Ask Kural - 035 Renunciation - Questions on Letting Go Desires and Ego

Welcome to Chapter 1 of Ask Kural, a guided exploration of the 10 Kurals under the theme கடவுள் வாழ்த்து (Invocation to God). In this chapter, we reflect on profound questions about the origin of existence, the nature of wisdom, and the essence of a meaningful life.

Each Kural is paired with:
  • Thought-provoking philosophical questions
  • A key insight
  • A link to the full commentary, which includes:
    • Possible word meanings
    • Meaning in Tamil and by other authors
    • English translation and poetic rendering
    • Q&A dialogues inspired by Thiruvalluvar
    • Related stories and morals
    • Practical tools for daily reflection
    • Parallels from other philosophical and religious traditions
Begin your journey with the questions that open the Thirukkural — not just as answers, but as invitations to deeper thought and living.




Kural 0341 - 🔓 சுதந்திரத்தின் சூத்திரம் — இது அல்ல இது அல்ல  - The formula of freedom — Not this, Not this

Key Questions

  1. How can I live without fear of change, loss, or uncertainty?
  2. Is saying “no” a kind of power?
  3. Socrates: Can we come to know ourselves while still enslaved to the things we seek
  4. Aristotle: Is the highest virtue the ability to choose not just what to pursue, but what to leave behind?
  5. Aristotle: What is the role of moderation in achieving eudaimonia (the good life)?
  6. The Buddha: Can one walk the Middle Path unless he lets go, desire by desire?
  7. Jesus: Is the kingdom within not reached by emptying the self?
  8. Heidegger: Is letting go a form of ontological clarity
  9. Laozi / Taoism: Isn’t simplicity found when desire falls away?

Key Insight

Thiruvalluvar: Letting go is not the end of desire, but the beginning of freedom; one who loosens each bond of attachment slowly becomes untouched by sorrow and walks toward an unshakable stillness.

Explore Kural 0341 in depth here (link below) for meanings, stories, practice tools and detailed commentary.


Kural 0342 - 💖 அன்போடு துறந்தால் இனிமை - Sweetness arises when one renounces with love

Key Questions

  1. Why do I still feel unfulfilled even after getting what I wanted?
  2. Can lasting joy come from something within, not from possessions or people?
  3. Socrates :Is virtue found in fulfilling desires, or in mastering them?
  4. Aristotle: What is the highest form of happiness (eudaimonia), and how is it achieved beyond external goods?
  5. Aristotle: Can moderation lead to freedom from inner conflict?
  6. Heidegger: How can one live authentically in a world full of distractions and false meanings?
  7. Rumi: What must die within us for the soul to truly live?
  8. Frankl: What gives life meaning beyond pleasure and possession?

Key Insight

Thiruvalluvar: True and lasting happiness arises naturally when we lovingly renounce attachments and desires from within.

Explore Kural 0342 in depth here (link below) for meanings, stories, practice tools and detailed commentary.


Kural 0343 - 💪 ஆசைகளை விட்டுவிடு வலிமை பெறு - Let go of desires, gain strength

Key Questions

  1. What must I give up to gain true power over myself?
  2. Socrates (via dialectic inquiry): Can a man be free if he is ruled by what he sees, hears, tastes, or touches?
  3. Aristotle (via ethics and virtue): Is not temperance a virtue, and does not the virtuous man restrain his appetites for the sake of reason and the good life?
  4. Immanuel Kant (via duty and reason): Should not the moral law within us demand mastery over the sensory inclinations that cloud our rational will?
  5. Werner Heisenberg (via uncertainty and inner clarity): If external knowledge is uncertain and the observer is never separate from the observed, must not clarity come from disciplining the inner senses first?
  6. Werner Heisenberg (via uncertainty and inner clarity):  Is not the act of perceiving shaped by what we desire to see — and thus, is self-mastery the foundation of true understanding?
  7. Laozi / Eastern Wisdom: Can you govern the world if you cannot govern yourself?

Key Insight

Thiruvalluvar: True strength is not gained by accumulating power, but by renouncing the desires that weaken the soul — mastery of the senses is the first and final victory.

Explore Kural 0343 in depth here (link below) for meanings, stories, practice tools and detailed commentary.


Kural 0344 - 🌿 துறத்தல் நடைமுறையானால் – வாழ்வும் இயல்பாகும் - When renunciation becomes practice, life flows naturally. 

Key Questions

  1. Adi Shankara – How can one transcend Maya and realize Brahman while still in the world?
  2. Mahatma Gandhi – What must I do to free myself from the grip of desire and truly serve with purity?
  3. St. Augustine – How do I quiet the restless heart that constantly longs for worldly things?
  4. Aristotle – What habit or practice leads the soul toward virtue and away from excess?
  5. Socrates – If the unexamined life is not worth living, how should I live when desires crowd reason?
  6. Heidegger – How can I live authentically in a world that constantly tempts me toward inauthenticity?
  7. Plato – How does the soul turn away from shadows and begin to see the light of truth?
  8. Epictetus – How do I free myself from the tyranny of what lies outside my control?
  9. Leo Tolstoy – Why does wealth and comfort not bring peace, and how do I return to a pure life?
  10. Hermann Hesse – What must a seeker truly renounce to find lasting peace and self-realization?
  11. Universal – How do I find lasting peace amidst endless wants and attachments? 

