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any relative will do a greater service than a well directed mind will do.
In the Dhammapad's Dandavaggo the Buddha warns:
He who in seeking his own happiness inflicts pain on other beings, who are also desirous of happiness, does not obtain happiness after death.
The identical ideas were stated in the older texts, such as the Manu Smriti and the Mahabharata.
The Manu Smriti (5/45) states
Those who seek pleasure by harming other beings are happy neither in living nor in death.
We can also compare these sources of teaching on the subject of merit in serving the elders. The Dhammapada states:
To him who constantly practices reverence and respects the aged four things will increase: life, beauty, happiness, and strength. (Sahsavaggo, 10)
Manu Smriti (2/121) also states the similar ideas:
To the one who is endowed with the nature of serving the elders and showing reverence each day, four things will increase: 1. Life 2. Wisdom 3. Fame 4. Strength
In the Mahabharata's Ashwamedhaparva it is stated:
As a man spins and pulls a strand (fiber) from a spool of jute, in the same way a yogi witnesses his atman by separating it from the body.
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