Maxim # 21: நன்றி மறவேல் -- Always be grateful.

ஆத்திச்சூடி # 21: நன்றி மறவேல் (nun-Ri ma-Ra-vAyl)

Translation: Never forget to be grateful.

Intended Translation: Always be grateful.

Rumination: This is pretty easy to understand as well. "நன்றி" means "gratitude," and "மறவேல்" means "never forget." It is good to forget certain things in life, but certainly not the acts of unconditional love, kindness, and benevolence extended to us. Being grateful of those favors extended is primarily for our good than to those to whom it was extended. If one turns ungrateful, that person is soon engulfed with hubris thereby denying all rightful contributions to his or her own personal growth. A sense of holistic belonging to a society with social responsibility towards others is completely forgotten. If we are grateful to the favors we have received, we will be impelled on our own to help others. That is why one must never forget to be grateful to all the blessings received. It is in this sense of reaching out to others that Auvaiyar lays stress on not forgetting our own gratefulness to others from whom we might have received numerous blessings for aeons.

Quotes: "One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer." -- G.E Lessing, 1729-1781, German dramatist and critic. (Oxford Dictionary of Quotations 6th Ed.)