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Part I: On Virtue

Section I: Prologue

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Chapter 43: Possession of Wisdom

Verse seeker
sits within a golden fortress of protection. Before him are the wisdom-filled holy texts. Outside the wall people are offering him various material inducements, but he is only interested in the truth.

TAKA Presents the Tirukural

You can access the entire text, in Tamil and English here:
Weaver's Wisdom

Verse 421

Wisdom is a weapon that can ward off destruction.
It is an inner fortress that no enemy can assail.

Verse 422

Wisdom will harness the mind, diverting it
from wrong and directing it toward right.

Verse 423

Whatever is heard from whomever's lips,
wisdom will rightly discern its true meaning.

Verse 424

Wisdom speaks well, conveying each meaning clearly,
and listens for the subtlest sense in others' speech.

Verse 425

The wise befriend the wise and keep that friendship constant,
not opening and closing it like the petaled lotus.

Verse 426

It is wisdom to live in the world
in the way that the world lives.

Verse 427

Those who know, know what will happen next.
Such things are unknown to the unknowing.

Verse 428

It is folly not to fear what ought to be feared.
So the wise dread what should be dreaded.

Verse 429

Fearsome sufferings shall never happen
to knowing ones who guard against future happenings.

Verse 430

Those who possess wisdom possess everything.
Whatever others possess, without wisdom they have nothing.