Chapter 99: Perfect Goodness

Verse 989
A massive storm has struck the seashore causing waves and winds that have destroyed a man’s home. Even amid this tragedy and loss, he stands firmly on the ground, his legs apart as he faces the storm with profound courage and stoic acceptance.

TAKA Presents the Tirukural

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

Verse 981

It is said that all good things are natural to those
who know their duty and walk the path of perfect goodness.

Verse 982

Perfect men hold as good their own good character.
They count no other goodness so genuinely good.

Verse 983

Love, modesty, propriety, a kindly eye and truthfulness–
these are the five pillars on which perfect goodness rests.

Verse 984

Penance is the goodness that refrains utterly from killing.
Perfection is the goodness that refuses to utter others’ faults.

Verse 985

Humility is the strength of the strong
and the instrument the wise use to reform their foes.

Verse 986

The touchstone of perfect character is
accepting with dignity defeat from one’s inferiors.

Verse 987

Of what gain is perfect goodness if it does not do good to all,
even to those who have done painful things to others?

Verse 988

Deprived of all else, one remains undisgraced
if still endowed with strength of character.

Verse 989

Destiny’s last days may surge with oceanic change,
yet perfectly good men remain, like the shore, unchanged.

Verse 990

Should the perfect virtue of perfect men ever diminish,
this mighty Earth would bear our burdensome weight no more.