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A Series of Lessons on the Inner Teachings of the Philosophies and Religions of India1230
great religious works of the Hindus, principally along the lines of Karma
Yoga, or the Philosophy of Work and Action, which is one of the Three Yoga
Paths of Liberation of which so much is heard in all of the Hindu Teachings
and Religions. The first of these Three Yoga Paths is that of Gnani Yoga, or
the Yoga of Wisdom, which is the Path favoured by the Vedantists, and which
consists in the understanding of the great underlying Truths concerning that
and the Universe, and which is also the favourite Path of the Sankhyas and
of the Vaisheshikas, of whom we have just spoken—the Vedantists paying
more attention to the understanding of that, while the Vaisheshikas devote
their principal attention to the understanding of the Universe in its phases
of Soul and Substance; the Sankhyas also devoting more consideration to
the question of the “How” of the phenomenal world, and universal life, than
to the subject of that in the abstract as apart from the universe. The second
of these Three Yoga Paths is that of Raja Yoga, which consists in the mastery
of the Mind and Body by the Self or Soul, by the operation of the Will,
and according to certain methods, including Rhythmic Breathing, etc., and
which also has its phases of the development of Psychic Power. (See our
works on Raja Yoga, and The Science of Breath, as well as our lesson on the
Yoga System in this series), and which is the Path favored by Patanjali in his
Yoga System.) The third of the Three Yoga Paths is that of Karma Yoga, or
Liberation through Works and Action, and which, as we have stated, is the
Path favoured by Jaimini in his Purva Mimansa System, which we are now
about to consider.
The term Purva Mimansa is derived from two Sanscrit words, the
first, “Purva,” meaning “prior, former, or previous,”; the second, “Mimansa,”
meaning “investigation, research, or examination.” The term is used in
contradistinction to “Uttara Mimansa,” or “subsequent, final, or last
investigation, research, or examination,” and which is one of the original
names applied to the celebrated Vedanta System. So, you see, the very name
of this system implies a certain orthodoxy and conservatism at variance with
the latter and more advanced forms and systems of philosophy. And the