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DIVISION OF KARMAS
The Puranas introduced other Karmas such as fasting austerities and numerous Vratas. All the Karmas are subdivided into Nitya (every-day), Naimittikha (occasional), Kamya (desire-prompted), and Nishiddha (objectionable) karma. If we have to decide whether a Karma is right or wrong, we have to find out whether that Karma is Yajuartha (for a sacrifice) or Purushartha (for personal benefit), Nitya (for everyday use such as Snana, Sandhya – baths and prayers) or Naimitthika (such as pacification of the inauspicious stars), Kamya (such as prompted by a desire for a son), Nishiddha (such as man slaughter).
On the other hand, we see clearly stated in the Jnana Kanda i.e., in the Upanishads, that unless Karma is destroyed by Jnana and renunciation, there can be no Moksha. In order to harmonies both those propositions they came to the conclusion that all Karma must be performed but the desire for the fruit thereof should be renounced and not Karma itself. If the Karma is performed with this frame of mind, one will undoubtedly reach Swarga, otherwise, when the fruit of even meritorious action in the shape of sacrifice etc., performed in this life is exhausted by enjoyment in Swarga, the performer of the Yajna has to come back once more from Swarga (Br, 4-4-6. Gira 2-43). Such persons have to move backwards an forwards between Swarga and Martyaloka.
The most important element in Yajna therefore is the giving up of the idea of `mineness’ (Mamatva) with reference to the object thrown into the sacrificial fire not merely uttering the words “Devatayair Na mama” – “This is for such a deity and not for me”. It is not only mere uttering mantras by mouth but it should be accompanied by purity of thought. In short, doing any act desirelessly with a pure frame of mind is the highest Yajna in itself. The words Homa, Dana and Tyaga also mean not the renunciation of action, but the renunciation of the reward of action, (Gita 18-9).
Mimamsakas are known as strong supporters of the doctrine of Karma, but ordinarily the full significance of it is not properly recognised.
CONCLUSION
Purva Mimamsa considered Sabda Pramana as more reliable than Pratyarksha and Anumana. The word Mimamsa means the method of reasoning which has to be adopted in order to understand the meaning of a word or a sentence. The epithet Purva is added because this Mimamsa deals primarily and exhaustively with the method of reasoning regarding the sacrificial rites which form the Purva or earlier portion of the Vedas. Since the Vedas consist of words which have come down from time immemorial and since there is no author of the Vedas they are “Apauruasheya i.e., authorless. But the mimamsakas have not accepted the divine origin of the Vedas, whereas the Vedantists say that Vedas have been naturally revealed from the eternal, pure, wise and ever free God and are therefore self-evident authorities. Although some considered that early Mimamsakas were atheists or at least did not mention about the existence of God, the later Mimamsakas declared unhesitatingly that it is not the object of this philosophy to deny the existence of God.
The Mimamsakas like the Nyaya – Vaisesikas are dualistic and believe in the separateness of the self (Jivatma) from the body, senses and mind. They look from the special properties like Intellect, Will and Effort as the natural attributes of the Self, namely Jnana, Ichha and Kriya, respectively. Swarga is Parama Purushartha or Summum, Bonum of human life. It is that happiness which is not mixed with sorrow or eclipsed by any other mental state, which has no cessation and which is available by the mere wish, which is called Swarga. This Swarga cannot be enjoyed on this earth and to attain it, one must leave the body behind.
Mimamsakas do not believe in the absolute dissolution (Mahapralaya). They say that the Universe exists as it is from eternity and will continue like that eternally.
[II] UTTARA MIMAAMSA OR VEDAANTA
[CONTENTS – Uttara Mimamsa or Vedanta (1) Advaita Sampradaya Maya – Relative Reality – Vivartavada – Conclusion – (2) Visishtadvaita – Bandha (Bondage) –Moksha (Liberation) – Kara Yoga – Jnana Yoga – Bhakti Yoga – (3) Dvaita Sampadaya – Bhakti Pramanas – Bheda (Difference) – Pervasiveness of the Supreme Being – The Different Jivas – Samsara – Kama – Incarnation – Mukti – Subject and Object – The whole life or experience – Waking Experience – Dream State – Dreamless Sleep – Pure consciousness – Goal of Vedanta – Why is Philosophy considered so Difficult.
The propounder of Vedanta was Shri-Vyasa Maharshi. He is also called Badarayana. His name is mentioned with respect by Jaimini in the Mimamsa Sutras. There are three schools in Vedanta:-
(1) Advaita – absolute monism or non-dualism preached by Shree Sankaracharya (2) Visistadvaita (qualified monism) preached by Ramanujacharya and (3) Dvaita – Dualism – preached by Madhvacharya, otherwise called Purna Prajnachara. To all these three schools Brahman – God – the Ultimate Reality – is one and common. The Vedantists proclaim God to be the Cause of all causes and the manifold world of human experiences as the elaborated mode of that one Eternal Entity. Creation is but a process of evolution and involution. The subtle or finer state is the cause and the gross state is the effect. Just as the raindrop, which is but vapour drawn from the ocean ultimately comes down to the ocean only to be transformed to vapour again, all things that are destroyed only go back to their final forms; similar is the case with the Universe as a whole. After each cycle, all gross manifestations return to their final state – the primal substances of which all things of the Universe are but various modifications. It is the one principle that pervades all forms of Matter and Energy and apart from it nothing has reality of its own. The Reality is one and is beyond time, space and causation. It appears as many only when it is viewed through the prism of Name and Form.
