By conducting hundreds of sacrifices, Daśaratha became free from his debt to the devas. By studying the scriptures, he became free from his debt to the sages. He became free from his debt to his forefathers, by giving birth to a son. He became free from his debt to the brāhmaṇas by giving in charity. He became free from his debt to himself by experiencing happiness [within the bounds of Vedic dharma].

The Śruti establishes that there are three debts that are fulfilled through brahmacarya and so on:

jāyamāno vai brāhmaṇas tribhir ṛṇavān jāyate. brahmacaryeṇa ṛṣibhyo yajñena devebhyaḥ prajayā pitṛbhyaḥ iti.

“Whenever a brāhmaṇa takes birth, three debts are born along with him. He can pay his debt to the sages by celibacy, his debt to the demigods by sacrifice, and his debt to his forefathers by begetting children.” (Taittirīya Saṁhitā 6.3.10.5)¹

There is another [authoritative] opinion that there are five debts [which have been noted above]. Because three of the five debts are primary, they have been enlisted [in the above quote] while the remaining two are understood to be secondary, understood by implication.

How is one so much indebted to the devas and others? The learned authorities answer this question as follows: The devas, as the predominating deities of the senses, help one become sense controlled. The sages help one’s speech [through their literary contributions, which are to be recited]. The forefathers help one get a body and the brāhmaṇas help by executing all of one’s purificatory rites that are a part of one’s prescribed duties. One is indebted to one’s own self for it is because of one’s ātmā that one is conscious of one’s [gross] body and [subtle] senses. Therefore, not fulfilling one’s debts makes a man indebted. It is stated elsewhere, aniṣiddha-sukha-tyāgī paśur eva na saṁśayaḥ: “A person who abandons unforbidden happiness is undoubtedly an animal.”²

NOTE. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.84.39 refers to the three debts thus:

ṛṇais tribhir dvijo jāto devarṣi-pitṝṇāṁ prabho
yajñādhyayana-putrais tāny anistīrya tyajan patet

¹. This is merely illustrative. Even when a brāhmaṇa takes birth, he has three debts—so what to speak of those lower than a brāhmaṇa? This is the point.

². It should be understood that this applies to those pursuing dharma, artha and kāma while desiring mokṣa and the Lord’s happiness.

“Dear Prabhu, a member of the twice-born classes is born with three kinds of debts — those owed to the demigods, to the sages and to his forefathers. If he leaves his body without first liquidating these debts by performing sacrifice, studying the scriptures and begetting children, he will fall down into a hellish condition.”

In this regard, Śrīla Prabhupāda notes the following in his comment to Bhagavad-gītā 2.38:

But he who has completely surrendered himself in the activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is no longer obliged to anyone, nor is he a debtor to anyone, as one is in the ordinary course of activities. It is said:

devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṝṇāṁ
na kiṅkaro nāyam ṛṇī ca rājan
sarvātmanā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ
gato mukundaṁ parihṛtya kartam

“Anyone who has completely surrendered unto Kṛṣṇa, Mukunda, giving up all other duties, is no longer a debtor, nor is he obliged to anyone – not the demigods, nor the sages, nor the people in general, nor kinsmen, nor humanity, nor forefathers.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.5.41)