Thirukkural Chapter 8 - The Possession of Love


Couplet 71 
And is there bar that can even love restrain?
The tiny tear shall make the lover's secret plain
Explanation
Is there any fastening that can shut in love ? Tears of the affectionate will publish the love that is within

Couplet 72 
The loveless to themselves belong alone;
The loving men are others' to the very bone
Explanation
Those who are destitute of love appropriate all they have to themselves; but those who possess love consider even their bones to belong to others

Couplet 73 
Of precious soul with body's flesh and bone,
The union yields one fruit, the life of love alone
Explanation
They say that the union of soul and body in man is the fruit of the union of love and virtue (in a former birth)

Couplet 74 
From love fond yearning springs for union sweet of minds;
And that the bond of rare excelling friendship binds
Explanation
Love begets desire: and that (desire) begets the immeasureable excellence of friendship

Couplet 75 
Sweetness on earth and rarest bliss above,
These are the fruits of tranquil life of love
Explanation
They say that the felicity which those who, after enjoying the pleasure (of the conjugal state) in this world, obtain in heaven is the result of their domestic state imbued with love.

Couplet 76 
The unwise deem love virtue only can sustain,
It also helps the man who evil would restrain
Explanation
The ignorant say that love is an ally to virtue only, but it is also a help to get out of vice

Couplet 77 
As sun's fierce ray dries up the boneless things,
So loveless beings virtue's power to nothing brings
Explanation
Virtue will burn up the soul which is without love, even as the sun burns up the creature which is without bone, (i.e.) worms

Couplet 78 
The loveless soul, the very joys of life may know,
When flowers, in barren soil, on sapless trees, shall blow
Explanation
The domestic state of that man whose mind is without love is like the flourishing of a withered tree upon the parched desert

Couplet 79 
Though every outward part complete, the body's fitly framed;
What good, when soul within, of love devoid, lies halt and maimed
Explanation
Of what avail are all the external members (of the body) to those who are destitute of love, the internal member

Couplet 80 
Bodies of loveless men are bony framework clad with skin;
Then is the body seat of life, when love resides within
Explanation
That body alone which is inspired with love contains a living soul: if void of it, (the body) is bone overlaid with skin