Tirukkural-On Virtue-On Being Grateful-Kural 101

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For help rendered, not as return for benefits already received,All the gifts of earth and heaven cannot compensate

Nothing on earth or in heaven can measure upto the value of a spontaneous help given to a person who is in need of it and to whom one is not obliged. In this Kural, Valluvar brings out the value of aid given unsought and not as Quid pro quo for something already received. What is done in return for something previously got is good and natural, but it can never be as great as the original deed, born out of sheer generosity.

Another reading of the same Kural has been referred to by Parimelalagar as 'Seiyaamaich seyitha udhavi'. This would mean that the help is rendered to someone who cannot return it – Parimelalagar prefers the first version and so do i.

Kambaramayanam expresses the same idea forcefully in the following lines:

Udhavaamal oruvan seidha udhavikkuk kaimaaraaha
madhayaanai anaiyamaindha mattrumundaaha vattro

The Biblical injunction 'But when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee….let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth' – (Matt. 6:2-3) implies these ideas and also enjoins secrecy so that the charity may not descend to the level of hypocrisy.

The Bhagavad Gita summarises the essence of this chapter in the following lines:

'To give is right – gift given with this idea to one who does not service in return in a fit place and to a worthy person, that gift is held to be Sattvika.'