Section II: The Way of The Householder
Chapter 5: Family Life
Kural 41
He alone may be called a householder who supports
students, elders and renunciates pursuing well their good paths.
Kural 42
The virtuous householder supports the needs
of renunciates, ancestors and the poor.
Kural 43
The foremost duty of family life is to serve duly these five:
God, guests, kindred, ancestors and oneself.
Kural 44
The posterity of householders who gather wealth without misdeeds
and share meals without miserliness will never perish.
Kural 45
When family life possesses love and virtue,
it has found both its essence and fruition.
Kural 46
If a man masters the duties of married life,
what further merits could monkhood offer him?
Kural 47
Among those who strive for liberation, the foremost are they
who live the blessed state of family life as it should be lived.
Kural 48
The householder dedicated to duty and to aiding
ascetics on their path of penance endures more than they do.
Kural 49
Domestic life is rightly called virtue. The monastic path,
rightly lived beyond blame, is likewise good.
Kural 50
He who rightly pursues the householder’s life here on Earth
will be rightfully placed among the Gods there in Heaven.