Thirukkural :Power of Positive Thinking

by N.S.Sankararaman

Management gurus these days lay great emphasis on the absolute necessity of a person to be positive about what they need to or want to achieve in their pursuits. true and complete understanding of the role played by the adoption of positive conduct and attitude will certainly help in the easier attainment of one's own objectives. Positive attitude has a great multiplying effect not only in leading one's efforts to fruition but also by enhancing the quality and quantity of success.

But,does positive attitude imply just blindly assuming an optimistic viewpoint irrespective of the possibilities of success in a particular operation or in a given situation. Not at all. Far from it, Positive attitude in a person best exemplifies itself by means of the person's ability to adopt an open minded approach to issues, weighing objectively the possibilities of success in the most unbiased manner possible and where preconceived notions are totally absent. But development of positive attitude itself is the result of another welcome personality attribute in an individual which in plain terms is HEALTHY ENTHUSIASM which acts as a great motivating factor for one's actions. While chances of succeeding in one's actions sould be much greater with an adoption of positive attitude towards the particular action and the conviction of a possible positive result, the negative approach would act as a great impediment in the achievement of one's objectives. While positive approach would enable a person to realize his true potentials , a negative mindset is bound to retard his progress, which is why even people with obviously very limited competence do succeed with apparent ease in their mission as they do possess the all important quality of POSITIVE MINDSET.

Thiruvalluvar highlighting the importance of being enthusiastic about one's own actions in the chapter titled ENTHUSIASM, says this particular attribute is one of the most important attributes a man should possess for tasting success. All other
attributes though positive would not be fruitful without one being enthusiastic.

Enthusiasm and being free from despondency would be the only stable attribute of a man's personality. I am reminded of the story of a very well known businessman who failed in his various ventures over sixty five times only to make it very big eventually and presently having his own sweet and snack shop in South Chennai acclaimed as a pioneer in his own field. This is the kind of effect that positive attitude and enthusiasm would have upon the result of a man's actions. The next KURAL confirms this view point.

Valluvar says in this KURAL that one with the desired level of enthusiasm will never become crestfallen even in times of adversities. The amount of mental energy that such men would be possessed with would stand them in good stead.

To further emphasise his viewpoint Valluvar comes up with an interesting analogy in the next verse. He says just as the tail of a water flower is proportionate to the depth of water, the extent of a man's ascendancy in his life would reflect the extent of his enthusiasm. SWAMI VIVEKANANDA's life best illustrates this VALLUVAR VIEW. The question whether the Swami-ji could have climbed the spiritual heights that he did in the short span of life time that he was granted by God without the great spiritual urge and thirst for spiritual learning is an interesting question to ponder. The heights that he rose to are truly a reflection of the man's deep spiritual inclinations granted by whom else but the Lord himself.

It is often said that to become great one should think about great things. There are ever so many success stories of individuals which would prove this. Doyens in whatever field they were involved have all possessed this particular quality. What is admirable is that Valluvar saying it in so succinct terms, so long ago, long before the advent of the industrial and materialistic age, that to become big , a man should always think big and continue to think big even if such success fails to materialize in the interim.

By saying in the next verse that the one without ENTHUSIASM will be deprived of their self fulfilment due to their disinterestedness in taking pride from their strengths and successes, Valluvar by omission emphasises the extent of self gratification that an enthusiastic man would derive with the pride that he has about his own accomplishments and strengths. While this could be understood as nothing but pandering to one's own EGO, perhaps this is also not so undesirable in this day and age. The vital importance of being enthusiastic and motivated in one's task would be best illustrated by a strong elephant with sharp horns being mortally afraid of a motivated, single minded and purposeful tiger though small in stature and not as strong as the former. Valluvar's propensity to drive home his viewpoint with extreme descriptions once again comes to the fore when he says that only ENTHUSIASM is one's real strength and in its absence a man is to be equated to a wooden tree though in the form of a human being.

Valluvar's Way of Life

Source : http://www.goethals.org/thiruval2.htm
Author : Fr. Felix Raj, SJ

There was a man in the first century B.C. in Tamil Nadu, in a place named Poompuhar on the banks of the river Cauvery. He earned a living by weaving cloth and selling it. In the same place there was a rich man whose son was a naughty boy. This lad came to the weaver and asked what was the price of the sari he was selling. The man replied, "Three rupees (the price in those days)". The lad tore the sari into half and asked what was the price of the half of the sari. The weaver relied, "A rupee and a half." The lad tore it again into two and asked what was the price of the torn piece. The man replied, "It is worth twelve annas" (The three fourths of a rupee). The weaver did not get angry at the lad’s behavior. He was calm and unruffled. The young lad was astonished. He asked the weaver, "How did you acquire the quality of forbearance (Kshama)?" The man replied, "Forbearance is truth. It is right conduct. It is non-violence. It is a source of great joy. It is heaven itself. It is the summum bonum of this world. There is nothing greater than forbearance in this world."

