The study of the Vedas must be cultivated by the three superior castes, and ensures both temporal and eternal beatitude.

In the laws of Menu it is said, "Greatness is not conferred by years, not by grey hairs, not by wealth, not by powerful kindred." The divine sages have established this rule--Whoever has read the Vedas and their Angas, he is among us great.

(JONES'S MENU, ii.

254).
Of all these duties, answered Bhrigu, the principal is to acquire from the Upanishads a true knowledge of the one supreme God: that is the most exalted of all sciences, because it ensures immortality, (xii.
85).

For in the knowledge and adoration of one God, which the Veda teaches, all the rules of good conduct before-mentioned in order, are fully comprised, (ib.