is love alone;
Or beings are but skin and bone!

As earth bears up with diggers too
To bear revilers is prime virtue.

The wealth that wise and kind do make
Is like water that fills a lake.

Rein the tongue if nothing else
Or slips of tongue bring all the woes.

All lands and towns are learner’s own
Why not till death learning go on!

—Tiruvalluvar

Source : Vedanta Kesari, August, 2016