THE LATER MIMAMSAKAS

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

THE LATER MIMAMSAKAS
Prabhakara and Kumarila
Jaimini showed the way to attain happiness in Svarga or heaven, but he did not tell anything
about the problem of the final emancipation. The later writers like Prabhakara and Kumarila,
however, could not avoid this problem of final salvation as it engaged the attention of the thinkers of
other schools. Prabhakara says that the absolute cessation of the body caused by the total
disappearance of Dharma and Adharma, whose operation is the cause of rebirth, is ultimate release
or liberation. Man abandons prohibited acts, and the deeds which lead to happiness in heaven. He
does the necessary expiations for exhausting the previously accumulated Karmas. He practises
self-restraint and disciplines himself. He develops virtuous qualities. He frees himself from rebirths
by a true knowledge of the self. One cannot attain release by mere knowledge. Exhaustion of
Karmas only can bring about release. Knowledge prevents further accumulation of virtue and vice.
Karma by itself cannot lead to the attainment of the final emancipation. Raga-Dvesha (likes and
dislikes), which lead to the performance of actions, must be destroyed if one wants to attain
Moksha. Moksha is the cessation of pleasure and pain. It is not a state of bliss, as the attributeless
soul cannot have even bliss. It is simply the natural form of the soul.
The view of Kumarila comes very near to the view of Advaita Vedantins. Kumarila
maintains that the Veda is composed by God and is Brahman in the form of sounds. Moksha is a
positive state for him. It is the realisation of the Atman. He is of opinion that knowledge is not
sufficient for salvation. He thinks that final emancipation can be attained through Karma (action)
combined with Jnana (knowledge).