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A Series of Lessons on the Inner Teachings of the Philosophies and Religions of India1232
claims—extremely orthodox and having the weight of authority of ancient
interpretation—it is indeed the “Old School” of Hindu Philosophy.
Jaimini, the founder of this school, or rather the one who established
the system under its present name by gathering together the ancient and
most orthodox interpretations and collating them into a system, lived many
centuries ago, the exact date having been lost, but it is believed that his system,
even under its present name, has been in existence perhaps longer than
many of the other systems, although some authorities hold that the system
was established by him because of the rise of the Sankhya, the Vaisheshika,
the Yoga, and the Vedanta, particularly the early stages of the latter; and
for the purpose of counteracting the influence of the newer and heterodox
schools of philosophy—a reactionary movement “back to first principles,” as
it were. From the beginning the system has been associated with extreme
ceremonialism, and technical interpretations of the various rites, ritual, and
forms prescribed in the various Vedas. It always has insisted upon the divine
inspiration of the sacred Books; their literal interpretation; their infallibility;
their absoluteness as the Source of Truth; their completeness—all that was
Truth was in the Vedas—all in the Vedas was Truth—and all that was not in
the Vedas was not Truth; that the very words of the Vedas were sacred, not
alone in the sense of expressing sacred truths, but in themselves as words;
that man’s only hope of freedom, salvation, and emancipation must come
from a strict study and understanding of and an absolute belief in the Vedas,
and their divine origin, as well as by the exact following of the precepts
and injunctions contained therein, in accordance with the doctrines of the
teachers and the “letter of the law.”
The precepts of the Vedas were held to be the direct revelations and
explicit teachings of God, and to be accepted as such without doubt,
alteration, free interpretation, or “higher criticism.” Jaimini insisted upon the
sacred virtue of the words, before alluded to, holding that their presence
in the Vedas was sufficient proof of the existence of the objects which the
words symbolized. For instance, there are the Sanscrit words for “Sun, Moon