Tirukkural-On Virtue-Social Cooperation-Kural 219

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The meaning of this Kural has been beautifully rendered into English by Rajaji in the lines below:

The worst misery, that poverty brings to the large-hearted man, is the pain
Of not having resources enough to serve others the way he had been accustomed to.

When the good and generous men fall into straitened circumstances, what hurts them most is the inability to practise service to the people around them as they are used to. Those others are really poor in spirit indeed, who have the wealth and will not practise the virtue of social co-operation.

The following lines of Purananuru bring out the same idea:

Purapoar punkann koora
Irapoarkeeya inmaiaan urave

(Puram : 72,17)