Verse 2.237

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

त्रिष्वेतेष्वितिकृत्यं हि पुरुषस्य समाप्यते ।
एष धर्मः परः साक्षादुपधर्मोऽन्य उच्यते ॥ २३७ ॥

triṣveteṣvitikṛtyaṃ hi puruṣasya samāpyate |
eṣa dharmaḥ paraḥ sākṣādupadharmo'nya ucyate || 237 ||

All that ought to be done by man is finished on these three; this is the highest direct duty; every other is a subordinate duty.—(237)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The particle ‘iti’ (‘all’)denotes the end, and signifies entirety.

Whatever there is that ought to be done by man, whatever there is that is conducive to the fulfilment of man’s purpose,—all that is ‘finished’—becomes entirely accomplished—‘on these three’ being duly propitiated.

‘This is the highest duty,’—because ‘direct.’

‘Every other,’ duty in the form of Agnihotra and the rest—is ‘subordinate.’ That is, they are like the door-keeper (leading up to the king), and not directly like the king himself. This is a praise (of the act of serving the father, etc.).

The prohibition of disregarding them,—the injunction of doing what is pleasing and beneficial to them,—of not doing what may be injurious to them,—and the non-doing of acts not injurious to them, without their permission apart from these, all the other verses are merely commendatory.—(237)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Smṛticandrikā (Saṃskāra, p. 95).