Gratitude
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Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
seyyāmaṟ seyta utavikku vaiyakamum / vāṉakamum āṟṟal aritu
A kindness done for you by someone you had never helped first is so rare that all the earth and all the sky, given in return, could hardly repay it.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Assistance given by those who ne'er received our aid, / Is debt by gift of heaven and earth but poorly paid.”
“Behold the kindness done without any obligation: even the heavens and the earth are too poor to repay it.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
செய்யாமல் செய்த உதவிக்கு = தனக்கு முன்னோர் உதவி செய்யாதிருக்க ஒருவன் பிறனுக்குச் செய்த உதவிக்கு; வையகமும் வானகமும் ஆற்றல் அரிது = மண்ணுலகும் விண்ணுலகும் கைமாறாகக் கொடுத்தாலும் ஒத்தல் அரிது. (கைம்மாறுகள் எல்லாம் காரணம் உடையவாகலின், காரணம் இல்லாத உதவிக்கு ஆற்றா ஆயின.)
Source: Tamil Wikisource
A help given to someone who never helped you first — a kindness with no prior cause — is so rare that even handing over the whole earth and the whole of heaven in return would scarcely match it. Every ordinary repayment answers to some cause; an uncaused kindness has no equal price.