Manava Dharmashastra 4.238

4.238

mahati dāne mahati ca tapasi mahati ca yajñe jyotiṣṭomādau yadyasamarthastadā nodāsīnena bhavitavyam | kiṃ tarhi śanaiḥ śanaiḥ svalpena dānena svalpena tapasā yathāśakti paropakāreṇa japahaumābhyāṃ smārttābhyāṃ dharmaḥ sañcetavyaḥ | yathā mṛtsaṅghātaṃ puttikāḥ pipīlikāḥ sañcinvanti | paralokasahāyārthamiti dharmaphalānuvādaḥ | sarvabhūtānyapīḍayan | yācñayā dharmārthayā bhūtānāṃ pīḍā na karttavyā |

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
If one is unable to bestow a large gift, or perform a difficult austerity, or offer an elaborate sacrifice—like the Jyotiṣṭoma and the rest,—he should not he despondent on that account; on the contrary, he should ‘slowly’ and gently ‘accumulate spiritual merit,’ by means of small gifts, small austerities, by helping others, to the best of his ability, and by muttering prayers and offering oblations prescribed in the Smṛtis; just in the same manner in which white ants accumulate the ant-hill.

‘For the purpose of obtaining a companion in the other world.’—This describes the fruits of spiritual merit.

‘Without causing pain to any beings;’ i.e., even for the sake of spiritual merit, he shall not go about begging and thereby causing pain to others.—(238)