The Kural - Thiruvalluvar

'India's missile man' is solely responsible for my reading this Tamil classic. Dr.Kalam being a Kural scholar , his books and speeches are adorned with verses from The Kural. So a must read for a Kalam fan . I'm reading the translated edition by P.S. Sundaram. The classic, comprising 1330 couplets, deals with the first three of the four supreme aims of life:virtue (dharma),wealth (artha),love (kama) and salvation (moksha).However, Valluvar omitted salvation from the kural because if the maxims laid down for the attainment of the first three goals were followed diligently, salvation would follow automatically. True. My 'dharma' is to read and advertise. Here are some interesting couplets:- 

This world is his who knows for what they are

Taste, sight, touch, sound and smell.

Be good, don't waste a day; and so

Block the way to rebirth.

Domestic life is virtue, especially when 

It is free from blame.

Be born, if you must, for fame: or else

Better not be born at all.

Life without blame is life,

Without fame death.

Even a lie is truthful

If it does unsullied good.

A day, so called, if rightfully understood,

Is a sword hacking at life.

When on liberation's road the very body is a burden

Why take other luggage?

What matters if they live or die

Whose taste is in their tongues, not ears?

Good friends are like good books-
A perpetual delight.


Folly is nothing but the conceit
That one is wise.


The plant betrays the soil, and speech
The man of birth.


The leaping then and the weeping now
Are laughable.


I live always on my past days with him-
What else have I?


Whom are you seeking outside, my heart,
While my dear one is within?