The limits of fortune

This question of Fate and Fortune is a never-ending thing with none giving a satisfactory answer. I mean, if you are fated to lead a certain life and achieve a certain level of success, then why bother to put in effort? On the other hand, if everything is dependent on your own efforts, how do you explain the role of luck in it - the chap in a bad mood who denies you a bulk order which leads to your bankruptcy OR that accidental meeting with a friend who helps you get financing when all seems lost?

Tiru does not provide you a clear and convincing answer to the conundrum either.

Pariyinum Aagaavaam Paalalla Uytthuch choriyinum pokaa thama - Tirukural

No matter how you safeguard, that which is not fated for you will be lost. No matter how you scatter it away that which is fated for you will stick to you - Loose Translation.

And THAT is all he has to say. That you will have no more than you are fated to have. And, thankfully, no less.

This leaves no real role for your own effort. As in, if he had at least prescribed a range for what you are fated to have, you could assume that your efforts would push you to the upper end of the range. But this kural, at least, does not mention anything that makes you think of a range.

There is an alternative interpretation to this same kural. That what is not yours will leave you and what is yours cannot be lost. Wherein it is more about whether you can retain what is not legitimately yours and whether you can lose what IS yours. That explanation does not really suit because this set of 10 kurals is supposed to be about 'Fate' and this alternative interpretation will not suit the subject matter.

I'd rather assume that there IS a range for your success, implicit in the kural. That the lower limit and upper limit cannot be breached but your effort can determine where you reach within that range.

Or, of course, it could just be the Tamil version of 'Waqt se pehle aur kismat se zyaadaa kisiko kuch nahin milta' i.e 'What you get shall come only WHEN it is due and to the extent it is due'.

Your choice!