Intrepidity in the Face of Misfortune
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ilakka muṭampiṭumpaik keṉṟu kalakkattaik / kaiyāṟāk koḷḷātā mēl.
“'Man's frame is sorrow's target', the noble mind reflects, / Nor meets with troubled mind the sorrows it expects.”
“The wise know that the body is a target unto misfortune: and so they worry themselves not when they meet with a calamity.”
Knowing that embodied life is exposed to pain, the discerning do not make panic their only response when hardship arrives.
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Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
உடம்பு இடும்பைக்கு இலக்கம் என்று= நாற்கதியினும் உள்ள உடம்புகள் இடும்பை என்னும் வாளுக்கு இலக்கு என்று தெளிந்து; கலக்கத்தைக் கையாறாக் கொள்ளாதாம் மேல்= தம்மேல் வந்த இடும்பையை இடும்பையாகக் கொள்ளார் அறிவுடையார்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Discerning noble minds recognize that the human body is naturally a target for afflictions; hence they never adopt helpless panic as their response when hardships arrive.