The problem with fame is that it is not easy to get it; it is even tougher to keep it. It is a funny thing with the world that it first pushes you to reach the top. THEN you need to keep running all the time to stay in the same place! It is as though you are in a race up a descending escalator. The moment you stop running you start descending.
Not that it is something new...or so it appears from the fact that Tiru sets tough conditions for clinging on to fame. Like this...
Niraiudaimai neengaamai vendin poraiyudaimai potri ozhugappadum - Tirukkural
If you wish for everlasting fame you need undaunted patience - Loose Translation.
There are a lot of reasons one may need to take recourse to patience. Patience for your work to be rewarded, patience for your work to get DONE by others, patience when DOING the work when haste will make waste, yada yada. The context in which Tiru is talking of patience...as derived from the kurals preceding...is among the toughest of all.
Tiru is talking of patience in dealing with those who would pull you down, who demean you, who hold your ideas and abilities in contempt, who...in short, 90% of the rest of humanity which envies your success or wishes to obstruct it. To deal with those calumnies with tact requires patience; to react with rage puts off others and makes them think that you lack gravitas. I mean, look on ANY interaction between any two people where one is redfaced and screaming while the other is calmly reasoning...which of the two do you respect? (Oh, yes, IF the screamer is your boss OR the boss of the other guy, you may respect him...or, at least pretend to...but that is not on ACCOUNT of the screaming.)
To think that Tiru gave this advice in the days when Social Media was not even a thing! The best way to deal with trolls on SM is not to engage with them...unless you engage with them with humor WHICH requires the aforesaid patience. If you cannot keep your cool when you read troll messages, you will soon lose respect. Because when you see TWO people screaming, you hardly take the time out to verify who started it; you tend to disrespect them both.
There you are. There is no rest for the wicked...OR the famous. You need to keep running all the time. Patiently!
