Thirukkural On Virtue-Avoidance of Fraud-Kural-282

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The very thought of annexing other people's property,.By fraudulent means, is grossly sinful.

Valluvar was one of the earliest thinkers to lay down the moral foundations for a comprehensive and practical philosophy of life. Like Christ, Valluvar did not approve of the dichotomy between thought and action. For him the sinful thought was as much sin, as the act itself. That is why he says that the very thought of appropriating the property belonging to other people, by fraudulent means, is as sinful as the act itself. Christ also said in a similar context:

'But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart'.

(Matt-5,28)

Unlike Valluvar's directive, which occurs in 'Thuravariviyal' for ascetics, Christ's exhortation is for all. That is probably why the former President of USA, Jimmy Carter, in his interview to the Play-boy Magazine, considered it a commandment difficult to observe and has frankly confessed that while in action he has led a good and virtuous life, he could not say that his thoughts had not strayed from the right path.

But this injunction is not strange in India, where the full import of the message of the Gita is the eschewing of all desire.