Key Insight

Thiruvalluavar: Renunciation, when practiced with intention, ceases to feel like loss and becomes the natural state of freedom — this shift from effort to ease is the quiet alchemy of inner peace.

Explore Kural 0344 in depth here (link below) for meanings, stories, practice tools and detailed commentary.

மயலாகும் மற்றும் பெயர்த்து

Kural 0345 - ⚖️  உடல் எனும் பாத்திரமே சுமை - The body itself is a burden.

Key Questions

  1. Universal: How can I truly be free from suffering and the cycle of life and death?
  2. Universal: Is renouncing material things enough, or is there something deeper I must let go?
  3. Universal: Why do relationships and social ties bind me if I seek freedom?
  4. Aristotle (Ethics & Cause): What is the ultimate cause that sustains human suffering and prevents eudaimonia (true flourishing)?
  5. Socrates (Self-Knowledge & Examined Life): How must one examine and detach from the illusions of self to achieve the examined life and true wisdom?
  6. Heidegger (Existential Being & Authenticity): What must one confront to transcend the ‘thrownness’ of existence and live authentically?
  7. Buddhist Scholars (Dukkha & Non-Self): What is the ultimate form of attachment that fuels samsara, and how can one uproot it?
  8. Religious Mystics (Christian, Sufi, Vedantic): How do I surrender the ego and worldly ties to unite with the Divine? 
  9. Psychologists (Identity & Attachment): What psychological constructs sustain the ego’s attachment and cause suffering?

Key Insight

Thiruvalluvar: True liberation comes only when one severs not just desires, but the very identification with the body itself—the root source of all attachments, suffering, and rebirth.

Explore Kural 0345 in depth here (link below) for meanings, stories, practice tools and detailed commentary.


Kural 0346 - 🌿 நான் எனது (அகங்காரம்) மறந்து வாழ்க - Live Beyond 'I', 'Mine' (Ego)

Key Questions

    1. Universal: When I say, “You don’t understand my world, my pain, my past,” am I protecting truth — or preserving a cage I’ve decorated as my identity?

    2. FAMILY CONTEXT : When I expect elders to be always composed and correct, but excuse my own reactions as “I’m younger,” am I upholding fairness — or protecting my ego behind roles?

    3. EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS / COMMUNITY: When I judge others for being harsh or flawed, but expect them to treat me kindly and ideally, am I living by truth — or demanding a world that orbits my comfort?

    4. CORPORATE / PROFESSIONAL LIFE: If I keep measuring colleagues by how they treat me, but not how I treat others, is that leadership — or ego expecting loyalty without self-reflection?

    5. Universal: What is the true nature of the self beyond the illusions of “I” and “mine”?
    6. Universal: How can ego and pride be transcended to attain inner freedom and peace?
    7. Universal: What must be let go for one to enter a higher state of being or divine consciousness?
    8. Socrates (Self-Knowledge & Inquiry): Who am I, if not the roles and labels I’ve assumed?
    9. Ramana Maharshi (Advaita & Self-Enquiry): What remains when the thought “I” disappears?
    10. Aristotle (Ethics & Cause): How does the highest virtue lead us away from self-importance toward the good life?
    11. Buddha (Middle Path & Dukkha): What is the root of suffering, and how does one let go of attachment to the self?
    12. Heidegger (Being & Authenticity): What veils Being, and how can one live authentically beyond the ego?
    13. Christian Mysticism (Union with God): What is the “death of self” required to dwell in the divine?

    Key Insight

    Thiruvalluvar: True elevation begins not in striving for heaven, but in uprooting the illusion of “I” and “mine”—for only when ego is dissolved can one dwell in the highest realm, untouched by pride, ownership, or separation.

    Explore Kural 0346 in depth here (link below) for meanings, stories, practice tools and detailed commentary.


    Kural 0347 -🕊️ பற்றினால் துன்பம் –  🎈 பற்றற்றதே பறக்கும் - Clinging brings sorrow – Only the unbound fly.

    Key Questions

    1. Universal: What is the root cause of human suffering and how can it be overcome?
    2. Universal: Why do attachments and desires prevent inner peace and lasting happiness?
    3. Universal: How can one achieve freedom from the endless cycle of pain caused by clinging to worldly things?
    4. Aristotle (ethics and virtue): What role does detachment from external goods play in achieving eudaimonia (flourishing)?
    5. Socrates (philosophy of self-knowledge): How does understanding and releasing attachment lead to true wisdom and self-mastery?
    6. Heidegger (existential philosophy): In what way does clinging to the ‘they-self’ (das Man) create anguish, and how does authentic being require letting go?
    7. Buddhist scholar (spiritual psychology): How does craving (tanha) bind beings to suffering, and what practice leads to liberation?
    8. Advaita Vedanta philosopher: How does non-attachment reveal the unity of Atman and Brahman beyond the illusions of Maya?
    9. Psychology (cognitive-behavioral): How do persistent desires and attachments contribute to emotional distress, and what mindset shifts promote mental well-being?
    10. Religious studies (comparative religion): What is the significance of renunciation in diverse spiritual traditions as a means to transcend suffering?

    Key Insight

    Thiruvalluvar: Lasting peace arises when one lets go of all attachments and desires, for it is the grip of craving that binds the soul to endless suffering and keeps true freedom beyond reach.

    Explore Kural 0347 in depth here (link below) for meanings, stories, practice tools and detailed commentary.

    Kural 348 to 340 will be updated shortly