ABOUT THIRUVALLUVAR

Here in US many people ask me, "Who is Thiruvalluvar ?". All these are highly educated people from India, who have studied about other great thinkers of the world like Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Kautilya, Machiavelli, Rousseau,Laski, but unfortunately  not heard of Thiruvalluvar, the author of ageless tamil classical literature Thirukural.

Thirukural is the only book translated in many world languages next to Bible and Kuran. Bible and Kuran are religious books, Thirukural is a non religious treatise on the "Art of living".

Rev Beschie translated it into Latin, G.U. Pope into English, Fredrich Rucker into Germany, P.G.Dumast into French etc.

No clue is available to trace the birth and life of Thiruvalluvar from his work or other literary works or archaeological ruins. There are many stories, all are baseless fictions. His actual name is unknown. Majority of the people agreed his name to be Thiruvalluvar and birth year as 30 BC. In Tamilnadu, his birthday is celebrated adjoining Pongal and is a government holiday.

Its interesting to note that his Kurals do not speak of any particular religion. His God is Almighty, the creator of the Universe.

Thirukural is written as couplets (has only two lines). First line has four words and second line three words for a total of only seven words. Thirukural has three sections on: virtue, wealth and love. There are 133 chapters, each having 10 couplets totally 1330 Kurals. In these seven words Thiruvalluvar speaks on almost all the subjects like management, medical diagnosis, positive thinking, covetousness, tyranny, hypocrisy, penury, nepotism, unscrupulousness etc.

As a mark of great respect to THIRUVALLUVAR, a 133 feet rock statue is erected at Kanyakumari (South India) where Arabian sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian ocean confluence. It is a pilgrim place for many people.

I have selected fifty  Kurals of general interest and explaining them with modern thoughts. I am over whelmed by the encouragement received from different people. Even those who had studied Kurals in their degree are writing to say, "When we studied earlier we could not understand the depth, but now we could understand the various dimensions of these Kurals". Many thanks to all the encouragement received.

My humble ambition is to educate people on THIRUKURAL which speaks on the "Art of living". It should not go unheard by our global educated and enlightened friends.


Visit the blog titbitsfromvincent.blogspot.com/.

M.S.VINCENT. California, USA (March 2010)

THIRUKURAL ON RECRUITMENT

Thirukkural  On RECRUITMENT

Thiruvalluvar speaks of effective recruitment in the Kural 507. 
Recruitment is the process of finding a potential candidate for a particular post. Variety of parameters like academic background, personality traits, experience, team spirit, etc, are considered.

Recruiting a right person is a challenging task for every manager or HR Personnel.

Right recruitment strategies will bring spectacular results. Poor recruitment will affect the entire performance of the organisation.

Because of the fond affection , in modern days, selecting "unfit or unworthy" candidates from family circle or friends circle for responsible posts had become common , it is referred as nepotism.

Nepotism is the favour shown to the relatives or friends without considering the merits. Indian political and administrative systems are notoriously known for nepotism which had led the Nation towards wide spread corruption.

In India , bribery is an extra constitutional growth which had given birth to faulty recruitments leading to unworthy and untrusted people occupying top decision making posts. Even Indian Armed Forces are not exempted. Thiruvalluvar warns that faulty recruitments will lead to endless problems and troubles  to the managers or higher authorities and ultimately bring disaster to the country or organisation.

In case, a manager is forced to recruit an unfit candidate, what he has to do? He should not trust him, by using some "checks and balances" the candidate should be monitored, otherwise he will create continuous worries to the manager leading to frustration. 
At the same time a manager should not doubt a candidate hired after a perfect recruitment, if he doubts , it will also lead to constant worries.

In simple terms :

"Trusting unworthy and doubting worthy" - both will cause constant  worries (Kural 510)

unworthy= totally unfit for the post,     worthy= totally fit for the post

தேரான் தெளிவுந் தெளிந்தான்கண் ஐயுறவும்
தீரா இடும்பை தரும்.( 510)

தேரான் தெளிவும் = Trusting unworthy,  தெளிந்தான்கண் ஐயுறவும்= Doubting worthy.

