Manava Dharmashastra 4.246

4.246

kartavyeṣu dṛḍhaniścayo dṛḍhakārī | yatkaroti tadavaśyaṃ samāpayati na punaḥ kāryamārabhyāsamāpya nivartate | nānavasthita ityarthaḥ | taduktaṃ “prārabdhasyāntagamanam” | mṛduraniṣṭhuraḥ | krūrācāraiḥ stenādibhirna sambandhaḥ | taiḥ saha sambandhamakurvan | tathā damadānābhyāṃ svargaṃ jayetprāpnuyāt | tathāvrataḥ | etadvrataṃ niyamaṃ dhārayan | damasya pṛthagupādānāddānto dvandvasahiṣṇurdraṣṭavyaḥ |

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):
‘Who acts resolutely,’—i. e., he who is firm in his determination to do something; having undertaken an act, he is sure to finish it; having begun an act, he does not desist: i.e., who is not undetermined. This is what is asserted in such passages as—‘going to the end of what has been begun, etc., etc.’

‘Gentle’—not hard-hearted.

‘Has no connection with men of cruel conduct’—such as thieves and others.

‘By means o f self-control and liberality, he wins heaven’— ‘if he sticks to this practice;’—i.e., observing the said rules.

‘Self-control’ being mentioned separately, the term, ‘dāntaḥ,’ should he taken to mean ‘tolerant of opposition.’—(246)