To see through

There are these things that are told over and over again, so much so that you dismiss them as cliches. Apparently Goebbels said (AND thereby fathered propaganda or so I have been told) that if you keep repeating a lie it will get established as the truth. Whether or not such is the case (AND it probably IS going by all those things that Social media has established as incontrovetible truths), it IS true that all that is needed to make people dismiss a genuine piece of advice as trash IS to repeat it often enough for people to call it a cliche.

And, yet, I call attention to what Tiru said...and long enough back that it has probably not become a cliche then...

Epporul eththanmaith thaayinum apporul meipporul kaanbadharivu - Tirukkural

No matter how a thing seems, it is wise to look through to the true nature of that thing - Loose Translation

By the way, those who know these kurals will know that there is that other 'Epporul yaar yaar vai ketpinum apporul meipporul kaan badharivu' which says that 'No matter who said a thing, it is wise to try to understand the truth of what is told'. Looks like Tiru decided to economise on trying to build new couplets by using broadly the same construct again.

This one has so many equivalents that it is not funny. You could say that it is the same as 'Do not judge a book by its cover' which IS one truth that you can glean from this Kural. How the book looks is not necessarily a good indicator of how the book reads. Which is used for people to be told that you should not judge things from their appearance. If you want another metaphor, you can always take 'All that glitters is not gold'. That, again, talks of the problem of judging product quality from its appearance.

But, like many things Indian, this Kural cannot be restricted to these meanings. I mean, those metaphors still allow you to see a spoon as a spoon. They only ask you not to assume the quality of the spoon from the way it looks. They do not say, like that Matrix child says in one scene, "The truth is that there is no spoon". Now, this Kural ALSO can mean that. THAT when you look through to the truth, it may well be that there IS no spoon.

So, yes, from judging products to judging people to judging concepts to judging the Universe, you can apply this Kural to get various learnings.

Or, like me, you could say, 'Ho hum' and turn to your OTT channels for stimulation and WhatsApp university for enlightenment.