Manava Dharmashastra 2.237

2.237

itiśabdaḥ samāptivacanaḥ kātsnyaṃ gamayati | yatkiñcana puruṣasya kartavyaṃ yāvānkaścana puruṣārthaḥ sa eteṣvārādhiteṣu samāpyate paripūrṇamanuṣṭhito bhavati | eṣa dharmaḥ paraḥ śreṣṭhaḥ sākṣāttvena | anyaścāgnihotrādirūpadharmaḥ pratihārasthānīyo na sākṣādrājabat, iti praśaṃsā | avamānapratiṣedhaḥ, priyahitakaraṇaṃ, tadvirodhinaḥ kartavyasyānanuṣṭhānam, avirodhino'pyananujñātasya ca | pariśiṣṭaḥ ślokasaṃghāto'rthavādaḥ |

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)