Kural Conversations

Interviews about The Kural: Tiruvalluvar's Tirukkural.

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

Dashes Where Music Flows In: A Kural Conversation with Eric Lane Barnes

January 12, 2022

Letting Go and Listening to What Comes

With writer, composer, and music director extraordinaire Eric Lane Barnes I was delighted to explore the music of compassion and the quantum physics of creativity around three verses from THE KURAL.

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

How Eric chose the three verses he set to music for the InkAloud event at Town Hall Seattle: 4:45
Melody for “Those who let go embody grace”: 8:52
Melody for “Giving to those with nothing is giving”: 10:08
Melody for “Those who stand firm in knowledge and possibility”: 12:10
The art of juxtaposition: 21:45
Dashes and the music of language: 30:55

Eric Lane Barnes is the author of the critically acclaimed Fairy Tales, which received several awards in Chicago and New York, with a run Off Broadway and in London’s West End. His show The Stops has played in cities across the US, winning “best musical” at the National Gay and Lesbian Theater Festival in 2006. His songs and larger works have been performed by choruses and theater groups all across the US and in Canada, Australia, the UK, France and Beijing. These days Eric has found great joy in providing music and directing choruses for numerous senior communities in the Seattle area, and is co-founder and ¼ of Seattle’s Most Fabulous Vocal Quartet, Princess Guy.

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

30
Those who let go embody grace—they show
Compassion to all

அந்தணர் என்போர் அறவோர்மற் றெவ்வுயிர்க்கும்
செந்தண்மை பூண்டொழுக லான்

221
Giving to those with nothing is giving—all else
Expects a return

வறியார்க்கொன் றீவதே ஈகைமற் றெல்லாம்
குறியெதிர்ப்பை நீர துடைத்து

472
For those who stand firm in knowledge and possibility
No deed is undoable

ஒல்வ தறிவ தறிந்ததன் கண்தங்கிச்
செல்வார்க்குச் செல்லாத தில்

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

The Rain of Compassion: A Kural Conversation with Dr. Larry Ward

December 26, 2021

On poetry that reaches us wherever we may be

With senior dharma teacher Dr. Larry Ward I was delighted to explore openness to all people, Thich Nhat Hanh’s Miracle of Mindfulness, and poetry that takes us into our depths.

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

On being held by unseen arms and training our eyes to look on people with openness: 3:27
Poetry that opens a door to the mystic dimension: 8:49
Rain, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the Miracle of Mindfulness: 12:13
Each verse as an entry point into our depths: 16:28
The poetry dialogue that Larry is putting together and how poetry is emptiness, in the sense that it is nonlocal and able to reach us wherever we may be: 20:12

Dr. Larry Ward is a senior teacher in Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village tradition. He brings twenty five years of international experience in organizational change and local community renewal to his work as director of the Lotus Institute and as an advisor to the Executive Mind Leadership Institute at the Drucker School of Management. He holds a PhD in Religious Studies with an emphasis on Buddhism and the neuroscience of meditation. Larry is a knowledgeable, charismatic and inspirational teacher, offering insights with personal stories and resounding clarity that express his dharma name, “True Great Sound.”

Learn more about Larry on the Lotus Institute website: https://www.thelotusinstitute.org/

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

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

கண்ணோட்டம் என்னும் கழிபெருங் காரிகை
உண்மையான் உண்டிவ் வுலகு

12
Making food fit for feeding and itself
Food that feeds—rain

துப்பார்க்குத் துப்பாய துப்பாக்கித் துப்பார்க்குத்
துப்பாய தூஉம் மழை

991
From openness to all people the practice
Of kindness comes easily

எண்பதத்தால் எய்தல் எளிதென்ப யார்மாட்டும்
பண்புடைமை என்னும் வழக்கு

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

Openness to All People: A Kural Conversation with Debra Graugnard

November 24, 2021

Kindness, Spirit, and True Nourishment

With master healer and spiritual teacher Debra Mastura Graugnard I was delighted to explore kurals 991, 992, and 1000 from chapter 100 of THE KURAL, “Having Kindness.”

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

Openness to all people and the root meanings of kindness in both Tamil and English: 6:27
Protection, the breath of spirit, and how kindness meets kindness: 12:36
What does “birth in good family” really mean? 24:16
True riches and true nourishment: 34:16
A question from Debra: How has translating this book changed your life? 42:54

As the founder of Joyfully Living Wellness, Debra Graugnard has made it her lifelong mission to help others free themselves from self-defeating beliefs and behaviors.

Purpose-driven and extensively trained in spiritual and energetic healing, natural and holistic self-care, Debra gently and compassionately guides her clients, primarily women, on a journey to profoundly and intimately know themselves – body, mind, heart, and spirit.

“To truly heal, you must align your habits, beliefs and emotional patterns with your inner knowing, your divine spirit and your connection with All That Is.” – Debra Graugnard

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

991
From openness to all people the practice
Of kindness comes easily

எண்பதத்தால் எய்தல் எளிதென்ப யார்மாட்டும்
பண்புடைமை என்னும் வழக்கு

992
Love in one’s heart and birth in good family together
Are the way of kindness

அன்புடைமை ஆன்ற குடிப்பிறத்த லிவ்விரண்டும்
பண்புடைமை என்னும் வழக்கு

1000

Riches attained by those without kindness—like milk
Soured by its jug

பண்பிலான் பெற்ற பெருஞ்செல்வம் நன்பால்
கலந்தீமை யால்திரிந் தற்று

From chapter 100, “Having Kindness.”

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

Food and Freedom: A Kural Conversation with Ellen Kittredge

November 12, 2021

Digestion, moderation, and eating as spiritual practice.

With my longtime friend Ellen Kittredge I was delighted to explore the insight that food is medicine and that moderation can lead to greater fulfillment and joy.

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

The possibility of relating to food and to eating as spiritual practices: 7:22
Mindful eating and the parasympathetic nervous system: 14:32
Finding a balance point in life, transforming addictive tendencies, and discovering equanimity: 24:08
A question from Ellen: Where does liberation from the cycle of birth and death fit into the concerns of THE KURAL? 33:23

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

945
If one eats with measure what does not disagree
Nothing threatens one’s life

மாறுபா டில்லாத உண்டி மறுத்துண்ணின்
ஊறுபா டில்லை உயிர்க்கு

946
Those who eat knowing moderation know joy—as those
Who devour know disease

இழிவறிந் துண்பான்கண் இன்பம்போல் நிற்கும்
கழிபேர் இரையான்கண் நோய்

947
Those who devour beyond their fire’s limit
Know disease beyond limit

தீயள வன்றித் தெரியான் பெரிதுண்ணின்
நோயள வின்றிப் படும்

From chapter 95, “Medicine.”

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