Thirukkural-On Wealth-On Wisdom-Kural-428

The truly wise will fear what is to be feared;
Only the ignorant will be fool-hardy.

According to Rajaji, it would be folly not to fear what is to be feared. The truly wise man, therefore, will entertain a legitimate fear of what is to be feared.

The fear projected here by Valluvar is not so much the fear at the physical level, but it is more the fear of assault on moral values.

With the substantial erosion of moral and ethical standards in India today, the wise men have much to be afraid about. Under the circumstances, this Kural is very much valid in today"s India.

It is obviously the function of the men of learning to foresee developments and plan for the future, as stated in the last Kural. What is envisaged in this Kural is that they should foresee too the kind of erosion of moral and ethical values that are likely to take place, and take effective measures in time to ensure that such erosion is prevented and values are not thrown over board.

If soul erosion can be prevented by proper planning and action, by way of prevention of deforestation and suitable afforestation, there is no reason why suitable planning and action should not be directed against erosion of moral values too, by inducting and imbibing right thoughts and habits.

Purananuru has a one line parallel as follows:

“Anjuvadhu anjaa aranila" (Puranaanooru : 182; 4)