Sage Thiru-valluvar
"The Bard of Universal Man"
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Chapter - 35 : Renunciation
 

Introductory Note

The second chapter of Gita should be compared with this.

Thiru-valluvar has now come to the section on attaining ‘moksha.’ Rajaji’s translation may be most appropriate here for me to refer.

Translation(s)

From whatever, indeed whatever, man gets free; from that, indeed from that, he has no more pain.

 

Translation(s)

Having renounced, even here (on earth) men acquire true pleasures. ‘Renounce,’ while yet there is time, if you aspire for those pleasures.

Explanation

Naladiyar, a later Tamil composition, says on renouncing:

“’Hoar age will come,’ thus think the men of knowledge good,
And have from earliest years all ties renounced. Who joy
In youth, unstable, never free from fault, with pain
Leaning upon the staff, erewhile will rise.’”
- Naladiyar, 11

The Naladiyar recommends renouncing at the earliest possible age. However, this is not the view of Thiru-valluvar, who gives equal, if not more importance to household life.

Thie adjacent picture depicts a story from Indian mythology. Indra, the King of Gods, was afraid of the powers an asectic doing penance would acquire. So to breaak his penance by entangling him in desires, he sent a beautiful woman from heaven. She succeded in her designs!

Translation(s)

Perceptions of five must all expire; - relinquished in its order each order its desire.

Explanation

Meaning not clear

Translation(s)

Absolute privation is true penance. Possession brings bewilderment afresh.

Explanation

All possessions must be abandoned by the ascetic as also by dedicated scientists:

“I have no dress except the one I wear every day. If you are going to be kind enough to give me one, please let it be practical and dark so that I can put it on afterwards to go to the laboratory.”
- Marie Curie, French Physicist, twice winner of the Nobel Prize, 1867-1934

“Humanity needs practical men, who get the most out of their work, and, without forgetting the general good, safeguard their own interests. But humanity also needs dreamers, for whom the disinterested development of an enterprise is so captivating that it becomes impossible for them to devote their care to their own material profit.”
- Marie Curie, French Physicist, twice winner of the Nobel Prize, 1867-1934

Translation(s)

To those who seek severance from being’s varied strife, flesh is sore burden, what then other bonds of life?

Explanation

Poet probably means that for those seeking freedom from rebirth, are not attached to their life; and then where is the question of being attached to other human beings or things.

Translation(s)

One who kills conceit that says “I” and “mine,” shall enter realms above the divine powers.

Explanation

Poet probably means that such a person goes to a world above the world populated by those who have divine powers.

[Ahankara (----) and Mammata (----) are denounced. First asserts the reality of self, and second thinks that external things are its own. (----) are beyond the heavens assigned to Shiva, Brahma & others.

"A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty... We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Translation(s)

Those who cling to things that cling and eagerly clasp; grief clings to them with un-relaxing grasp.

Explanation

Check translation

Translation(s)

Those who thoroughly ‘renounce’ are set on highest height, the rest, bewildered, lie entangled in the net.

Explanation

The original Tamil couplet uses past tense (----) and shows certainty that about being set on highest height.

Naladiyar, a later Tamil composition has a graphic verse to describe this human situation:

“The turtle’s murderers have put it in the pot,
Set fire beneath; it sports, unconscious of its fate.
Such is their who joy entangled in life’s net,
While death, the mighty slayer, waits to seize.”
- Naladiyar, 331

[Have pic of turtle swimming in a pot, with fire below

Translation(s)

When that which clings falls off, being’s tie is severed; then all else will be seen as instability.

Explanation

This chapter is titles instability. What is the Tamil word and Sanskrit equivalent?

Translation(s)

Cling to that which He, to whom nothing clings, has bid you to cling. Cling to that bond to get yourself free from every clinging thing.

Explanation

Which bond?

Summary Note

Fr. Beschi (first to translate into Latin) and Rev GU Pope (first to translate into English) have correctly pointed out that this should have formed the fourth part of this book since it deals with emancipation, which is the fourth aim of life as per Hindu philosophy (the other three being virtue, wealth, and love). However, it is retained first part since (i) it is a small part of only three chapters and (ii) virtue is the base from which one works and achieves emancipation.

Ancient Tamil commentator say that this sub-section (Ch. 34-37) is on ‘wisdom’ which is gained as result of obeying laws laid down in the sub-section (Ch. 25-33)on ‘religious observances;’ and leads to emancipation. The 2nd of the Noble Eight Fold Path of Buddhism is called “Right Resolve,” which includes renunciation described in this chapter:

“And what is right resolve? Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom from illwill, on harmlessness: This is called right resolve.” [13]

Thiruvalluvar Statue
Marina Beach, Chennai, India
Credit: Prankster In Wave, Flickr

References