Sage Thiru-valluvar
"The Bard of Universal Man"
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Chapter - 3 : The Greatness of Ascetics
 

Introductory Note

This chapter describes the greatness of ascetics. Rev. G U Pope says about it:

“Nowhere is eclecticism of Thiru-valluvar more conspicuous than in this chapter. Every system has its ascetic and self-denial is everywhere mighty.” (Page 192)

Translation(s)

The settled rule of very code requires as highest good, the greatness of those who, renouncing all, have stood true to their rule.

Explanation

The Hindus have Brahmins, Buddhist and Jaina have monks, Christians have priests, Muslims have Maulvis. All religions have a set of people who live a simple life, devoted to God. In other words, they have renounced, and they are given the most respected position by rest of the society.

Can I have a photo from each religion?

The adjacant picture is of Amitabha Buddha Statue, Ushiku, Japan. World's Tallest Statue in 2008. 110 m Statue + 10 m Pedestal = 120 m (394 ft). Completed in 1995

Translation(s)

It is a vain attempt to say the might of holy men, just as counting those who have passed away from the earth.

Explanation

No one can count the number of people who have died on the earth. Similarly no one can correctly say the might of holy men.

Translation(s)

The greatness of those who have weighed way of both worlds and in this world take their stand arrayed in virtue’s robe, transcends (greatness of) earth.

Explanation

The two worlds are the present in which we are living and the next in which we go after death.

In this verse, Rev. G U Pope finds an echo of the biblical words:

“’I have overcome the world;’
‘This is victory which overcometh the world, even your faith;’
‘He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.’” (Page 192)

Rev. G U Pope says that two ways are renewed birth’ and ‘deliverance.’

Translation(s)

He, who with firmness curbs the five restrains, (it) is seed for soil of distant happy plains.

“As the hook rules the elephant, so he
In wisdom firm his sensual organs rules,
Who hopes to flourish in the soil of heaven.”
– rendering by F.W. Ellis

Explanation

The idea is spelled out more clearly Naladiyar, a later Tamil composition:

“See ye sow seed whose yield in another world survives;
From earth’s bewilderment and meanness free your lives;
Stand in your lot as wise men should; the changing hue
Of things shall causeless fade, and many things be new.”
 – Naladiyar, 183.

The adjacent picture is of Jesus Christ Statue (Cristo de la Concordia Statue), Cochabamba, Bolivia. 34.2 m (112 ft) standing on a 6.2 m pedestal. 40.4 m (132.5 ft) total monument height. This is the tallest & largest statue of Jesus in 2008.

Translation(s)

Indra, the lord of those who dwell in heaven’s wide realm; shall soothly tell the might of those who have destroyed “the five.”

Explanation

This couplet refers to the story of the curse pronounced on Indra, the king of Gods, by an ascetic. It is told in Tamil in Kamban’s Ramayana, where the beauty of the verse contrasts with the uncouthness of the story. (Balakandam, 10th Padalam, Agaliyaipadalam 72&C.).

Translation(s)

Great men do things hard in doing. The mean eschew things hard in doing.

Explanation

The harder conquest of self and attainment of virtue are done by great men.

Translation(s)

One who knows the ways of all the five - taste, light, touch, sound and smell - owns the submissive world in his sway.

Explanation

Naladiyar, a  later Tamil composition says:

“Who undisturbed, in ‘way of right ordained’, has might
To guard and guide desires and lusts that entrance find
By sense gates five, called “body, mouth, eye, nose and ear”
Unfailing he ‘release’ shall gain.”
– Naladiyar.59.

“The five” are mentioned in verse 6, 25, 343 and referred to in verses 361-370.

Translation(s)

The might of men whose word is never in vain, shall proclaim to earth the ‘secret word.’

Explanation

Their words of benediction or of malediction are fulfilled.

Translation(s)

It is hard to endure and stand secure even for an instant, the wrath of those who have scaled virtue’s hill.

Explanation

In this verse, Rev. G U Pope feels an echo of the biblical words:

 “yet have I set my king upon my holy hill;’
‘kiss the son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little” (page 192)

Translation(s)

They live adorned with seemly graciousness towards all that breathe and thus to virtue’s sons, men give the name of “Anthanar.”

Explanation

The epithet “Anthanar” is applied to God as well as Brahmins. It was used in verse 8 to indicate God and here it is used to mean Brahmins. The poet tells how men are to deserve the title which is given to the Supreme Himself. Graul, who translated Thirukural into German, thinks that here the poet has taken a dig at Brahmins, who relied more on birth than on ‘fair and loving’ grace of character.

The importance, some would say the stranglehold of Brahmins was so much in Hinduism that even Buddha and Mahavira spoke in the tone of this verse:

"One who does no harm to any creature,
Him I consider to be a Brahmin."
- The Buddha, Dhammapada, 405

"Not by matted hair, by lineage, nor by birth (caste) does one become a Brahman. But the one in whom there abide truth and righteousness, he is pure; he is a Brahman."
- The Buddha, Dhammapda, 393

"By deed, not by birth, is one a brahmin. By deeds is one a Kshatriya, by deeds is one a Vaishya, and by deeds is one a Sudra."
- Uttadhayayana Sutra, 25:31 (A Jain Book)

Summary Note

While this chapter tells about the greatness of ascetics, the virtues that an ascetic must possess are detailed in chapter 25 to 37.

Rev. G. U. Pope has a good note on the religious beliefs prevailing in times of Thiru-valluvar on Page 192. I should include it somewhere.

Asetics are to human race like lighthouse is to the sailors. They are the guides of human kind.

A Father & His Children at Feet of Thiruvalluvar'
Thiruvalluvar Memorial (133 Feet, 7000 Tonnes), Kanyakumari,India
Credit: Mahesnn_2000, Flickr

References