Thirukkural- On Virtue- Penance-Kural-262

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The translation given below is adopted from Rajaji's:

Penance befits the qualified; when the unqualified resort to it,Penance becomes mere profitless travail.

Penance is for the qualified, who will benefit from it, the qualification being a base of virtue but when the unrighteous take to it, it becomes purposeless. The qualified are apparently those, who either by their virtue or by previous penance, are in the line for it. The poet here discountenances the idea of unrighteous people, taking to penance with selfish and vicious objective.

Parithiar answers the natural objection about the need to begin at some stage, by saying that even penance during youth may be rendered (infructuous), by adverse circumstances arising out of one's actions in the previous birth. I am afraid this cannot be fully accepted in the context of Valluvar's own statements elsewhere indicating that the right will and genuine effort are the final determinants of one's future even in the face of adverse circumstances whether entailing from previous birth or otherwise. To my mind, therefore, the qualifications of genuine good-will and honest effort should suffice.

The interpretation given here is in keeping with the following line of Paripadal:
"Munmurai seyivaththin immurai iyainthoam"

(Paripaadal 11, 138)