Tirukkural-On Virtue-Social Cooperation-Kural 212

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I would translate this basic tenet of Valluvar's proto-type socialism as under:

Good men industriously produce wealth, so that they may dutifully use it for the benefit of society.

The purpose of working hard and earning wealth is to practise the right type of benevolence (i.e.) to distribute it dutifully for the benefit of all the deserving in society.

The message here is nearer to social justice than to mere alms giving or even social service.

The sages of all time have identified the motive for remaining in active life, as the ethical activity of a practical nature through love of one's fellowmen, leading to ultimate salvation. Dr. Schweitzer found in the Kural the ethics of inwardness, side by side with the ethics of love. And here is what the great Rajaji, has to say about this concept:

'Wealth is not to be earned for the purpose of self-indulgence or for satisfaction greed. Wealth should be treated as the Society's instrument of helpfulness. The word 'Vaelaanmai' is not just helpfulness but helpfulness combined with a sense of duty.

The wider concept of wealth would also cover all talent and related effort, which can be pressed into service for the benefit of others. This is also the underlying idea of the Christian principle of trusteeship of the rich for the poor; for the Lord said 'As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me'. (Matt. 25:40). What was envisaged is not merely the giving of alms but of neighbourly service. The parable of the Good Samaritan elaborates this. Gandhiji preached and practiced this idea of positive helpfulness till the last breath of his life. And when Panditji spoke of 'promises to keep', he meant the burden of the people's trust reposed in him.

The Koran too lays down:

Spend you wealth for the cause of Allah and be not cast by your own hands to ruin; and do good.

Lo! allah loveth the beneficient'.
(Chapter 2, Rukoo 7)

Purananuru of the Sangam literature refers to this idea when it says:

"Thaalaatralaal seidha porulai yaavarkum alithu"

The really important words of this famous Kural, which incidentally provides the keynote to Valluvar's economic philosophy stemming as it does from his ethical values, are 'thakkaar' and 'vaelaanmai '. All the wealth that the good men of this world accumulate, through planned and concentrated effort in the right direction, is therefore 'vaelaanmai ' (i.e.) for distribution as a matter of duty to 'thakkaar' (i.e.) the deserving people around them. This perhaps is the nearest approach to social justice that we could have had two millenniums ago and it was delineated by Thiruvalluvar as a way of life. Spinoza's Ethica too outlines a similar philosophy of life, at a much later date though.