Your Claim to Fame
Author: Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
Description: Rosita at home.com wrote in wondering about the verses in the Tirukural which laud the life which is famous and condemns the life which is not. Why is it so important to be famous? She asks. Gurudeva explains the type of fame that the Tirukural talks of is the fame that a benevolent, charitable, gentle and helpful person gains in the community. That is the lasting fame worth seeking.
Transcription:
We have a question from Rosit that has just come in regarding the Tirukural verses that come up every day on her computer and she's wondering about the verses that tell us that we need to have fame and renown to live on planet earth.
On a very simple level, the Tirukural is saying in this particular chapter, that, yes, we need to be a nice person, yes, we have to help the community, yes, we have to help the family, yes, we have to be a person that people can come to and be uplifted. And, in reverse, these verses are saying that if we are a person that no one came come to to be uplifted, that is doing nothing for the community, simply living a selfish life of me and mine, forgetting you and others, that it is a useless life and would be better not even to be born.