In all the three Sampradayas, the Brahmasutras, the Bhagwat Gita and the Upanishads are taken as the three authorities. These three Grandhas are called Prasthantraya. The propounders of the three Sampradayas wrote their own commentaries to suit their own ideas.
(1) Advaita Sampradaaya
The Chief propounded of Advaita Sampradaya was Sankaracharya. Sankara combined in him profoundness of thought and clearness of expression, a rare combination in philosophical writings. His works are numerous and he may be said to be one of the greatest thinkers of the world.
He starts with the view that the essence of reality must be its absoluteness i.e., it must remain ever the same, unconditioned by time space and causality. It follows from such a conception of reality that the imperfect human intellect has not the remotest chance of even comprehending it in its entirety. Therefore, Sankara considers that Revelation or Sabda is the most reliable source of knowledge but he fully appreciates the value of Reasoning (Anumana) and Perception (Pratyaksha) and these are to be adopted only to supplement the Sruti (Sabda). His adherence to the Vedic authority is so complete that he would not tolerate any compromise even when his interpretation of the sruti came in conflict with actual experience. He boldly declares that “Brahman alone is Real, the world is false, the individual soul is Brahman and none-else”. The Srutis say Tat Tvam Asi’ (Thou art that).
The individual i.e., the Jiva is perfectly identical with the Absolute Brahman, Sankara takes the Brahman as essentially Nirguna – without any attribute, Nishkriya – without any activity or movement. Niravayava – without any activity or movement. Niravayava – without any part, Nirupadhika – unconditioned and absolute and Nirvisesha – having no distinguishing element in it – a simple homogeneous entity. Even the words Sat, Chit and Ananda applied to Brahman he says, do not imply any quality (Guna) or differentiation, but they simply mean pure living, pure consciousness, pure **dness, each implying the other. These words **ased in order to show the contrast of everything else.
Now, the question arises how could the ** which is evidently just the reverse of it be **ratified with Brahman. How can the self-** Brahman be both the material (Upadana) ** and nimitha (effective) cause of this ** which is said to be always changing ? How ** this changing world be said to emanage ** subsist in and finally merge in the Absolute ** man?
Sankara explains these questions by what is ** as Maya-Illusion or Adhyasa. Vedantists ** that Brahman is Real and the Namarupatmaka ** is illusionary. When one says that the visible ** which goes by so many Names and Forms ** Nithya on illusionary, one is not to be stood as meaning that it is not visible to eyes; the real meaning is that the numerous ** rances of the various objects in the world ** ing from time or space and diversified by ** and Form are perishable, that is Mithya ** ionary) and that the imperishable and ** table substance which exists eternally under ** loak of these Names and Forms is permanent **. The goldsmith considers bangles, anklets, ** an other ornaments as Mithya and gold as satya (real). The Vedantist goes a little ** than the goldsmith and looks upon all Names and Forms as Mithya and looks upon the fundamental substance which is the substratum of all those objects as satya (immutable and real). That substance which is called ‘Tat” (that) whose existence can be only inferred by one’s reason, though it is invisible to the eyes or unsmellable by the nose or untouchable by the hand is the fundamental real in the world. Vedanta is not to be blamed because some foreign philosophers ridicule Vedanta by saying that the world which we actually see with out own eyes is called Mithya – illusionary by the Vedantists. “Now, what is to be done?”
A pillar is not to e blamed because a blind man does not see it (Yaska). Names and forms are not real. He who wishes to see the real element must extend his vision beyond Names and forms. That which existed in the commencement of the world was without Name and Form that is, it was qualityless and imperceptible; and the same thing later on became qualityful as a result of acquiring Names and Forms (Br. 1 4-7 and Chan. 6-1-23). The mutable and the perishable Name and Form is given the name of “Maya” and the visible or qualityful world is said to be the illusionary Magic Drama or Leela of Iswara.
