Written by London Swaminathan

Post No. 16,088

Date uploaded in London – 14 August 2026

Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com

Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.

this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.

tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com

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Points to be noted

I am amazed at the English translations of six scholars! Even the title is translated with different words!

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The gist of Bhagavad Gita is

            Do your duty without thinking about the fruits of your action; in other words don’t expect any rewards. It is echoed by Valluvar in the very first couplet (211)  in this chapter. Compare 2-47 in B G.

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।

मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥ 2-47 ॥

karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana

mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi 2-47

BG 2.47: You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction.

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We lived in 20 North Masi Street, Madurai, Tamil Nadu for quarter of a century or more. At the entrance of my house was a big framed picture of SWAMI VIVEKANANDA with the saying, THEY ALONE LIVE WHO LIVE FOR OTHERS, THE REST ARE MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE; it was a picture given to my father V Santanam News Editor, Dinamani, Madurai by someone. In those days there was no mobile camera or I Pad; but yet who ever came to my house wrote it in a paper and left. This in Kural 214.

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Note that Tiru Valluvar used fruit tree, medicinal tree , village pond, lake etc as similes; he was a great nature lover.

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Also note he used Deva loka in Kural 213. This word is also in Pura Nanuru; he was a great Hindu.

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Sanskrit word Loka (Ulakam in Tamil) is in three couplets.

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Following Translations are used:

1.A Aranganatha Mudaliyar – ANM+2 ( B.L. Aranganatha iyer and R. Srinivasa Desikan), Year 1933

2.S M Diaz, I G of Police- SMD, Year 2000

3.Rev.Dr.GU Pope – GUP, Year 1886

4.Suddhananda Bharathiyar- SB

5.EVS Publishers, Singapore- EVS, Year 1986

6.H A Popley – HAP (not full book; only selected couplets) Year 1931

7.Tamil Original

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Projectmadurai website has all the Tamil books.

Part 40; ஒப்புரவறிதல் – Duty to society; Benevolence; social cooperation; The knowledge of what is Befitting a Man’s Position; beneficence

CHAPTER 22

211.The spirit of benevolence looks for no return; what do men give back to the clouds that delight the earth with their gentle refreshing showers? — A Aranganatha Mudaliyar – ANM+2 ( B.L. Aranganatha iyer and R. Srinivasa Desikan), Year 1933

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211.The benevolent man should serve society seeking no return for,

How can the earth recompense the bounty of the rain clouds?– S M Diaz, I G of Police  – SMD, Year 2000

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211
Duty demands no recompense; to clouds of heaven,
By men on earth, what answering gift is given?
Benevolence seeks not a return. What does the world give back to the clouds ?– Rev.Dr.GU Pope – GUP, Year 1886

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211.Duty demands nothing in turn;
How can the world recompense rain?  —Suddhananda Bharathiyar – SB

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211.How can the world reward rain? Likewise to duty requires no reward— EVS Publishers, Singapore – EVS, Year 1986

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211.True charity never seeks return;

To rain cloud what return can men can ever make?– H A Popley – HAP (not full book; only selected couplets) Year 1931

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211. கைம்மாறு வேண்டா கடப்பாடு மாரிமாட்டு
என்ஆற்றுங் கொல்லோ உலகு

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212.Only for the benefit of humanity do the noble gather wealth in the sweat of their brow—– ANM+2

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212.Good men industriously produce wealth, so that

They may dutifully use it for the benefit of society—– SMD

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212
The worthy say, when wealth rewards their toil-spent hours,
For uses of beneficence alone ’tis ours.
All the wealth acquired with perseverance by the worthy is for the exercise of benevolence.– GUP
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212.All the wealth that toils give
Is meant to serve those who deserve.     – SB  

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212.The wealth acquired by the worthy through their industry is intended for charity—– EVS

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212.Wealth won by toil, among worth folk,

Is meant for doing good- HAP

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212. தாளாற்றித் தந்த பொருளெல்லாம் தக்கார்க்கு
வேளாண்மை செய்தற் பொருட்டு

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213.A lovelier and a better thing than a benevolent heart can scarcely be seen either in the world of men or in the land of the gods—– ANM+2

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213.There is no pleasure in this or in the other world

Equal to the joy of being helpful to those around you—– SMD

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213
To ‘due beneficence’ no equal good we know,
Amid the happy gods, or in this world below.
It is difficult to obtain another good equal to benevolence either in this world or in that of the gods. .– GUP
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213.In heav’n and earth ’tis hard to find
A greater good than being kind.        – SB

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213.Doing good to others is the best virtue of all—– EVS

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213. புத்தே ளுலகத்தும் ஈண்டும் பெறலரிதே
ஒப்புரவின் நல்ல பிற

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214.He alone breathes who is alive to the crying needs of the world; but “Oh death in life” the heart that is blind to them—– ANM+2

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214.Only those, who know and practise social co-operation, live their life;

The others are as good as dead—– SMD

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214
Who knows what’s human life’s befitting grace,
He lives; the rest ‘mongst dead men have their place.
He truly lives who knows (and discharges) the proper duties (of benevolence). He who knows the m not will be reckoned among the dead. .– GUP
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214.He lives who knows befitting act
Others are deemed as dead in fact.        – SB
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214.Only the man who acts in conformity  with the world may be called a living being. The others will be counted among dead—– EVS

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214. ஒத்த தறிவான் உயிர்வாழ்வான் மற்றையான்
செத்தாருள் வைக்கப் படும்

