Hinduism is more than a religion, it is a way of life.
I read a recent Supreme Court judgment where the judge made a reference to Mimamsa while interpreting a constitutional enactment. This decision was purely based on the dictums as provided by the Mimamsa school of Hinduism. The judge who delivered this decision made an observation that as a country that has had 6 glorious decades of independence we still find ourselves bound to the British culture which has seeped into our society and more so in the judiciary. Our laws, rules, courts, mannerisms in the court to the dress code is Briticism all the way. Mimamsa has been in existence for the past 5,000 years yet we choose to uphold Maxwell who was on this planet just 500 years back.
This is what led to me trying to find a distinction between the two. Frankly I would rather have a sound man than an insane bunch of religious fanatics tell me how to interpret the law. But, when I finally got down to reading about this group and their ideas for the first time I felt relieved while reading something. I’d call them a kindred bunch. Why?
To start with, this school constitutes of people who are atheists! Yes, and here I was thinking religions are draconian in nature coercing people to believe in god(s) as their respective religions provide. If you are a Hindu you have a wide variety of gods and goddesses to choose from to worship. You have the liberty to pick any but the fact that you don’t have to pick any is what interests me.
These were a group of people who believed in action rather than abstaining from pursuing their goals. The popular belief that one can attain moksha by giving up the material things around them and living on the very basic necessities of life has been shattered by this group. Moksha means to be rid of all desires, but when one seeks moksha isn’t that a desire in itself? Mimamsa in Sanskrit translates to investigation. They provided the various ways to interpret the Vedas and formulated a set of principles which holds good to this day. They believe in pricking and prodding every bit of what constitutes the society and to understand why people behave the way they behave, they acknowledge selfishness, greed, lust, hatred as just emotions that humans feel. They aren’t categorized into negative or positive emotions. [Who came up with the idea of polarizing emotions?] Emotions are what make people alive so why try to suppress it?
The beauty of this school lies in the fact that it does not hurt ones religious sentiments but at the same time gives people who disassociate from religion a new outlook to accept the religion and learn from it.
Unfortunately this group has not been given the scholarly importance it deserves. But then again why would anyone want to highlight this little group? Whom would the religious fanatics attack then?
This is what led to me trying to find a distinction between the two. Frankly I would rather have a sound man than an insane bunch of religious fanatics tell me how to interpret the law. But, when I finally got down to reading about this group and their ideas for the first time I felt relieved while reading something. I’d call them a kindred bunch. Why?
To start with, this school constitutes of people who are atheists! Yes, and here I was thinking religions are draconian in nature coercing people to believe in god(s) as their respective religions provide. If you are a Hindu you have a wide variety of gods and goddesses to choose from to worship. You have the liberty to pick any but the fact that you don’t have to pick any is what interests me.
These were a group of people who believed in action rather than abstaining from pursuing their goals. The popular belief that one can attain moksha by giving up the material things around them and living on the very basic necessities of life has been shattered by this group. Moksha means to be rid of all desires, but when one seeks moksha isn’t that a desire in itself? Mimamsa in Sanskrit translates to investigation. They provided the various ways to interpret the Vedas and formulated a set of principles which holds good to this day. They believe in pricking and prodding every bit of what constitutes the society and to understand why people behave the way they behave, they acknowledge selfishness, greed, lust, hatred as just emotions that humans feel. They aren’t categorized into negative or positive emotions. [Who came up with the idea of polarizing emotions?] Emotions are what make people alive so why try to suppress it?
The beauty of this school lies in the fact that it does not hurt ones religious sentiments but at the same time gives people who disassociate from religion a new outlook to accept the religion and learn from it.
Unfortunately this group has not been given the scholarly importance it deserves. But then again why would anyone want to highlight this little group? Whom would the religious fanatics attack then?
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