139. "I Wish Him Well"

"You gave a new lease of life to that urchin, who, orphaned by his parents, was roaming on the streets, by giving him a job and enabled him to earn a decent income and live a dignified life. For the past several years, he had been working for you with sincerity and dedication. Now, he has quit the job, without even telling you and started a business in competition with your business. Are you going to allow him to get away with this treachery?" burst out Sundari, giving vent to her anger and frustration.

Sabhapathy did not say anything.

"For his act of ungratefulness, I want him to..."

"Don't curse him" interrupted Sabhapathy. "May he be happy!" 

"We should at least condemn a person who betrayed us, in strong words. That will give us some satisfaction!" said Sundari.

"The hallmark of a good person is not to use words intending harm to others" said Sabhapathy.

"What do you mean? We may decide not to punish a person who has wronged us. But should we not give vent to our anger? That's what will make us feel better."

"It is a wrong approach."

"What you say is strange. Some people will use abusive words against a person who has wronged them. Dignified people won't use abusive language. But they will curse the traitor, saying things like, 'he will pay the price for this,' 'he will be punished by God for what he did to me' etc. It is natural for people to react this way."

"Using harsh words amounts to punishing ourselves."

"How can it be?"

"In our mythology, there are stories of sages who attained extraordinary powers through long years of penance. But if they cursed someone, their powers would get diminished. This is what we see in several mythological stories. Now, what is cursing? Cursing is using words intending harm to others. Doesn't the sages' suffering loss of power, when they cursed other people, indicate that this resulted from their lack of discipline and propriety? Is this not a punishment the sages inflicted on themselves, by slipping on their discipline and code of propriety?"

Sundari did not answer her husband.

After a few months, there was news of a person running a chit fund having absconded with the money deposited by the subscribers to various chit fund schemes. Sundari had subscribed to a scheme promoted by him and deposited fifty thousand rupees over a period. When she heard the news, she was shocked. The grief resulting from losing a large amount of money made her feel angry towards the person who had cheated her. She began to curse him with the words, "May he suffer from...." But immediately, she changed her thought and murmured "I wish him well."

Thirukkural

Section 1
The Path of Virtue

Chapter 14
Possession of Propriety 

Verse 139 (In Tamil)

ozhukkam udaiyavarkku ollAvE thIya
vazhukkiyum vAyAl solal.

Meaning:

Those who practice propriety will not utter harmful words even inadvertently. 

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'sIttuppaNam' by the same author.)

Verse 140 (Soon)
Verse 138