sacraments (to
which allusion was made above), have been recounted, there are given
'eight good qualities of the soul,' viz., mercy, forbearance, freedom
from envy, purity, calmness, correct behavior, freedom from greed and
from covetousness. Then follows: "He that has (performed) the forty
sacraments but has not the eight good qualities enters not into union
with Brahm[=a], nor into the heaven of Brahm[=a].[20] But he that has
(performed) only a part of the forty sacraments and has the eight good
qualities enters into union with Brahm[=a], and into the heaven of
Brahm[=a]." This is as near to heresy as pre-buddhistic Brahmanism
permitted itself to come.

In the later legal S[=u]tra of the northern Vasistha[21] occurs a rule
which, while it distinctly explains what is meant by liberality, viz.,
gifts to a priest, also recognizes the 'heavenly reward': "If gifts
are given to a man that does not know the Veda the divinities are not
satisfied" (3. 8). In the same work (6. 1) 'destruction' is the fate
of the sinner that lives without observance of good custom; yet is it
said in the same chapter (27): "If a twice-born man dies with the food
of a C[=u]dra (lowest caste) in his belly, he would become a village
pig, or he is born again in that (C[=u]dra's) family"; and, in respect
to sons begotten when he has in him such food: "Of whom the food, of
him are these sons; and he himself would not mount to heaven ... he
does not find the upward path" (29, 28). In _ib_. 8. 17 the Brahman
that observes all the rules 'does not fall from _brahmaloka,' i.e_.,
the locality of Brahm[=a]. Further, in 10. 4: "Let (an ascetic) do
away with all (sacrificial) works; but let him not do away with one
thing, the Veda; for from doing away with the Veda (one becomes) a
C[=u]dra." But, in the same chapter: "Let (the ascetic) live at the
end of a village, in a temple ('god's house'), in a deserted house, or
at the root of a tree; there in his mind studying the knowledge (of
the _[=a]tm[=a]_) ... so they cite (verses): 'Sure is the freedom from
re-birth in the case of one that lives in the wood with passions
subdued ... and meditates on the supreme spirit' ... Let him not be
confined to any custom ... and in regard to this (freedom from worldly
pursuits) they cite these verses: 'There is no salvation (literally
'release') for a philologist (_na cabdac[=a]str[=a]bhiratasya
mokshas_), nor for one that delights in catching (men) in the world,
nor for on