Compassion
Tap an underlined Tamil word to explore its sound, meaning, and use.
poruṇīṅkip poccāntā reṉpa raruṇīṅki / yallavai ceytoḻuku vār
Good people say that those who abandon compassion and live by doing what should not be done have forgotten the suffering caused when they formerly departed from the true good.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Gain of true wealth oblivious they eschew, / Who 'grace' forsake, and graceless actions do.”
“Behold the man that hath forsaken mercy and doth iniquity: though he must have suffered cruelly in past births for abandoning virtue, he hath forgotten the lesson, say the wise.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
அருள் நீங்கி அல்லவை செய்து ஒழுகுவார்= உயிர்கள் மாட்டுச் செய்யப்படும் அருளைத் தவிர்ந்து தவிரப்படும் கொடுமைகளைச் செய்து ஒழுகுவாரை; பொருள் நீங்கிப் பொச்சாந்தார் என்பர்= முன்னும் உறுதிப் பொருளைச் செய்யாது தாம் துன்புறுகின்றமையை மறந்தவர் என்று சொல்லுவர் நல்லோர்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar says that people who leave aside the compassion owed to living beings and practise cruelties that ought to be avoided are described by the good as having forgotten how they themselves suffered when they previously failed to pursue the true, sustaining good. The commentary carries a religious continuity across former action and present life; ‘forgotten’ is moral forgetfulness, not a medical memory disorder.