AN INTRODUCTION TO
THE STUDY OF TIRUVALLUVAR
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A Lecture by Prof.Avvai Duraisami Pillai
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Part – 7
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மனத்துக்கண் மாசு இலனாதல் அனைத்து அறன்
ஆகுல நீர பிற. (7)
In putting this Aram into action one must be careful in eschewing uncharitable envy, illegitimate desire, unscrupulous anger and mischievous offensive speech. The purpose of man’s life on earth is to attain pleasure; no power or pelf is capable of bringing lasting peace and pleasure; history tells us in its true verasity, that sceptre and crown have tumbled down and rich diadems have been thrown away rejected on the ground that they were incapable of yielding happiness with peace. Man’s burning desire is to attain unalloyed, untroubled and everlasting pleasure and peace. Even this is not impossible provided you are an ardent devotee of Aram; Aram is the only source of that everlasting pleasure and nothing else.
அறத்தான் வருவதே இன்பம் மற்று எல்லாம்
புறத்த புகழும் இல. (8)
Gentlemen,
Having introduced Aram in this way, Thiruvalluvar begins to enlarge his subject of Aram and exhorts the human society to follow it.
In the beginning, he begins with the household life, because, according to Valluvar and his predecessors as we have already seen, family is the unit of the human society. But our modern politicians advocate individuals as the unit of the society and they base all the Governmental activities taking the individual, male or female, as the unit. According to our traditions and culture, family-unit is indissoluble and sacred. Splitting family into individuals has torpedoed peace and tranquility at home. This reduces the house to a temporary lodging for the male and the female individuals. There is another school of thought professing the village community as the unit of the human society. Here, the unit is heterogeneous in its structure and the active are absent on account of their exodus to urban areas. Thus we can see how realistic our Valluvar is and true to our culture; he gives a lead to the entire human community.
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