Sage Thiru-valluvar
"The Bard of Universal Man"
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Chapter - 11 : The Knowledge of Benefits Conferred: Gratitude
 

Translation(s)

Assistance given by those who never received our aid is a debt which is poorly repaid by gift of heaven and earth (in return).

“Though earth and heaven could in return be given,
A benefit received when none was due
They would not recompense.”
 – translation by F. W. Ellis.

Explanation

The spontaneity of the favor gives it its value.

Translation(s)

A timely benefit, though the gift be a thing of little worth, transcends the earth in excellence.

Explanation

Here the timeliness of the benefit makes it of infinite value. This couplet reminds us of the well known proverb says: “A friend in need is a friend in deed.”

Translation(s)

Kindness shown by those who do not weigh what their return may be, when you ponder right its merit, is vaster than the sea.

Explanation

Here disinterestedness of the kindness, or doing it without expecting a return, makes it of inestimable value.

Translation(s)

To those who rightly value actions’ fruits, each benefit, though small as a millet seed, will seem vast as a palm tree.

Explanation

We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made.
- M. Acklam

Translation(s)

The extent (value) of kindly aid is not the true measure of its worth. Its (true) worth is equal to the worth of him to whom the (kindly) act you do.

“The exalted mind no benefit esteems
By mere return repaid, but by the scale
Of its own greatness measures each.”
– translation by F. W. Ellis.

 

Translation(s)

Always remember the kindness shown by men of stainless soul. Never forsake friends who were your stay in sore sorrow.

Explanation

Rev. G. U. Pope’s note on this verse is interesting:

 “Since our eastern fellow-subjects have often been accused (I think, unjustly) of ingratitude, a quotation from Vemana is added (v.514; comp.v.262):

‘Forget the faults of others;
But Vema, ne’er on earth forget a benefit conferred.’”

Translation(s)

“Through all seven worlds, in seven-fold birth,
Remains in the mem’ry of the wise,
Friendship of those who wiped on earth,
The tears of sorrow from their eyes.
- translation by Rev. G. U. Pope

 

Translation(s)

It is never good to let the thoughts of good things done to you pass away, of things not good, it is good to rid your memory that very day.

 

Translation(s)

Deadliest injury is effaced away by thought of one kind act in days gone by.

Explanation

This idea is repeated in Naladiyar, a later Tamil composition:

“The good attach themselves to those who do one act
Of kindness, and forgive a hundred wrongs that
Rise. The base receive seven hundred benefits, -
One wrong will turn them all to ill.”
 – Naladiyar, 357.

Translation(s)

Those who have killed every good may yet escape destruction but one who has killed “benefit” that man shall never escape free.

Explanation

Gratitude is the most important virtue.

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man."
- Mark Twain

There is no mention of dog in Thiru-kural. Probably it had not been domesticated in the poet's time and land.

Summary Note

"The average dog is a nicer person than the average person."
- Andy Rooney

A strange statement but is due to the dog having a feeling of gratitiude and loyalty.

The Left Foot - Closeup,
Thiruvalluvar Memorial (133 Feet, 7000 Tonnes), Kanyakumari,India
Credit: Ajai.menon, Flickr

References