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the way in which the desire to know, and then knowledge itself, are not material projects which can be quantifiably measured and predicted, nor predictably caused; the sum total of the proximate factors which (seem to) contribute to desire and then to knowledge never make knowledge inevitable. Third, it indicates that Brahman is not like the complex of words, actions, things, people, etc. which constitute a sacrifice and which form the material object of the Mimamsa inquiry; knowledge of those things cannot be shown to be requirements for knowledge of Brahman. Fourth, the whole discussion pertains to the originating desire which inaugurates the pursuit of knowledge, and then to the resultant knowledge. It does not pertain to the procedures of knowing, the way by which knowing as actually practiced is dependent, contextualized and linked with precedents. |
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29. Tr. 9. |
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30. Taittiriya Aranyaka 2.15.1. On the complex semantics of svadhyaya and adhyayana see note 44 below. |
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31. In Sabara's Bhasya a great deal of energy is devoted to examining whether the inauguration of Mimamsa as further study violates the command that after study one should take up the life of a householder. |
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32. In general, the Advaitins are not entirely clear, particularly in polemical contexts, in their estimation of Mimamsawhether it is simply a how-to knowledge of ritual, or a more speculative understanding of ritual. |
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33. Tr. 66-7. |
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34. Vacaspati brings out this point strikingly when, after admitting that "it does not stand to reason that the [upanisadic] sentence requires ritual as an auxiliary," (tr. 71) he nevertheless goes on to attribute to the appropriately trained Advaitin precisely the set of skills one ordinarily gains from doing Mimamsa: "in him who knows the connection of words and their senses; who comprehends the true nature of the principles regulating the use of sounds; who keeps in mind the relationships of subsidiary and principal, earlier and later, among things, and the requirements of expectancy, proximity and compatibilityin him there is seen the unhindered production of the knowledge of the meaning of the sentence, even though he has not performed any rites." (tr. 71). |
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35. Further on in his comment on UMS I.1.1, Vacaspati shows that brahmajijñasa advances beyond dharmajijñasa in terms of content: "By those who desire the nature of Brahman, the mass of bliss, the means thereto, i.e., knowledge, should be desired. That [knowledge] results from the Vedanta |
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