7rcTIX1xP

The Sixth Lesson: The Minor Systems.1231
name of the system is not a misnomer, for the Purva Mimansa is indeed an
“orthodox” system, and is favoured by the orthodox schools of religion in
India, particularly the less progressive denominations and cults, who adhere
to the old forms and ceremonies, deeming them sacred by reason of their
antiquity, and resisting any new ideas or interpretations as “meddling with
the ancient sacred teachings of the Vedas.” Purva Mimansa is naturally the
philosophical system favoured by the more conservative of the orthodox
priesthood of India, for it is settled and not calculated to disturb the minds
of the people with argument and investigation and “thought”—for it is a
philosophy of ritualism, form, ceremonies, creeds, dogmas, rites, and all
that goes with that form of thought, or absence of thought, and which finds
complete satisfaction in the contemplation of the observance of centuriesold
ceremonies and ritual, in accordance with centuries-old formalized and
crystallized creeds.
Purva Mimansa claims the divine inspiration of the Vedas, or Sacred
Books of India, and also claims to be the philosophy based upon the
ancient interpretations of these books. While the majority of the Hindu
philosophies proudly boast that they are not “religions founded upon a
book,” Purva Mimansa comes very near to being such a school of thought.
The majority of the Hindu philosophies claim to be based upon Pure Reason,
and while they take pleasure in showing that their teachings are supported
by passages in the Vedas, they do not claim that their systems of thought are
founded upon the same, and many of them expressly teach that if the text of
the Vedas conflict with the report of Pure Reason, the latter shall be given
precedence and the Vedas dismissed as either error, or truth not correctly
stated, or perhaps misunderstood. But not so with the Purva Mimansa—this
system does not attempt to place Pure Reason at the head and front of its
system—it pushes to the fore the Sacred Vedas, as interpreted by its own
teachers, and claims to be the Mouthpiece of the Veda, and the ancient
source of interpretation and authority. Hence it is that it rightly is what it