Verses on Dhamma 131

131

He who seeking his own happiness punishes or kills beings who also long for happiness, will not find happiness after death.
[129. One feels tempted, no doubt, to take upama in the sense of 'the nearest (der Nächste), the neighbour,' and to translate, 'having made oneself one's neighbour,' i.e. loving one's neighbour as oneself. But as upamäm, with a short a, is the correct accusative of upamâ, we must translate, 'having made oneself the likeness, the image of others, having placed oneself in the place of others.' This is an expression which occurs frequently in Sanskrit; cf. Hitopadesa I, 11:
Prânâ yathâtmano 'bhîshtâ bhûtânâm api te tathâ,
Âtmaupamyena bhûteshu dayâm kurvanti sâdhavah.
'As life is dear to oneself, it is dear also to other living beings: by comparing oneself with others, good people bestow pity on all beings.'
See also Hit. I, 12; Râm. V, 23, 5, âtmânam upamâm kritvâ sveshu dâreshu ramyatâm, 'making oneself a likeness, i.e. putting oneself in the position of other people, it is right to love none but one's own wife.' Dr. Fausböll has called attention to similar passages in the Mahâbhârata, XIII, 5569 seq.