Manusmriti: The Laws of Manu

222. Purified by sipping water, he shall daily worship during both twilights with a concentrated mind in a pure place, muttering the prescribed text according to the rule. 

223. If a woman or a man of low caste perform anything (leading to) happiness, let him diligently practise it, as well as (any other permitted act) in which his heart finds pleasure. 

224. (Some declare that) the chief good consists in (the acquisition of) spiritual merit and wealth, (others place it) in (the gratification of) desire and (the acquisition of) wealth, (others) in (the acquisition of) spiritual merit alone, and (others say that the acquisition of) wealth alone is the chief good here (below); but the (correct) decision is that it consists of the aggregate of (those) three. 

225. The teacher, the father, the mother, and an elder brother must not be treated with disrespect, especially by a Brahmana, though one be grievously offended (by them). 

226. The teacher is the image of Brahman, the father the image of Pragipati (the lord of created beings), the mother the image of the earth, and an (elder) full brother the image of oneself. 

227. That trouble (and pain) which the parents undergo on the birth of (their) children, cannot be compensated even in a hundred years. 

228. Let him always do what is agreeable to those (two) and always (what may please) his teacher; when those three are pleased, he obtains all (those rewards which) austerities (yield). 

229. Obedience towards those three is declared to be the best (form of) austerity; let him not perform other meritorious acts without their permission. 

230. For they are declared to be the three worlds, they the three (principal) orders, they the three Vedas, and they the three sacred fires. 

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