True charity

No matter how little you think you have, there is always someone who has less. This is especially true of anyone who reads my blog, I'd say. If you can truly spare the time to read patiently through my verbosity, I'm sure that you cannot be a starving morsel of humanity.

So, when Tiru talks of charity, you are not likely to approach it from the point of view of the recipient of charity. Which is all to the good since this Kural is all about he who gives and not he who receives.

Innadhu irakkappadudhal irandhavar inmugam kaanum alavu - Tirukkural

To suffer when a suppliant seeks help, till your help makes him smile with relief, is the hallmark of a true man of charity - Loose Translation.

Well, you know I do suffer the moment someone asks me for help. I mean, not being gifted with the ability to say 'No' in a convincing enough manner for the chap to let me off, it is a real pain till I see the back of the chap. THEN I am happy...provided I have managed to send him off without causing serious damage to my wallet.

THAT, though, is not what Tiru is talking about. Nor is he talking about the dozen calls a day you get asking you for money and how that causes you pain. I mean, yes, you suffer alright, but you do not satisfy the second condition - suffering till your help makes the other chap smile with relief.

Tiru is talking of a level of empathy where you feel the suffering of the other person as your own; feel hurt that the other person has been pushed to the extreme of having to seek help elsewhere; and feel that pain till you actually help him and make his problems go away, causing him to smile.

Now THAT is his idea of a true man of charity. Not someone who feels pride in the fact that someone is seeking help from him but someone who feels the pain of the other person till he causes the pain to go away.

Those must have been truly different days. I mean, really, if I cannot take a selfie with that chap and post it all over social media about how I helped someone, what is even the point of my charity?