Thirukkural Couplet 24

உரனென்னும் டோட்டியன் ஓரைந்தும் கப்பன்,

வரனென்னும் வைப்பிற்கோர் விட்டு.

The one who has the strength to control his five senses,

Prepares the way for a higher place in life.

Control of the five senses according to Valluvar is the only way to acquire one's appropriate and intended place in life.

Thirukkural Couplet 23

இருமை வகைடேரிண்டு இண்டுஅரம் புன்டார்

பெருமை பிறங்கிற்று உலகு

Those who having experienced the paths of both householder and neethar,

Thereafter preach and practise virtue, will be held in high esteem.

The Kural emphasises the superiority of the life of renunciation as a path to fame when compared to all others since neethar has the expereince of the best of both the worlds and is in a better position to project virtue in percept and example.

Thirukkural Couplet 22

டுரன்டார் பெருமை டுனைக்குரின் வையத்து

இரண்டறல் எண்ணிக்கொன் தற்று

The greatness of neethar is infinite as is the number,

Of those who have departed from this world.

The job of recounting the glory of neethar is impossible for each one of them has overcome five senses and controlled desire, which is achieving a miracle.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 21 - CHAPT 3- GLORY OF RENUNCIATION

ஒழுக்கடு நிட்டார் பெருமை விளுப்படு

வேண்டும் பனுவல் தணிவு

All scriptures uphold the fame of householders, who after a full and faultless life,

Renounce active part in it, to become detached, objective and benevolent.

It is possible to reach the heights of renunciation from all walks of life.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 20

நிரின்று அமையாது உலகெனின் யார்யார்க்கும்

வானின்று அமையாது ஒழுக்கு

Even as life on earth cannot sustain without water,

Virtue too depends ultimately on rain

Life cannot exist without water, nor can right conduct.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 19

தனம் தவமிரண்டும் தங்க வியனுலகம்

வனம் வழங்க தெனின்

Alms to the needy and penance for spiritual uplift cannot be sustained,

If the heavens will not give of their bounty.

If the heavens will not open up and give rains to the world neither alms which is the salient virtue of the householder, nor penance which is the characteristic virtue of the ascetic can flourish on this earth.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 18

சிறப்போடு புக்கனை செல்லட்டு வனம்

வறக்குமேல் வானோர்க்கும் இந்து

If the rain fails there will be neither festivals,

Nor rituals for the god themselves.

This is a humourously exaggerated way perhaps of picturising the difficult situation arising out of drought even in respect of the devotion to the great gods themselves.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 17

நெடுங்கடலும் தன்னிர்மை குன்றும், தடிண்டேளிலி

தனல்க தகி விடின்

If the clouds produced by the sea fall in their bounty,

Even the wealth of the sea will shrink.

Drought affects not only life on earth but also in the seas, which in that case will also lose much of their wealth.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 16

விசும்பின் டுளிவிளின் அல்லால்மற் ரங்கே

பசும்புல் தழல் கனபரிடு

If the clouds do not shed drops of rain even the blades of grass cannot shoot up.

When the lowest forms of plant life cannot sustain unless the rains fall what then about the higher forms of life and man himself.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 15

கேடுப்ப்பும் கேட்டர்க்குக் கார்வய்மர் ரங்கே,

எடுப்ப்பும் எல்லாம் மலை

Want of rain spells ruin; sufficiency of it, in turn, will lead to renewed prosperity.

It is the absence of rain that ruins and rain again that aids the ruined land to rise. Even excess rain or cyclone and floods sometimes brings about disaster.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 14

ஏரின் உளார் உழவர் புயலென்னும்

வரி வளங்குன்றிக் கல்

If there is dimunition in the bounty of rain,

The plough-men will be forced into idleness

The activity of the plough is the indication of prosperity and the absence of it naturally forebodes famine and misery.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 13

விணின்று பொய்ப்பின் விரிநீர் வியனுலகட்டு,

உள்நின்று உடற்றும் பசி

If the rains fail, hunger will cause infinite misery to the world,

Even though it is surrounded by the wide oceans.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 12

டுப்பர்க்குட் துப்பாய துப்பாக்கித் டுப்பர்க்குட் துப்பாய டுஉம் மலை 

All food is produced because of rain,

which itself is food again.

It is rain that raises essential food for all. It also serves as food by itself.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 11 Chapter 2 : In praise of rain

வான்நின்று உலகம் வழங்கி வருதலால்

தனமில்டம் என்ருனரர் பற்று

As the falling rain sustains the world,

It must be deemed the nectar of life.

It is the heaven's unfailing gift of rain which alone keeps the earth going; and for that reason it could be considered as the very Amruta of the immortal gods.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 10

பிறவி பெருங்கடல் நின்டுவர் நின்டார்,

இறைவனடி சேர தார்

Those who contemplate the Lord's feet will cross the sea of birth; others will not.

Only those who contemplate on the lord's feet and find heaven there will be traversing the sea of births, as it is visualised according to the Indian concept to be an endless series of actions and reactions leading to rebirth.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 9

கோளில் பொறியில் குணமிலவே என்குனட்டன்

தலை வணங்கத் தலை

The head that does not bow before the lord of eight attributes,

In prayer is like a body with all its senses defunct.

Thirukkural Couplet Day 8

அறவழி அந்தணன் தல்செர்ந்டர்க் கல்லால்
பிரவளி நிண்டால் அரிது


Except those who have found the feet of him, who is the sea of all virtue,
None can hope to cross the rest of the seas.

Of the three aspects of life, virtue, wealth and happiness, the first one is the most vital one and God himself is described by the poet as the sea of all virtue.