தீரா இடும்பை தரும். = will lead to constant worries.

In modern days, the successful Corporate Companies concentrate much on the right process of recruitment. They totally avoid nepotism in filling the key posts. Thiruvalluvar cautions against  the faulty recruitment by nepotism in the kural 507.

He says, it  will cause disaster to the administration.

Well established firms will also fall if unworthy people who are selected by favouritism occupy the key posts. It is  a wonder Thiruvalluvar speaks of the principles of modern management 2000 years ago. It shows the immortality and universality of Thirukkural

In simple terms, the essence of kural 507 is

"Recruitment made through favouritism (nepotism)

will lead to all kinds of disaster." ( kural 507 )

In Tamil :

காதன்மை கந்தா அறிவு அறியார்த் தேறுதல்

பேதைமை எல்லாம் தரும் ( 507 )

காதன்மை = Favourtism  because of  fond   affection

பேதைமை = all kinds of disaster

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THIRUKURAL 517 : Delegation of Powers

Thirukkural on Management

The  Delegation of Powers

The students of modern management are familiar with the term delegation of powers. It is an art of getting the  work done through others by delegating some responsibilities to them. No matter how capable a manager is, carrying the entire burden of achieving the organization's goals by himself is impossible. Along with technical, analytical and organizational skills, a manager should have good ability to delegate certain responsibilities to the right people at the right time.

A person selected for delegating the responsibility should be trust worthy and efficient to do that particular task. A King/CEO/Minister/Manager should be careful in selecting the right person. Once Selected, he should be allowed to complete the task and higher authorities should not interfere unnecessarily. This principle of modern management has been explained in Kural 517. 

In simple words:

"A manager should select a right person for a particular work after considering that he would complete the work by using these means and then allow him to complete the work without any interference"

இதனை இதனால் இவன்முடிக்கும் என்றாய்ந்
ததனை அவன்கண் விடல். (517)

A delegate selected to represent a Nation  in an International Forum should have powerful communication skill.He should have a tested knowledge in the  International affairs, otherwise , he will bring discredit to the Nation. 

The Chief executive of a country ( President or PM  according to the constitution ) should select the right persons and handover the portfolios. 
Only to a person with sufficient knowledge in economics should be give ' Finance '. A person with thorough knowledge in foreign affairs should be given 'External', etc. 
PM should remember that he is delegating his powers to them, any fault of them would reflect on him.
While selecting the envoys to other countries, care should be taken to select the best persons who could act according to the foreign policy of the domestic country.

How to select the right person?
Chief Executive should consider many factors.
Thiruvalluvar says- 
Consider the person's loving nature, knowledge in the  field,  firm determination  to execute the work  and a mind with  no greediness for money and then select .( 513) 
அன்பறிவு தேற்றம் அவாவின்மை இந்நான்கும்
நன்குடையான் கட்டே தெளிவு. (513)
1) A delegate should have loving nature or pleasing manners which will impress others.
2) A clear knowledge in the  field is very important. 
3) He should have a strong determination to execute the work entrusted to him.
4) He should have a mind free from greediness for money .( அவாவின்மை )

It is a well known fact that some of  the ministers in India  to whom the Head of the Government  had  delegated certain powers,  because of their greediness towards money, involved in scams after scams and looted the Nation's purse. 

The  CEO should be careful while selecting, he should select a person who knows the in and out of the nature of the work and who is  capable of  performing the assignment with precision. He should not try to select any other incapable person on the basis of any favour or attachment. (515)
அறிந்தாற்றிச் செய்கிற்பாற் கல்லால் வினைதான்
சிறந்தானென் றேவற்பாற் றன்று.(515)
This is another important factor in the process of  selecting the delegates,  they should be selected purely on merit,  not on any favour. Selecting people for  high posts by favouritism is known as nepotism which  is very common in countries like India. The nepotism has ruined the country's prosperity and lead the country to face  many corruptions.

Thiruvalluvar had indicated that while selecting the  persons to delegate any power , care should taken to select the most  fitting persons.

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