Tirukkural-On Virtue-On Love Or Affection-Kural 77

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Anbi ladhanai aram.

Even as the scorching sun dried up the boneless worm,

Righteousness will scorch life without affection.

As the spine supports the body of the vertebrate, love supports the soul. Without it, life shrinks and stops the spirit's evolution.

In the early stages of moral evolution there is a conflict between rights and duties. In due course, the morally progressing spirits claim duties as rights too. Self-love is gradually replaced by love of God and his creatures and duties towards them, parallelly in this process.

It would appear that we as a nation have also finally arrived at the stage of realizing the need to focus attention on 'duties' alongside with 'rights' in our Constitution itself (42nd amendment). Whatever else may be right or wrong in this controversial piece of legislation, none will question the list of 'fundamental duties of the citizen'.