MAAYA
[*Geeta Rahasya by Sri Lokamanya B. G. Tilak.] “From this point of view, the Samkhya Prakriti is nothing but Maya composed of the sattva, **pujas and tamas constituents, that is to say, Maya is possessing Name and Form, though it might be **superceptible; and the creation or extension of the perceptive universe is also **the evolution of **that Maya embodied in qualityful Names and **reforms; because, whatever quality may be taken, **and is bound to be visible to the organs, that is to **, to be embodied in Name and Form. All the **material sciences fall in this May into the Category **of Maya. Take History, Geology, Electricity, Chemistry, Physics or any other science; all the position to be found in it is only of Names and Forms that is to say, only of how a particular substance loses one Name and Form and acquires ** other Name and Form. For instance, these sciences only consider how and when that which **is known as `water’ acquires the name of `steam’, ** how various aniline dyes, having the red, green, **, or various other colours, which are only differences of Name and Form, are formed from the black substance called coal-tar, etc. Therefore by studying these sciences which are **engrossed in Names and Forms one cannot acquire the knowledge of the Real substance, which is beyond Names and Forms; and it is clear that he who wishes to find the form of the Real Brahman **must extend his vision beyond these material **sciences, that is to say, beyond these sciences **which deal only with Names and Forms. And **the same meaning is conveyed by the story at the commencement of the seventh chapter of the Chhandogyopanishad. In the beginning of the story, Narada went to Sanatkumara, that is, to Skanda, and said, “Give me knowledge of the Aatman”. In reply, Sanatkumara said to him: “Tell me what you have learnt, so that I will tell you what comes next”. Nara said: “I learnt all the Vedas, as all History and Puranas and also Grammar, Mathematics, Fine Arts, Ethics, subsidiary parts of the Vedas (Vedanga), Morality Magic (Indrajala), Warfare (Kshatravidya), Astrology, the Science of Serpents, Deities etc., but I have not thereby acquired the knowledge of the Aatman, and I have, therefore, come to you”. In reply to that Sanatkumara said: “All that you have learnt deals only with Names and Forms and the true Brahman is far beyond this Nama-Brahma (the Brahman qualified by Names)”, and he has afterwards gradually described to Narada the immortal Element in the form of the Absolute Spirit, which is beyond Names and Forms, that is to say, beyond the Samkhya imperceptible Prakriti, as also beyond Speech, Hope, Project, Mind, Reason, (Jnana) and Life (Prana), and is superior to all of them’.
Maya is the principle that makes one thing appear as what as what it is not. You take a rope to be a snake; you get frightened, this is, Adhyasa. Similarly, you take Brahman to be the world. This too is Adhyasa-illusion. In reality there is no snake, no world and no illusion also. Yet it is the inherent nature of a man to identity truth with falsehood. This principle of Adhyasa has no reason to exist but it is there although it is indefinable. This illusion is due to Ajnana (want of correct knowledge). Sankara says that it is Brahman that appears as a Jiva through ignorance or Adhyasa. The rope does not lose its ropenes even when it is mistaken for a snake, so also Brahman cannot be said to be transformed into this world. It only appears as the world because of Adhyasa (ignorance).
The world therefore is a figment of Maya, a mere appearance. This Adhyasa should not be confused with Abhava, It is a Bhavaroopa, a positive entity.
Sankhya holds that this world is an evolution or Parinama of Prakriti which is a self-existing independent principle but Jada (inert). Maya on the other hand is an entirely dependent principle, Brahman being the only Reality; nothing can be conceived without being related to it. The Upadhi or the condition that makes Brahman as the cause of the world is Maaya, but Maaya itself cannot be the cause of the world.
Maya strictly speaking is a mystery. It is the indefinable power by which God (Brahman) while remaining himself chaneless appears as a changing universe. And Avidya is the natural disability of the Jivatma which prevents it from understanding God (Brahman) as he really is, Man as man can never know God. He should transcend his Upadhis – his limitation or mental condition – and become divine to know the Divine Being i.e, he should become a Yogi.
RELATIVE REALITY
Although the world has no absolute reality – Paaramaarthika Satyatva, it has an apparent and relative reality – Vyavaharika Satyatva, that reality as far as it is necessary for all practical purposes. The objects of a dream, although known as false on awakening are real within the limits of the dream. Similarly, the world is also relatively real and is said to be false – Mithya, only when knowledge is advanced. Although the world is false, yet it is not altogether non-existent (Abhava) like the son of a barren woman (Vandhya Putra). Sankara is even prepared to grantsome reality to the Rajju Sarpa (the snake in the rope), which he calls Praatibhashika Satyetva – seeming reality.
VIVARTA VAADA
Sankaras’s theory of creation is called “Vivartavada”. This is a theory of appearance and reality, because the produce is the effect without undergoing any change in itself. What is really God appears to our limited intelligence as the universe just as a piece of rope appears in the twilight as a snake. We come to realise God, when Avidya or the veil of misapprehension is removed by Vidya or Divine knowledge. This is a matter of spiritual experience, We are not in the present state of own knowledge able to see how exactly the reality is connected with the appearance. The relation is therefore said to be “Anirvachaniya” – indefinable. God by his Maya brings about this wonderful phenomenon of creation.
CONCLUSIONS
1. Knowledge or consciousness of the Absolute as the Reality, that is Brahman.
2. Jiva is essentially the same as Brahman and is therefore self-illumined, Swayamprakasa, unlimited-Vibhu and free. His limitedness is due to Upadhis or conditions of embodiment, which again are due to Avidya, and are such unreal.
3. Brahman-hood is realized by the knowledge of the absolute identity of the Jiva and Brahman. Mukti-liberation is nothing but the realization of this identity. This is quite possible even in this body (Jivanmukti).
4. Moksha can never be obtained as a result of Karma. It is directly attainable by knowledge (Jnana) but till Jnana is attained all Vihita Karmas must scrupulously be performed as these help realisation of Jnana.
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