Prologue

 I have added a youtube video where I am reading the Prologue from "Weaver's Wisdom - Ancient Precepts for a Perfect Life", an English translation of Tirukkurrall by Sadguru Sivaya Subramunia Swami of Kauaii Adheenam. This gives a good introduction to Tirukkurrall as well as summarises the first 4 chapters (Prologue / Paayiram): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PD4oq925PQ

October 31, 2020:  Reading from "Weaver's Wisdom - Ancient Precepts for a Perfect Life" by Sadhguru Siwaya Subrarmunia Swami.  This book is an english translation of the first 108 chapters  (that is 1080 couplets) of Tirukkural  in simple modern American English and I'm reading the prologue - the first four chapters of this book.  This introduction gives a summary and also highlights how the whole of the sum and substance of TirukkuRaL do you look good ( thiru-ku-rrall திருக்குறள்) is brought out in these four chapters

These chapters are called payiram in Tamil which is same as prologue.

I will read from the book. If you have the book you can follow or if you can the online edition is about US$3.  A paperback can be anywhere from US$6 to US$9

I start reading. (Follow the book please)

My comment:
Of course here you will find the bias of Saiva Siddhanta* and Tirukkural by TiruValluvar is very neutral in that it is theistic (this is god believing or at least believing in a supreme power) but it is not named anywhere and it doesn't talk about the three worlds but it can always be interpreted so.  People of every religion every faith can find suitable interpretation and so that's what we find here.  This is interpreted as a Saivaite scripture which is acceptable to some. If it is not acceptable that can be ignored because in the place of Siva we can always substitute Krishna/Jesus/Jehovah/Allah/Brahman/Maha Vishnu/Shakti.... you can substitute whatever is suitable or simply say primordial being/ a supreme being/ a supreme spirit whichever way. The thing is there is we as humans as a whole are very small I mean in this universe the earth itself is a small spot and so an individual human being - however capable hand however great their achievements - is still minuscule compared to the cosmos so we have to accept and we have to recognize and surrender to the fact that there is a much superior power.

throughout the first 10 Kurals one is encouraged to worship, to worship, to worship and thus soften negative karmas. So here the karma theory also is brought in.  To to live a good life one must to have good thoughts and good mind and one simple way to achieve this is devotion and surrender to the supreme being and be humble. Humility is a great help in not doing anything hurtful which will come back so that's what will be karma.  Speaking of the Holy Feet TiruVaLLuvar tells us of the ancient tradition so embedded in indian culture that even today touching the feet of a holy icon a swami sadhu elder and one's mother and father is a gesture of deepest respect.

In this English translation this author's refering to TiruValluvar as the weaver is acceptable for two reasons: it is it is focused and the goal is to spread the wisdom of TiruValluvar among non-Tamils so while TirukkuRaL and TiruVaLLuvar may sound easy for a native Tamil person, it is hard for most non-Tamils. Unless somebody is highly interested they won't bother to know and repeat that. TiruVaLLuvar supposedly was a weaver who was enlightened and who could contribute this great literature for the language and the society.  So he was a sage  and so we can call him a Weaver saint.  So in this book he's referred to as the Weaver and we can call this book as the  Weaver's Wisdom or Ancient Precepts for a perfect life.

{follow the book}

My comment:

once again as a remainder you can substitute for shiva any deity's name that you are comfortable with or that you have grown up with like it could be Vishnu; it could be Krishna; it could be Jehovah; could be Brahman; or you can also call it paramatma or supreme being supreme spirit shakti - anything that you you feel comfortable with.

{follow the book}

so again it's a metaphor brought by this author Sadhguru Sivaya Subramunia Swami. shiva is supposed to have his abode in himalayas so it is snow covered so the colour white is is assigned typically to Shiva and then rain is given the translucent blue because sky looks blue; saffron yellow it's a sacrifice so the sacrifice is the renunciates in hindu, buddhist and jain faiths wear saffron color robes because the third is the saffron and then the violet rays of virtue: these are the four kinds of gifts so these are considered God's Grace - grace of rainfall, grace of renunciates, who not just in ncs there are a whole section telling about the the duties or dharma for the renunciate and they have to prove themselves and they should be kind, knowledgeable, useful, helpful and so on

These are the four types of grace we must have in life - God, rain holy ones and virtue.  Chapter five begins the threads that crisscross the warp to form the weft: these are the rich colored threads of virtue and wealth that the Weaver uses to create the capacity of life.

So we can imagine, he being a weaver, he has composed this almost a scripture, this book of moral code or ethical code or actually the poetic book like Gita is the song of Krishna you can call this kural as the Song of VaLLuvar the particular weaver sage - the song of the Weaver sage.  After establishing the four main threads the weaver now is going to use the cross threads to form the colorful fabric!

*Shaiva Siddhanta (IAST: Śaiva-siddhānta)^[1][2] (Tamil: சைவ சித்தாந்தம் "Caiva cittāntam") is a form of Shaivism popular in South India and Sri Lanka which propounds a devotional philosophy with the ultimate goal of experiencing union with Shiva. It draws primarily on the Tamil devotional hymns written by Shaiva saints from the 5th to the 9th century, known in their collected form as Tirumurai. Meykandadevar (13th century) was the first systematic philosopher of the school.^[3] The normative rites, cosmology and theology of Shaiva Siddhanta draw upon a combination of Agamas and Vedic scriptures.^[4]