Greatness [from 'naaladiyaar' In Tamil] Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

181. In the shortage, you couldn't give anything.Youth
had gone away. Loved wife and children dissented
and kept ‘way. You had better desert the hope
to revive and be desireless to be great.

182. The vapid folks think they're well settled in life.
They forget that appearance is deceptive.
What they see as real will soon disappear.
The renounced don't feel sorry as know these facts.

183. Youth-like appearances change wherever
they aren't seen with reason. Be wise to do
the deeds of virtue without doubt; the seeds
which lead you to the joys of the next birth.

184. When rain fails, water springs up in the well
to slake the thirst of the whole town. The great give
even when their resources are scarce. The mean
give not others even when they have riches.

185. When the river swells, it quells the thirst of all.
When it dries up, water wells up from the sand.
The great people give a lot when they have got.
E'en in the drought, their helping hands give something.

186. O, Chief of the vast, high mountainous country!
A minor fault in the great sparkles like
the brand on a sturdy white bull.When the mean
dares to kill the ox, the seeming crime hides.

187. Friendship with the mean, ill-bred people,
augments troubles till it lasts. But hatred
towards the wise, who don't do evil things,
even for a joke, brings one name and fame.

188. Be soft with soft-natured women-folk.
Be a death-fearing, deadly man to the foes.
Meet malice with more malice
and be gentler to those who are gentle.

189. Those with faultless minds don't collapse
when the scowl-tempered slander them to confuse.
They don't shiver and be gritty
and pure-minded like the shining flame.

190. The great give the poor the first handful of food
and eat the food that remains then daily.
That food given helps to rid them of lust,
Wrath and ignorance and save them till their last.