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215.Behold how the waters lap on the lovely shores of a lake to the delight of the villager; like unto it are the riches of the wise that love all mankind—– ANM+2

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215.When the good man, who knows and does his duty to his fellowmen, acquires wealth,

It is like the village drinking water pond getting filled up by rain—– SMD

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215
The wealth of men who love the ‘fitting way,’ the truly wise,
Is as when water fills the lake that village needs supplies.
The wealth of that man of eminent knowledge who desires to exercise the benevolence approved of by the world, is like the full waters of a city-tank. .– GUP
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215.The wealth that wise and kind do make
Is like water that fills a lake.        – SB
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215.The wealth of the wise who confirm to the world may be compared to the fullness of the village tank—– EVS

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215.The wiseman’s wealth, if he doth care for men

Is like overflowing waters of the village tanks– HAP

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215. ஊருணி நீர்நிறைந் தற்றே உலகவாம்
பேரறி வாளன் திரு

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216.The wealth of a generous being is like a shady tree that bends low with he weight of its fruit in the heart of a hamlet—– ANM+2

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216.When prosperity comes to a large- hearted man

It is like the useful village tree bearing fruit—– SMD

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216
A tree that fruits in th’ hamlet’s central mart,
Is wealth that falls to men of liberal heart.
The wealth of a man (possessed of the virtue) of benevolence is like the ripening of a fruitful tree in the midst of a town. .—GUP

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216.Who plenty gets and plenty gives
Is like town-tree teeming with fruits.        – SB

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216.Wealth in the hands of a liberal person is like a useful tree bearing  fruits in the middle of a town square—– EVS

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216. பயன்மரம் உள்ளூர்ப் பழுத்தற்றால் செல்வம்
நயனுடை யான்கண் படின்

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217.The possessions of a large noble heart are like an unfailing tree which breathes ot from every leaf a healing balm to all that gather around—– ANM+2

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217.If wealth comes to a generous soul, with a large heart,

It becomes an unfailing drug  for all ills of society—– SMD

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217
Unfailing tree that healing balm distils from every part,
Is ample wealth that falls to him of large and noble heart.
If wealth be in the possession of a man who has the great excellence (of benevolence), it is like a tree which as a medicine is an infallible cure for disease. .– GUP
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217.The wealth of a wide-hearted soul
Is a herbal tree that healeth all.        – SB

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217.If a noble-minded benevolent person comes by wealth that wealth is like a medicinal tree accessible without let or hindrance—- EVS

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217.The wealth of generous souls is like the tree

That healing balm distils for every ill- HAP

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217. மருந்தாகித் தப்பா மரத்தற்றால் செல்வம்
பெருந்தகை யான்கண் படின்

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218.Men of stern sense of duty never fail in their offices of tenderness even when fortune is at its lowest ebb—– ANM+2

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218.Even when the resources are limited, those who know their duty

Will not shrink from their efforts to social co-operation—– SMD

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218
E’en when resources fall, they weary not of ‘kindness due,’-
They to whom Duty’s self appears in vision true.
The wise who know what is duty will not scant their benevolence even when they are without wealth. .– GUP
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218.Though seers may fall on evil days
Their sense of duty never strays.        – SB

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218.Those who have a proper sense of duty will not fail in their duty to others even though they become poor—– EVS

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218. இடனில் பருவத்தும் ஒப்புரவிற்கு ஒல்கார்
கடனறி காட்சி யவர்

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219.The poverty of a generous soul is nothing but the sense of regret of its inability to extend the hand of fellowship in the hour of need–– ANM+2

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219.The worst misery, that poverty brings to the large-hearted man, is the pain

Of not having resources enough to serve others the way he had been accustomed to—– SMD

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219
The kindly-hearted man is poor in this alone,
When power of doing deeds of goodness he finds none.
The poverty of a benevolent man, is nothing but his inability to exercise the same. .—GUP

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219.The good man’s poverty and grief
Is want of means to give relief.        – SB

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219.The poverty of a charitable man is his embarrassment in his inability to render help due to others—– EVS

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219. நயனுடையான் நல்கூர்ந்தா னாதல் செயும்நீர
செய்யாது அமைகலா வாறு

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220.The ruin that springs from benevolence is a jewel of such rare device that it shall be purchased even by going into the very bonds of slavery–– ANM+2

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220.Even if social co-operation throws up harm, it is worth embracing at any price

If it appears to ruin you, it is indeed well worth  being so ruined—– SMD

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220
Though by ‘beneficence,’ the loss of all should come,
‘Twere meet man sold himself, and bought it with the sum.
If it be said that loss will result from benevolence, such loss is worth being procured even by the sale of one’s self.—GUP

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220.By good if ruin comes across
Sell yourself to save that loss.       – SB

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220.If loss of wealth results from doing one’s duty to others, such loss is worthy of having even at the price of one’s own life-– EVS

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220.Even should beneficence to ruin lead,

It is well worth while to sell oneself for that- HAP

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220. ஒப்புரவி னால்வரும் கேடெனின் அஃதொருவன்
விற்றுக்கோள் தக்க துடைத்து

To be continued………………….

Tags- Tirukkural Encyclopaedia- Chapter 22 (Kural 211-220) , Part 40; ஒப்புரவறிதல், Duty to society, Benevolence,social cooperation, The knowledge of what is Befitting a Man’s Position