The weaver was Thiruvalluvar and the numerous poems he composed were Thrukkural: “Thiru” plus “Kural”. The word “Thiru” denotes Kural’s sanctity (sacredness), and “Kural” means the short verses (couplets). Thirukkural, meaning sacred couplets, is considered equivalent to the Vedas of the Hindu Scriptures and “the Bible of the Tamil Land”. It is evident from the Kurals that Valluvar had plenty of opportunities to talk to people from abroad and to know their different cultures and religions. He has taken the best from all cultures and religions and put them together in Kural form. All the 1330 couplets portray the simple human pictures of life. The sacred verses deal very much with political and social affairs of life.

St. Thiruvalluvar, the author of THIRUKKURAL was born about 30 years before Jesus Christ in Mylapore, the village of peacocks (Myl in Tamil means peacock), the present day Chennai, at a time when the Tamil Land was rich in culture, vivid in its life and adventurous in its commerce. Valluvars were the priests of outcaste people at that time. Tamilians take cognizance of the birth of Thiruvalluvar as a basis of Tamil calendar according to which we are now in the year 2032 of Thiruvalluvar Aandu (Year). Thirukkural is regarded as a renowned work, eulogized as a directory of code of conduct and ethics to humanity. The revered poet not only deals with the general administration, but also codified clear-cut directions to the mankind on how they should behave and act in a social, political, religious and family circles.

Thiruvalluvar used to keep by his side, when he sat for meals, a needle and a small cup filled with water. Once, his host asked him as to why he insisted on having these two placed by the side of the plate. He said, "Food should not be wasted, even a grain is precious. Sometimes, stray grains of cooked rice or stray pieces of cooked vegetables fall off the plate or away from it. While I eat, I lift them off the floor, with the help of this needle and stir them in the water to clean them and eat them." What a great lesson this is for those who waste more, than they consume in today’s consumerist society!

As Emmons White has said, Thiruvalluvar was a kindly, liberal-minded man and his poetry is a kind of synthesis of the best moral teachings of his age. In the words of Dr. John Lazarus who has made an English translation of the Kural, “It is refreshing to think of a nation which produced so great a man and so unique a work. The morality he preached could not have grown except on an essentially moral soil.” This classical work in Tamil has been widely translated in over 60 languages of the world. Nearly 300 years ago, the Italian Jesuit missionary, Constantius Beschi (known as Veeramamunnivar in Tamil) who came to Tamil Nadu in 1710, translated the Thirukkural into Latin. Rev. G U Pope who hailed Thiruvalluvar as “the Bard of Universal Man” translated the Kural and printed the it first in English. Many European missionaries have made translations into English between 1820 and 1886. Freedom fighters and statesmen, C Rajagopalachari and VVS Iyer have also translated the Kural into English. Barring perhaps the Bible and the Koran, the Kural is the most translated work.

The well-known Tamil Poet of the Freedom Movement, Mahakavi Subramani Bharatiyar has acknowledged the greatness of Thiruvalluvar in the following words: “Tamil Nadu gave unto the World Valluvar and won thereby great renown.” Kural’s immortality and universality are unquestionable. Its ethics and values are applicable to all religions, all countries and at all times. That is why Mahatma Gandhi said; “Thiruvalluvar gave us the famous Thirukkural, holy maxims described by Tamilians as the Tamil Veda and by M. Ariel as one of the highest and purest expressions of human thought”.


Erudite Tamil Poets as well as the kings of the three Tamil Kingdoms – Chera, Chola and Pandya – acknowledged the literary greatness of Thirukkural. It is said that at the time of its first presentation to the king’s court, the Pandyan king wanted its greatness to be known to his whole kingdom. He put it to test by placing the manuscript along with those of other contemporary works in a golden lotus plank and allowed it to float in the tank at the Madurai Meenakshi temple. The sanctified plank that would recognize only the masterpieces is said to have rejected all other works and retained only the Thirukkural.

People in Tamil Nadu worship Thiruvalluvar as a guru. They have erected a beautiful shrine to him and to his wife in the midst of a garden in Mylapore. It lies not far from the waves of the sea that are often referred to in his verses. Every year in the month of April, people celebrate a grand festival at the shrine. Another important memorial to the immortal saint is Valluvar Kottam in Chennai, which is shaped like a temple chariot. A life size statue of Thiruvalluvar has been installed in the tall chariot. The 133 chapters of his work have been depicted in bas-relief in the front hall corridors of the chariot. The auditorium at Valluvarkottam is said to be the largest in Asia with accommodation capacity for 4000 people. Recently, Tamil Nadu government has erected a magnificent 133-foot height statue of the saint denoting the 133 chapters in Thirukkural for tourists in the midst of sea in Kaniyakumari (Cape Comerin) at the confluence of the three seas. The statue dedicated at the dawn of the new millennium on 1.1.2000, stands out as a beacon light to guide human life forever.