Kural Conversations

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:

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

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.

Learn more about Eric on his website:
https://www.ericlanebarnes.com/

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

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

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

Photo Credit: Jovelle Tamayo

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:

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

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

Learn more about Debra on her website:
https://joyfullylivingwellness.com/

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

From chapter 100, “Having Kindness.”

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

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

Ellen Kittredge is a Nutritional Counselor, Minister of Walking Prayer, and practitioner of earth-based healing modalities. While her primary focus is supporting her clients with maintaining optimal health through sound nutritional guidance, she has also has trained in a variety of other healing techniques, including extensive study over the last 10 years in earth-based healing practices with Nature Priests/Mystics in the High Andes of Peru.

Learn more about Ellen on her website:
https://ellenkittredge.com/

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

From chapter 95, “Medicine.”

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