Modi's Bookshelf: The Kural (300 BC)

Indian PM Narendra Modi has often recommended The Kural, a classic Tamil text. The Kural was written sometime around 300 BC by a man whose name, background, and profession no one knows anything about. The book touches on morality and gives practical tips on how to live. The top

A good conversation. In a good conversation, you don't insert completely new ideas in someone's head. Instead, your words should fall into their ears like water to fertile ground - something buried inside them should rise to the surface.

Empty speech is worse than negative speech. "Unpleasant words," when used well, can nudge someone to the right path. However, empty words uttered in public are "worse than a wrong done to a friend!" Words get us to clarity and understanding - words spoken vainly degrade this aim.

Be authentic. The Kural states, "all the world will worship him, whose soul is his own." Humans are social beings and there's always pressure from others to sway us from our real nature. Don't, because people who stick to their core self develop charisma and invoke awe.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Atypical behavior is rational in an atypical situation. "When rare opportunity arrives," do not wait to "venture into rare deeds."

Time is a murderer. "A day, so called, is a sword hacking at life." Do what you must do in time, and never be the fool who takes "the fleeting for the permanent."

Prep is everything. The source of a battering ram's power? It's "backward step." Sometimes, to hit a target well, you have to recede from it. Big goals not matched by elaborate preparation are air castles.

The Kural states, "Friendship is not for jollity, but swift correction when needed." Friends deliver the slap on the wrist when we need it. The Kural states has a wonderful phrase: good friends, when we need them, are "swift as one’s hand to slipping on clothes."

Push yourself a little everyday. The Kural states, "The valiant count as futile all their days with no war wounds." The wound doesn't have to be bloody - it can be any challenge, question, and activity that provides the stress needed for our full potential to bloom.

Bottom line. The Kural is one of the most translated ancient books, and has inspired everyone from Mahatma Gandhi to Leo Tolstoy. Share this memo with a friend and pass on the teachings of this timeless classic.