The Vedânta-Sûtras, Vol. 1 With the Commentary by Sankarâkârya (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Vedânta-Sûtras, Vol. 1: With the Commentary by Sankarâkârya

At What perlod these two sastras first assumed a definite form, we are unable to ascertain. Discussions of the nature of those which constitute the subject-matter of the Purva Mimamsa must have arisen at a very early period, and the word Mimamsa itself together with its derivatives is already employed in the Brahmanas 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 sakha or school had to do no more than to digest thoroughly their own brahma?a and samhita, without being under any obligation of reconciling with the teaching of their own books the occasionally con flicting rules implied in the texts of other Sakhas. 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 Sakha.

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