The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sankaracarya / Sacred Books of the East, Volume 1

Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Translations of the Sacred Books of the East.


Of this Mîmâ m sâ two branches have to be distinguished, the so-called earlier (pûrva) Mîmâ m sâ, and the later (uttara) Mîmâ m sâ. The former undertakes to systematise the karmakâ nd a, i.e. that entire portion of the Veda which is concerned with action, pre-eminently sacrificial action, and which comprises the Sa m hitâs and the Brâhma n as exclusive of the Âra n yaka portions; the latter performs the same service with regard to the so-called j ñ ânaka nd a, i.e. that part of the Vedic writings which includes the Âra n yaka portions of the Brâhma n as, and a number of detached treatises called Upanishads. Its subject is not action but knowledge, viz. the knowledge of Brahman.
At what period these two s âstras first assumed a definite form, we are unable to ascertain. Discussions of the nature of those which constitute the subject-matter of the Pûrva Mîmâ m sâ must have arisen at a very early period, and the word Mîmâ m sâ itself together with its derivatives is already employed in the Brâhma n as to denote the doubts and discussions connected with certain contested points of ritual. The want of a body of definite rules prescribing how to act, i.e. how to perform the various sacrifices in full accordance with the teaching of the Veda, was indeed an urgent one, because it was an altogether practical want, continually pressing itself on the adhvaryus engaged in ritualistic duties. And the task of establishing such rules was moreover a comparatively limited and feasible one; for the members of a certain Vedic sâkhâ or school had to do no more than to digest thoroughly their own brâhma n a and sa m hitâ, without being under any obligation of reconciling with the teaching of their own books the occasionally conflicting rules implied in the texts of other sâkhâs. It was assumed that action, as being something which depends on the will and choice of man, admits of alternatives, so that a certain sacrifice may be performed in different ways by members of different Vedic schools, or even by the followers of one and the same sâkhâ.