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Mimamsa
Mimamsa (literally, "Reflection") is often translated as "The Way of Ritual". This is yet another road to liberation. In ritual, object becomes symbol, so becomes transformed within the person's mind, and thus transforms the mind itself. Ritual aims to connect the mundane with the sacred, the surface with the deep, the visible with the invisible, the effect with the causeless cause, the sensible and the thinkable with the ineffable. Via ritual, the personal may become the mythic; the temporal -- timeless; the impermanent -- essential; self may become SELF. However, just as it is possible to travel the road of Nyaya-Vaishesika, but become lost in arguments about which and how many atoms, it is possible to become lost in ritual too. Its possible to become distracted by the proscribed detail of a set piece of ritual, and in the process lose sight of what it aims to accomplish. One may become lost in arguments about how many bricks ought to make up the alter for the ceremonial pyre rather than cultivating and maintaining the inner attitude which would be transformative. One can get lost in the peripheral details and miss out on the essence. Thus all roads, for some, can lead to the goal, even as others travel aimlessly on the very same roads.

The way of ritual and the way of knowledge
Nyaya, Vaishesika, Samkhya, Yoga and Vedanta all espouse the way of discriminating knowledge. To see, to know reality is to become liberated from bondage to mere appearance. A very high level of mental calculus or Yogic experience can deliver from mere appearance to the invisible cause behind that appearance.

The praxis of Mimamsa emphasizes ritual, prayer and sacrifice, though like the other “views” it equates liberation with knowledge. This emphasis on ritual harkens back to the earlier Vedic period (1500 BCE - 800 BCE), whereas the other 5 views perhaps more closely resemble the spirit of the Upanishadic period (800 BCE - 200 CE) where ritual became internalized, and the introspective methods of Yoga gained ascendancy over the praxis of externalized ritual. However, all 6 views consider the Vedas as authoritative. Even as they consider that ritual by itself is not a sufficient means for liberation, they hold that ritual is a valid means for preparing a readiness for self-knowledge. So, the way of ritual, Mimamsa, sits comfortably in the Indian consciousness alongside Nyaya, Vaishesika, Samkhya, Yoga and Vedanta. For some, the way emphasized by Mimamsa is very important, while for other it is less so. Again, what any individual will require as a sufficient means for Liberation varies, and the six views comprising the overall scheme are, for this reason, complementary rather than oppositional.

Buddha, who epitomizes the way of knowledge, considered too that ritual and prayer bear fruit. However, he also did say that the fruit was less than Liberation, that the fruit would be a better condition in the future; better because of a greater readiness to take on liberating knowledge.


Veda (literally, “Knowledge”)
In the Vedic view, the world would persist in a pristine condition only if humans would diligently perform ritual action. Otherwise, they and the world would fall into disarray, into chaos. Ritual upholds the order of the Universe (Rta), maintains its health, and without this action on the part of humans, all would suffer impurity, decay and suffering. Ritual upholds the integration of the human and causal realities; when ritual is left aside, then the world enters an era of dis-integration and dis-ease. Through ritual, a river is not just a river, a fire is not just a fire, a human is not just a human. Ritual preserves the conscious awareness of primary things. For example, human desires are not just earthly, but harken back to that primary movement within the absolute which led to the appearance of multiplicity known as the universe. Thus, earthly desire is transformed; an ancient, primary movement is re-membered by its earthly portion into itself. Even the names given to people and things serve as reminders of the essential; such is the effort needed to preserve transcendental knowledge. For example, my given name, Pankaj, refers to the lotus flower in its ability to grow in the water but not become wet. This is an allusion to non-attachment, to not falling into an unknowing even though walking in the world of appearances. In these ways, ritual works its magic onto the practitioner. It bears repeating also that its just as possible to deaden ritual to the point of it becoming merely ornamental, rather than essential. So, without knowledge, a seemingly ritual action is not transformative, but merely a blind movement.

Via diligent ritual, the absolute is seen, is made to shine forth in everything, everywhere, at all times. This, according to the Veda is the essential not to be forgotten. And when action becomes merely of personal import, then this all important connection has been severed. Then, the harmony of individual selves moving in inter-connection, in sympathy with each other gives way to personal, merely selfish movement in the mind. Now wholeness has been torn, the tie that binds all existing things has become undone. We are now in the age of deep delusion, where the surface not only doesn’t acknowledge the awesome depths which are its origin, it is now unaware of anything beyond its tiny dimension. Without diligent awareness kept onto the whole, individuals shrink into their smallest possible dimension... a knowing becomes replaced by an unknowing.


The Art and Science of Mimamsa
Ritual envisions symbols where otherwise there are merely surface appearances... a river is not merely a river in the materialist sense, but the life-giving milk of the causal reality envisioned as mother. When a river is a mother, it is much more difficult to be unkind to her, to disrespect her, to pollute her body. But if it is just a fortuitous combination of the chemical elements Hydrogen and Oxygen, then no such relationship lives in the mind, and consequently the river is much closer to being seen as a “resource”, a “commodity”. Because of the mental dynamics ritual calls forth in the mind, the world is indeed transformed into a sacred place. One may consider this an auspicious use of the human imaginative ability. But this understanding does not appreciate the power of envisioning to create what has been envisioned. The research at Princeton into the relationship between mind and matter shows much more about the power of envisioning, the power of intention to effect material reality in fundamental ways. Here are two quotes from Consciousness Research at Princeton University: "... clear evidence of an active role of consciousness in the establishment of reality (and not merely an “objective” looking onto reality) holds sweeping implications for our view of ourselves, our relationship to others, and to the cosmos in which we exist.” And, “The lack of explicit space and time dependence clearly indicate that no direct application or minor alteration of existing physical or psychological frameworks will suffice. Rather, nothing less than a generously expanded scientific model of reality, one that allows consciousness a proactive role in the establishment of its experience of the physical world, will be required.” More on this can be read in Yoga and Modern Thought.

Thus, the Vedic view that ritual upholds the cosmic order is not merely a poetic statement, but a statement of fact that even the secular sciences of the modern era are beginning to see for themselves. From the point of view of Mimamsa, it is a truth that ritual, prayers and sacrifices to the causal reality envisioned as so many gods and goddesses bears auspicious and abundant fruit. For modern science too, something similar is coming to be considered as truth. The circle is nearly complete. To what extent can everyday living be ritualized? Since it is a creative act, that depends on the breadth and depth of the vision generated by you, the artist, the creator of the forms of ritual. The way of ritual rests firmly on a clear awareness onto the essential, rests firmly on the way of knowledge. The way of ritual and the way of knowledge need not be seen as antagonistic to eachother. They could just as easily be seen as the Art and the Science of the same movement, towards Spirit.


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Pankaj Seth, ND - www.lotus-medicine.com