Date: November 11th 2008

From: Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com Date: Monday, November 10, 2008


Tirukural
A daily chapter from South Indian saint Tiruvalluvar's Tirukural, "Holy Couplets."

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Chapter 61: Avoidance of Idleness

Kural 601
The eternal flame of a family vanishes
when eclipsed by that dark cloud called idleness.
Kural 602
Let those who wish their family to be a noble family
call laziness "laziness" and live without it.
Kural 603
The simpleton whose actions are stifled by ruinous indolence
will see his family perish before he dies.
Kural 604
Their families decrease and their vices increase when men,
ensnared in sloth, do not put forth earnest effort.
Kural 605
Procrastination, forgetfulness, sloth and sleep--
these four shape the ship bearing those destined for ruin.
Kural 606
Seldom do languid men achieve anything special,
even when supported by the world's wealthy proprietors.
Kural 607
Idle men, incapable of honorable exertion,
invite scorn and suffer the shame of scolding words.
Kural 608
If languor is allowed to linger in aristocrats,
they will be forced into servitude under foes.
Kural 609
Disgrace that has come upon a man and his family
will disappear the moment he casts out laziness.
Kural 610
A king devoid of indolence will thereby procure all that
cosmic expanse measured by God's immeasurable strides.