Thirukkural-On Wealth-On Education-Kural 393

Only the learned have their faces adorned by two eyes,
For the ignorant, eyes are no more than sores.

In this Kural, the eyes are identified as the important channels, through which primarily the educational process of acquisition and internalization of knowledge and wisdom takes place; at any rate, commences. It, therefore, follows that if a person has not acquired knowledge and wisdom, the eyes have not served their purpose at all. On the contrary, these useless appendages to the face of an ignorant person could be considered as diseased and are nothing more than a couple of sores.

Apparently, the resultant conclusion that is to be drawn is that the only eyes worth having are the eyes enlightened by knowledge, acquired through a process of discerning education.

A later Kural elaborates this idea in some detail

“Kanir kanikalam kanoatam akthinrael
Punenru unarp padum" (Kural 575)

K V Jaganathan in his Research edition of Thirukural, points out the Jeevakachinthamani focuses attention on opening up one"s eyes, through a systematic process of education on substantial payment as below:

“Yepirapaayinum yemaap poruvarkku
makat pirappil pirithilai-appirappil
katralum, katravai kaettalum, kaetathankann
nitralum koodap paerin"