The Script:

Ijyaadhyayanadanani tapah sathyam kshama Ghrunaa |
Alobha iti Margoyam Dharmasyaashtavidhih smrutha: ||

Tatra poorvachathurvargho dhambaarthamapi sevyathe |
Uttharasya Chaturvargo naamahathmasu thistathi ||

which means,

Holy sacrifice, learning of the Vedas, charity, penance, truthfulness, forbearance, compassion, non-attachment to wealth - these are the eight paths of Dharma.

Of these the first four can be practised even for the sake of false-prestige. But the last four qualities are found only in saints and never in the ignorants.

- Vidhura Neethi (Mahabharatam)

To appreciate this better, let us look back a little to study the qualities of two important characters in the Ramayana.

Ravana did a lot of Yagnas (holy sacrifices); he was adept in the study of Vedas; he did give a lot in charity; he performed severe penance that surprised Anjaneya himself. But he did all these for false prestige. Further, he did not follow the path of truth - for, he came in the guise of a mendicant to take away Sita devi. He had very little patience and was very ill-tempered. He was merciless and a source of trouble to many. He was greedy for wealth. In spite of practising the first four paths of dharma as mentioned above, he lacked the latter four qualities.

Sri Rama was a nitya Agnihotri and he also did a lot of Yagnas; he was also well versed in Vedas; he gave away a lot in charity; he lived a life of a tapasvi. He possessed the latter four qualities, too. For the sake of truth, to keep up his father's promise - he quit Ayodhya to go to the jungle; he forebore a lot of difficulties in the forest; he showered unparallelled compassion to all beings; is it necessary to spell out that he had no desire for wealth when repeatedly he refused the crown for the upkeep of dharma?' Since he had all the eight qualities he was a Mahatma : Since he was a Mahatma he had all these eight qualities as his very nature.