Two verses in different books end on the same two words: தான் முந்துறும், it gets there first. In 380, closing the chapter on fate, the thing that gets there first is fate itself. A man devises a means of escaping it, and fate is already standing at the end of that means. Parimelazhagar tightens the claim rather than easing it — fate comes அவ்வுபாயமேயானும் பிறிதொன்றானும், by that very stratagem or by another, and stands ahead of the scheme, அச்சூழ்ச்சியின் முற்பட்டு நிற்கும்.
In 1023, in the chapter on building a family name, the same phrase describes a rescue. A man says he will raise his house and sets about the work it requires; the deity goes and stands ahead of him. Parimelazhagar gives the picture a body: தெய்வம் ஆடையைத் தற்றுக்கொண்டு தான் முந்துற்று நிற்கும் — the deity gathers its cloth at the waist, the way anyone does before hard work, and runs on in front.
The shape of the two situations is identical. In both, a man forms a resolve and acts; in both, an unseen power is at the place he is heading before he arrives. Only the power's purpose differs. One arrival cancels the plan. The other clears the road for it. The Kural chose the same words for both, which is what makes this more than two moods in two books.
Parimelazhagar glosses each verse where it stands. He never notes that the phrase recurs, and he offers no rule for which arrival a person should expect. A reader who has finished Chapter 38 has been told that effort cannot get in front of fate; a reader who reaches Chapter 103 is told that resolve puts the divine in front of him. Neither the verses nor the commentary says how a person is to hold both.