“Do unto others as thou wouldst they should do unto thee”

“Do unto others as thou wouldst they should do unto thee” is a reciprocal moral precept that the book’s commentary identifies as recurring in old Indian poems. The commentary emphasizes that its charitable concern reaches beyond human beings to bird and beast, giving the maxim a scope that includes living creatures generally.

Meaning and Scope

The rule asks a person to use their own interests as a measure for conduct toward others: treatment should be guided by the consideration one would want in return. The commentary makes this breadth explicit by pairing the maxim with the line, “He prayeth best who loveth best all things both great and small.” The companion thought presents care for all creatures not as an optional addition to moral life but as part of what makes devotion sincere.

Ethical Context

Elsewhere, the cited passages place ethical life among obligations expressed through ritual, public welfare, gratitude, and fidelity to promises. During the sacrifice, the narrative notes that no one was oppressed by hunger or distressed by toil, setting ritual observance alongside the well-being of people and animals. In another episode, a grateful monarch promises favors to the person who restored him to health; elsewhere, the narrative emphasizes a ruler’s truthfulness and the keeping of a father’s word. These are distinct duties rather than direct explanations of the maxim, but they show the wider ethical setting in which reciprocal regard is legible.

Place in the Book

The maxim is preserved in an explanatory note that connects the epic’s moral language to a broader poetic tradition. Its importance is therefore both practical and interpretive: it offers a compact standard for judging conduct, while the note insists that the standard’s reach is not confined to human relationships. By placing human and animal life within the same field of charitable concern, the expression gives reciprocity an expansive, creature-inclusive meaning.