Pasuram 9.1.3

Tamil text and transliteration:

பொருள்கைஉண்டாய்ச் செல்லக்காணில் போற்றிஎன்றுஏற்றுஎழுவர்
இருள்கொள்துன்பத்து இன்மைகாணில் என்னே என்பாரும்இல்லை
மருள்கொள்செய்கை அசுரர்மங்க வடமதுரைப் பிறந்தாற்கு
அருள்கொள் ஆளாய் உய்யல்அல்லால் இல்லைகண்டீர்அரணே.

poruḷkaiuṇṭāyc cellakkāṇil pōṟṟieṉṟuēṟṟueḻuvar
iruḷkoḷtuṉpattu iṉmaikāṇil eṉṉē eṉpārumillai
maruḷkoḷceykai acurarmaṅka vaṭamaturaip piṟantāṟku
aruḷkoḷ āḷāy uyyalallāl illaikaṇṭīraraṇē.

English translation of verse 9.1.3:

When men behold money in your hands, you they hail and court
And secure one thing or the other ere from you they depart;
However, none in pity will unto you come
When chill penury casts on you its terrific gloom;
There’s indeed no other way for your salvation
Except the grace of the Lord Who, in North Maturai, was born
To quell the Asuras, who did on all inflict pain.

Notes:

(i) The worldly men are essentially selfish and they befriend only those who possess money and lavish praises on them. The latter easily succumb to these sycophants and are misled into believing that they are all genuine well-wishers, with no personal ends in view. The confidence-tricksters will then have no hesitation in fleecing the wealthy men, cheating them, right and left, all the time, and deserting them altogether, once their money is drained off.

(ii) It is with supercilious disdain that the world looks on poverty. Piḷḷai Tirunaraiyūr Araiyar used to relate thus: A man grew rich with the help of a friend who, however, became poor in the process. The latter invited the former for dinner, on a certain occasion. The rich man would not, however, condescend to respond nor even care to enquire of the welfare of the poor man, lest, by doing so, he might (1) suffer in the estimation of the world, as having kinship with a poor man and (2) let the poor man rise in the estimation of the world, as one favoured by a rich friend. In dire contrast to this, the supreme Lord readily responds to the call of the destitute. All that one needs to do is to invoke His redemptive grace and not to shrink away from it, as and when it descends. It is, therefore, no use hankering after lesser persons, for protection; by doing so, one would be asking for trouble, like unto the little babe wanting to touch fire, mistaking it for a red seed (used for weighment of Gold).