The light of life

There are times that one thinks of philosophers as being dry as dust. You know, most times they are talking about hard work and dedication and so on and so forth. All things of the brain and you see them as having made no allowance for emotions at all. Yeah, they scatter around words like love or affection but those are rare occassions and, almost invariably, they tie it in to success and things like that. So, I'm sure you see 'light of life' and you think that, at last, there is a glimmer of emotion here.

Well, in this Kural, Tiru does talk of emotion but...

Olioruvarku Ulla Verukkai Iliooruvarku Aqdirandhu Vaazhdhum Enal - Tirukkural

What lights up your life is your enthusiasm; to even think of living without enthusiasm is shameful - Loose Translation

See what I mean? Enthusiasm MAY be an emotion but it is not exactly what you and I think of as an emotion, right? I mean it is not love or hate or joy or sorrow or...I know you know!

But Tiru does have a point you know. You need a reason to want to get up in the morning. If you have never had a time in your life when you go to sleep eager for the dawn, then you have hardly lived. I mean, at least because of those emotions - to want your next meeting with your significant other, you should have had those days. AND, if those days WERE there in your life and ARE no longer, life must be feeling drab.

To want to get back such days, to strive to find some interest that makes you jump out of bed...THAT's living. (NOT in the SAME way, thank you. To chase after a disinterested ex is not living.) To give up on life and just meander from day to day...that's mere existing, not living.

Animals only exist cos that's the way they are made. To be human and to live no better than an animal - that's what Tiru calls shameful. So, one should pick up the light of enthusiasm and brighten the rest of your days.

The pillars of goodness

There is a problem with some philosophical concepts. Goodness, for one? I mean, do people still seek to be good? Or is it all sunk in the cynical attitude that being rich will automatically cause you to be seen as good? When one goes around scattering advice, it is important to know whether the goals to which your advice ostensibly leads are even considered as desirable these days. Or will it be like you telling what to do to become a great coder when the other chap thinks that coding is for AI.

So, yeah, Tiru said this but is it worth it for me to say it too?

AnbuNaan Oppuravu Kannottam Vaaimayodu Aindhusaal Oondriya Thoon - Tirukkural

Love, shame of sinning, benevolence, helpful friendliness and integrity are the five pillars of exemplary people - Loose Translation

Let us get rid of words and meanings, first. Love here is not romantic love but the sort of love that you can have for all people around you. AND this 'saal' which is a form for 'saandranmai' is a toughie really. Sandraanmai can mean the wise, the great etc. I have called them, in short, the exemplars - people who can be held up as an example to Society at large.

To be an exemplar, you need to love your fellow human being. Which is another way of saying that you cannot be self-centered but open to care for all others. Even the idea of sinning should cause you to feel shame. You need to be benevolent to Society at large and a helpful friend to those close to you. Above all, you should possess personal integrity. THAT, in short, is what Tiru says. The sort of easy five steps that rolls off your tongue easily but is infinitely harder to practise.

But, then, whoever said that becoming great was a cakewalk?

Burden seeks the strong?

You often hear that God does does not burden you more than you can bear; when life keeps throwing curveballs at someone it is because he has the ability to hit them for home runs. (Hmm! WHY do you do this? No clue about baseball and you want to use baseball metaphors?) It is not only God, apparently, who does this to you. Even Society behaves in like fashion apparently.

Tiru has this to say about it.

Amaragaththu Vankannar Polath Thamaragaththum Aatruvaar Metre Porai - Tirukkural

Like the soldier who takes the responsibilty in the battlefield, the man with the strength to handle responsibility is handed the burden - Loose Translation

In any social circumstance, have you seen most people jump up to handle responsibility? Especially when they do not have the legal or moral obligation to take it on themselves? (Like, you cannot really skedaddle when the problem relates to your job or your child, no? Unless you can shove it off on a colleague or your spouse, respectively.) More often than not, even people who claim to take on the responsibility only want the authority. Other people are content with the right to criticize. Most people, though, are happy to not be noticed when the problem crops up or when it is getting solved.

AND, thus, the chap who volunteers for it OR has proven his ability in sorting problems in the past IS the chap who the community shoves the job on. Much like you push that soldier into the van of the army to take the brunt of the attack. In a way, the reward for handling responsibility well is, almost invariably, more responsibility.

This, then, means that Tiru is not exactly enthusing people who do the hard yards. It seems more like a warning about being the strong pillar of society. Except, yes, if you want to become a leader, and have the misfortune of not being born in the right family, the way to get noticed is to be the man who seeks responsibility.

Otherwise, you can see this Kural as merely a warning. THAT a display of strength could end up as an invitation to be burdened!

The greatest honor

Philosophers, as I have had reason to say before, have the habit of using 'greatest' lavishly. Not just philosophers, these days. After all, one sees 'Greatest Of All Times' scattered around like confetti these days. Virat Kohli is GOAT, simultaneously Suryavanshi is GOAT and so on and so forth. So, yeah, I think that we have no real cause to laugh at philosophers for calling one character trait great today and another tomorrow, do we?

So, Tiru says this and I will not listen to anyone talking of what he said yesterday or day before...

Karumam Seyaoruvan Kaidhooven Ennum Perumaiyin Peedudaiyadhu IL- Tirukkural

Nobody deserves the highest honors more than he who unceasingly persists in his duty to his family and community - Loose Translation

Well, Bhagavad Gita probably has something to say on similar lines. Though, the Gita inclines more to telling a person how to achieve spiritual heights than honors on Earth. This 'doing his duty to his family and community' would translate to doing his dharma in the Gita.

The 'unceasingly persists' part requires some understanding. When would you want to 'cease'  the most? Is it not when you despair of succeeding in goals? I mean, when you cease to see it as your duty - your dharma - and start looking to measuring the goals...THAT's when the thought of ceasing enters your mind, no? Do you, for example, think about 'ceasing' eating; get bored with breathing? When dharma is a part of your being, an instinctive set of actions that you do not think about exercising a choice about...IS that not what the Gita says in 'Karmanyeva adhikaraste...'? So, to persist in doing something regardless of obstacles...THAT is extremely laudable, no? (AND do not start off on stupidly doing things over and over without considering if it is workable. Your 'duty to family and soceity' does not mean stubbornly doing unproductive things. You'd see your duty as 'logistics', say, and not as driving a bullock cart.)

Tiru, in a way, is indicating that what works for Nirvana would as well work for honors in the mundane world. Who am I to oppose him when he is backed by the Lord of the Universe?