Tirukkural Verses, Interviews, and Reviews

From and about The Kural: Tiruvalluvar's Tirukkural.

Broken Cart Full of Feathers: A Kural Conversation with Mark Silver

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

Kural 211: Tiruvalluvar on Kindness and Rain

March 8, 2022

A verse on generosity and giving without expectation.

From chapter 22, “Knowing What Is Fitting.”

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