The Kural · Chapter
I: In Praise of the Lord explained
This opening chapter extols the virtues of the Lord, emphasizing the importance of worshiping His holy feet as the source of all existence and the means to transcend sorrow, karma, and the cycle of birth and death.
What happens
This opening chapter extols the virtues of the Lord, emphasizing the importance of worshiping His holy feet as the source of all existence and the means to transcend sorrow, karma, and the cycle of birth and death.
Themes in this chapter
Virtue and Righteousness
The chapter emphasizes righteousness as following the ways of the Lord, who is the Ocean of Righteousness.
Asceticism and Spiritual Discipline
Praise of the Lord who has burned away desires of the five senses, highlighting spiritual discipline.
Characters to notice
- Thiruvalluvar
Author of the Kural, presenting the praise of the Lord.
- the Kural
The text itself, containing the verses of praise.
Key passages
“A is the starting-point of the world of sound: even so is the Great Original the starting-point of all that exists.”
Just as the letter 'A' is the beginning of all speech, the Supreme Being is the origin of everything in existence.
This verse establishes the Lord as the primordial source of all creation.
“They alone cross the ocean of births and deaths who take refuge in the feet of the Lord: the others traverse it not.”
Only those who seek shelter at the Lord's feet can escape the cycle of reincarnation; others cannot.
This concluding verse underscores the necessity of devotion for liberation.