Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forbearance, uprightness, knowledge, direct experience of truth, and faith in God — these are the natural duties of the Brahmin.

The nine qualities of the Brahmin are a portrait of the contemplative and intellectual path: śama (serenity of mind), dama (restraint of the senses), tapas (austerity — disciplined cultivation of spiritual capacity), śauca (purity — inner and outer), kṣānti (forbearance — the patient endurance that does not strike back), ārjava (uprightness, moral directness), jñāna (knowledge — theoretical, scriptural), vijñāna (direct experiential knowing — the wisdom that comes from lived practice), and āstikyam (faith in God, in the scriptures, and in the liberation they promise). Together these describe the qualities needed for the life of enquiry and teaching — the service that keeps wisdom alive and available for every generation.