g union with Brahma and final
liberation. In this section of the laws of Manu an ideal of moral
perfection is set forth, which is not demanded at the earlier stages
of life.

"_Let him not desire to die; let him not desire to live; let him wait
for his time as a servant for the payment of his wages._

"_Let him patiently bear hard words, let him not insult any one, nor
become any one's enemy for the sake of this perishable body. Against
an angry man let him not in return show anger; let him bless when he
is cursed._"

He is to be sedulously careful not to injure any living creature, he
is to meditate on the supreme soul which is present in all organisms,
both the highest and the lowest. He is to give up all attachments,
and in this way, as his body decays, he enters even here into a state
of perfect freedom and repose and union with the great spirit.

Such ideas prove that the mind of Brahmanism was not occupied with
sacrifices alone. Manu speaks of the superintendence of sacrifices as
only one of several careers which the Brahman might choose; and if he
might with equal right devote himself to study or to self-discipline,
we see that another side of religion than that directing itself to
external gods or occupying itself with outward acts, was pressing
itself forward. The inner world of the mind is growing larger as the
outward gods grow shadowy; it is being found that salvation may be
reached by inwards efforts as well as by outward rites, that the
search for wisdom and the work of self-conquest, and a union with the
deity which is quite apart from any offering or from any form of
worship, also lead to salvation. It is objected to the ethics of Manu
that the ideal they set up is not an active but a suffering one; the
ascetic is placed on a higher platform than the householder, men are
encouraged to withdraw from the performance of their duties in the
family and in society, and to devote themselves to an aim which,
however lofty, is personal and, so far, selfish. It is certainly a
weakness in the religion that it has no higher aim than this to set
before its most eager minds. Apart from this, life is regulated in a
way we cannot but admire. Amid the mass of trivialities and
formalities in which every action is involved there breathes a grave
humane and gentle spirit, and a sound practical morality, and the
ordinary household of the Brahman may have been a scene of activity
and cheerfulness. The Sudra, however, is