Chapter 3: The Greatness of Renunciates

 

Kural 21

The Scriptures exalt above every other good
the greatness of virtuous renunciates.

Kural 22

Attempting to speak of the renunciate's magnitude is like
numbering all the human multitudes who have ever died.

Kural 23

Behold those who have weighed the dual nature of things and
followed the renunciate's way. Their greatness illumines the world.

Kural 24

He whose firm will, wisdom's goading hook, controls his five senses
is a seed that will flourish in the fields of Heaven.

Kural 25

Such is the power of those who subdue the five senses, that even Indra,
sovereign of spacious Heaven's celestials, suffered their curse.

Kural 26

The magnificent ones are they who can dispatch the most
difficult tasks; the insignificant ones are they who cannot.

Kural 27

Touch, taste, sight, smell and hearing are the senses--
he who controls these five magically controls the world.

Kural 28

Their own subtle sayings reveal to the world
the greatness of men whose words prove prophetic.

Kural 29

It is impossible to endure, even for a second, the wrath of those
who have scaled and stand upon the mountain called virtue.

Kural 30

Pious men are called the priestly ones,
for they are clothed in robes of compassion for all life