It is still good advice
Muse #135 - written for children but valid for adults
I wrote about single-word metaphors and Avvaiyar a few days ago. This is part of a ton of literary material of value that I learned mostly during schooling while I grew up.
These though don’t get the same visibility and widely spread as the Chinese teaching - the three popular ones being Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Buddhism though originated in India, was embraced more in the East Asian culture, whereas Hinduism took roots in the Indian sub-continent.
Today, I would like to talk about Avvaiyar’s advice to young children in her Aathichoodi a set of instructions starting with each word of the primary Tamil alphabet and the secondary set of characters. Tamil has two sets of alphabets that work with each other - primary and secondary. The whole set is rather long, so I am extracting only the first set which makes interesting reading.
Here is just the English extract that is useful as a seperate read:
Intend to do right deeds
Nature of anger is to subside
Help others as much as you can
Do not stop or avoid charitable deeds
Do not brag about your possessions- wealth, skills, knowledge, etc...
Never lose hope or motivation
Do not despise numbers and letters (maths; or arts, science, and literature)
Do not beg
Give alms, then eat
Adapt to your changing world
Never stop learning
Do not speak ill about others (especially behind their back)
Do not hamper development or creativity
These are not only valid advice for children but extremely valuable advice for adults even in today’s complex world more than 2,200 years after these have been written.
For those interested to read this version of a complete guide to life check out the Wikipedia page at: