The greatest good?

By and large, all those who dispense advice seem to hand out advice which is easier said than done. No wonder, Oscar Wilde once said, "I always pass on good advice. It is very seldom of use to oneself" or words to that effect. Which the meme-makers and forwarders of the day follow assiduously by passing on all the good advice that they receive. Thus Wilde's advice about advice proves better advice than most advice since people do really use it themselves.

Kaakka porulaa adakkatthai aakkam adhaninoongillai uyirkku - Tirukkural

Safeguard self-control above all wealth for nothing else brings greater good to the living - Loose Translation

So, yes, Tiru talks of self-control as the greatest wealth to be kept safe since it is the well-spring of all good to a human. As though self-control is the easiest of things to achieve.

I mean, really, people talk very readily of self-control. But do they really understand what it means? You need to control your anger, control your lust, control your pride/arrogance, control your fear, control your...you get the picture. ALL emotions! Every single one!

Not that you are not allowed to feel any of them. Tiru does not really expect you to be a sage. What he does want you do to is to keep them under control. As in, if you are angry, do not let the anger take control of your words and actions; if you are greedy, do not allow your greed to control the way you conduct your business; if you feel lust, learn not to drool all over the place; if you are...I suppose it IS over-kill to keep on like this, by now you can fill in the blanks on all the rest.

Fact is, yes, if you can achieve self-control then THAT is worth a lot really. You are unlikely to invest your entire inheritance in a Ponzi scheme because you got too greedy; nor piss off your main customer because you could not hold your temper; or get the Government on your back because you couldn't help being snooty to a bureaucrat or politician...

Now, yes, to achieve perfect self-control is to aim for the moon. But why are you giving in to the nirvana fallacy - that since you cannot hit perfection, you'll not even start trying?

Self-control IS the route to holding on to all the good in your life, so you can hold on to some of it, even with partial success, if you try to control yourself!