Interviews

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March 12, 2022

Strength That Knows and Knowing Our Strengths

With Heart of Business founder Mark Silver I was honored and moved to explore power, relationships, awareness, and discerning one’s limits as reflected in chapter 48, “Knowing Strength,” from THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural.

Here are a few highlights and where in the video you can find them:

Knowing strength and strength that knows. 4:42
The power of all our relations. 7:01
The ecological relations of words and powers. 12:32
The necessity of awareness in being generous. 15:13
On discerning how far is too far. 22:37
Can you tell us more about the historial context of the Kural? 31:35
How did you inhabit the world of this work before translating it? 37:57

A designated Master Teacher (“muqaddam murrabi“) within the Shaddhilliyya Sufi lineage, he has received his Masters of Divinity with a speciality in Ministry and Sufi Studies.

As a coach, consultant, mentor and spiritual healer, he has facilitated thousands of individual sessions with entrepreneurs and has led hundreds of classes, seminars, groups and retreats. His weekly writings and teachings are followed by thousands of people around the globe.

He lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with his wife Holly, twin sons Sam and David, their aging and loving cat Rafi, their 100 lb husky-malamute-shephard Rocky.

https://www.heartofbusiness.com/

Here are the verses we talked about, in both English and Tamil:

471
Assess a deed’s power one’s power opponents’ power and the power
Of one’s friends—then act

வினைவலியும் தன்வலியும் மாற்றான் வலியும்
துணைவலியும் தூக்கிச் செயல்

473
Many have fallen midway—moving to move
Not knowing their strength

உடைத்தம் வலியறியார் ஊக்கத்தின் ஊக்கி
இடைக்கண் முரிந்தார் பலர்

474
Failing to fit others ignoring his limits and flaunting
Himself a king falls quickly

அமைந்தாங் கொழுகான் அளவறியான் தன்னை
வியந்தான் விரைந்து கெடும்

475
Even the axle of a cart of feathers breaks
If heaped with too many

பீலிபெய் சாகாடும் அச்சிறும் அப்பண்டஞ்
சால மிகுத்துப் பெயின்

476
If one at the end of a branch keeps climbing
His life is over

நுனிக்கொம்பர் ஏறினார் அஃதிறந் தூக்கின்
உயிர்க்கிறுதி ஆகி விடும்

479
A life that won’t live within limits appears full
Then falls completely

அளவறிந்து வாழாதான் வாழ்க்கை உளபோல
இல்லாகித் தோன்றாக் கெடும்

480
Generosity that doesn’t know what one has
Destroys what one has

உளவரை தூக்காத ஒப்புர வாண்மை
வளவரை வல்லைக் கெடும்

From chapter 48, “Knowing Strength.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston

Rage, Wonder & the Poetry of Paint: A Kural Conversation with Pam Ingalls

March 6, 2022

Painting, Seeing, and Being Seen

With my friend Pam Ingalls I was delighted to explore poetry, painting, and what faces reveal and conceal in the light of chapter 71, “Reading Faces,” from THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural.

Here are a few highlights and where in the video you can find them:

Seeing faces and seeing depths. 6:51
The moment when people pass away. 12:33
Rage and wonder together. 16:25
The process of painting and the best of one’s paintings. 21:58
Painting and the experience of being seen. 25:37
How a good poem changes you. 33:30

Pam Ingalls loves to paint light falling on ordinary people, objects and scenes. Raised in Spokane, Washington, she was first inspired by her parents, artists Richard and Marjorie Ingalls. She studied art at the Accademia Di Belle Arti in Florence, Italy and earned an art degree from the art department that her father began at Gonzaga University in Spokane.

After exploring a few side paths—among them, pursuing social justice aims and building a house—Pam returned to her true passion under the mentorship of Russian Impressionist, Ron Lukas – a protoge of Sergei Bongart. She also has studied with Frederick Frank, Richard Schmid and Burt Silverman.

“I paint simple things – the things I see, am attached to and love. Every subject contains an essence that belongs to just that moment. I get to be with that feeling while I translate it into the poetry of paint. As I become more aware, I keep learning that truth is everywhere. Painting is my way to see and tell the truth. I hope that I’ll inspire others to look twice at the beauty of their everyday lives…and to find their own way of expressing that.”

https://www.pamingalls.com/

Here are the verses we talked about, in both English and Tamil:

706
A crystal reflects its neighbor—as a face
The fullness of one’s heart

அடுத்தது காட்டும் பளிங்குபோல் நெஞ்சம்
கடுத்தது காட்டும் முகம்

707
What is more wise than a face—it puts forth
Rage and wonder

முகத்தின் முதுக்குறைந்த துண்டோ உவப்பினும்
காயினும் தான்முந் துறும்

701
A jewel on the earth of undying seas—he
Who sees and notes the unsaid

கூறாமை நோக்கக் குறிப்பறிவான் எஞ்ஞான்றும்
மாறாநீர் வையக் கணி

From chapter 71, “Reading Faces.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston

New Books Network Interview with Shruti Dixit

February 23, 2022

I was delighted to speak with Shruti Dixit on her podcast for the New Books Network about my new translation of THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural.

