Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World


Poetry Chaikhana Home
New | Books | Music | Teahouse | About | Contact
Poets by: Name| Tradition | Timeline Poetry by: Theme | Commentary
Blog | Forum | Video Channel
www.Poetry-Chaikhana.com

Yoga / Hindu : Shaivite (Shiva)
7th Century

About Tiruvalluvar

Timeline (7th Century)

Tiruvalluvar, Tiruvalluvar poetry, Yoga / Hindu, Yoga / Hindu poetry, Shaivite (Shiva) poetry, [TRADITION SUB2] poetry,  poetry

<<Previous Poem | View All Poems by Tiruvalluvar | Next Poem >>

English version by
P. S. Sundaram

Original Language
Tamil

Love

Themes
  Bliss
  Bower
  Garden
  Lover and Beloved
  Sun

 

Recommended Books

The Kural (Penguin Classics), by Tiruvalluvar / Translated by P. S. Sundaram
Weaver's wisdom: Ancient precepts for a perfect life: an American English translation of Saint Tiruvalluvar's ancient Tirukural, by Tiruvalluvar / Translated by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

Can love be latched and hidden? A trickling tear
Will proclaim it loud.

The loveless grasp all; while the loving
With their very bones help others.

The soul, it is said, is enclosed in bones
That human love may be.

From love, devotion comes; and from that unsought
Priceless enlightenment.

Bliss hereafter is the fruit, they say,
Of a loving life here.

"Love helps only virtue," say the fools:
But it also cures vice.

As boneless worms wither in the sun, so too
The loveless in a just world.

A loveless life is a withered tree that would fain
Sprout in a desert.

What good are outward features if they lack
Love, the inward sense?

Love's way is life; without it humans are
But bones skin-clad.

 

 

-- from The Kural (Penguin Classics), by Tiruvalluvar / Translated by P. S. Sundaram

Amazon.com

 

<<Previous Poem | View More Poems by Tiruvalluvar | Next Poem >>


Poetry Chaikhana Home
New | Books | Music | Teahouse | About | Contact
Poets by: Name| Tradition | Timeline Poetry by: Theme | Commentary
Blog | Forum | Video Channel
www.Poetry-Chaikhana.com

Please support the Poetry Chaikhana, as well as the authors and publishers of sacred poetry, by purchasing some of the recommended books through the links on this site. Thank you!

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.