You can listen to the podcast by way of this link:

https://newbooksnetwork.com/thomas-hitoshi-pruiksma-the-kural-tiruvalluvars-tirukkural-beacon-press-2022

Shruti Dixit is a PhD Divinity Candidate at CSRP, University of St Andrews, researching the Hindu-Christian Dialogue in Apocalyptic Prophecies.

By One’s Own Hand: A Kural Conversation with C.F. John

February 18, 2022

Farming and the Interconnectedness of Life

With my friend C.F. John I was delighted to explore abundance, interconnectedness, and the ways we look at farming and farming communities in the light of THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural.

Here are a few highlights and where in the video you can find them:

On the different meanings of the word “farmer.” 3:36
How farmers stand between the wilderness, on the one side, and urban civilization, on the other. 9:25
Farming and interconnectedness: 28:31
Who is subsidizing whom? 35:32
Generosity and healthy restraint: 48:09
A question from John: What kind of rewiring had to happen in your head to be able to translate this work? 61:28

C.F. John is an established senior artist and social activist based in Bangalore. After completing his studies in Philosophy, he had his initiation in art under Jyothi Sahi in Silvepura, Karnataka. Through his art, C.F. John attempts to negotiate with the tensions of modern-day living. Finding peace amidst nature, he is inspired by people who are close to it. C.F. John’s works are sombre and reflective, emanating a thought-provoking yet soothing presence. His individualistic approach to art gives it a certain freshness. John uses muted colour palettes, gentle textures, elegant compositions and occasional bursts of colour to portray subjects in a meditative state, while celebrating the uniqueness of the materials he uses to paint. As a social activist, C.F. John has lived with indigenous tribes, and his socio-cultural experiences have shaped his artistic process.

https://cfjohn.com/

Here are the verses we talked about, in both English and Tamil:

1035
He that eats by his own hand does not beg
And gives freely to beggars

இரவார் இரப்பார்க்கொன் றீவர் கரவாது
கைசெய்தூண் மாலை யவர்

1032
Farmers sustain everyone not farming—they
Are the pin holding the world together

உழுவார் உலகத்தார்க் காணிஅஃ தாற்றா
தெழுவாரை எல்லாம் பொறுத்து

1039
If its husbandman stays away the land pulls back
And sulks like a wife

செல்லான் கிழவன் இருப்பின் நிலம்புலந்த
தில்லாளின் ஊடி விடும்

From chapter 104, “Farming.”

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston

Eyes That Are Moved: A Kural Conversation with Andrew Harvey

January 26, 2022

The Eyes of Wonder and of the Heart

Andrew Harvey interviews Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma about his new translation of THE KURAL: Thiruvalluvar’s Thirukkural, a masterpiece of the Tamil language, exploring the work’s profound relevance for the present.

Here are a few highlights from the interview:

A first glimpse of the Kural: 2:03
How did you encounter the Kural? 8:49
How did you pluck up the courage to take on this great masterpiece? 18:26
What is Tamil like to inhabit at the depths you’ve been graced to inhabit it? 28:32
The different parts of the Kural and how they are organized. 32:50
Three verses from the Kural to give a personal taste of the whole. 41:04
A poem from Kuruntokai, a classical Tamil anthology, included in the commentary to this new translation. 1:01:01

Andrew Harvey is Founder & Director of the Institute for Sacred Activism, an international organization focused on inviting concerned people to take up the challenge of our contemporary global crises by becoming inspired, effective, and practical agents of institutional and systemic change, in order to create peace and sustainability. He was born in south India in 1952, where he lived until he was nine years old. After becoming the youngest person ever to be awarded a fellowship to All Soul’s College, England’s highest academic honor, Harvey became disillusioned with academic life and returned to his native India, where a series of mystical experiences initiated his spiritual journey. Over the next thirty years he plunged into different mystical traditions to learn their secrets and practices. He has written and edited over 30 books, including “Radical Passion: Sacred Love and Wisdom in Action,” a manifesto for the transformation of the world through the fusion of deep mystical peace with the clarity of radical wisdom.

Learn more about Andrew Harvey on the website of the Institute for Sacred Activism: https://www.andrewharvey.net/

Here are the verses Thomas shared aloud, in both English and Tamil:

71
Is there a latch for love—the fullness of one’s heart
Shows in the tears that well

அன்பிற்கும் உண்டோ அடைக்குந்தாழ் ஆர்வலர்
புன்கணீர் பூசல் தரும்

571
The astonishing beauty of eyes that are moved—because
It exists this world exists

கண்ணோட்டம் என்னும் கழிபெருங் காரிகை
உண்மையான் உண்டிவ் வுலகு

1323
Hearts joined like earth and water—what heaven
Transcends their sulking

புலத்தலின் புத்தேள்நா டுண்டோ நிலத்தொடு
நீரியைந் தன்னார் அகத்து

Translated from the Tamil by Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
THE KURAL: Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural
Beacon Press, Boston