Veda in advaita & mImA.nsA (was Re: Nature of Consciousness)

Sankaran Panchapagesan panchap at ICSL.UCLA.EDU
Mon Aug 2 16:38:58 CDT 1999


Hi Ramakrishnan,
        I was reading "Sourcebook of Indian Philosophy" by Radhakrishnan
and Moore, and in the introduction to mImAmsA they say this:

"Jaimini, the author of the Mimamsa sutras, admits the reality of the
Vedic deities, to whom sacrifices are offered, but does not argue for the
existence of a supreme God. He does not so much deny God as ignore Him.
Some later Mimamsakas admit the reality of God. Others, however, argue
extensively against the existence and necessity of God, as for example,
does Kumarila Bhatta in the SlokavArtika".

The book actually contains some selections from the SlokavArtika, Section
16: "sambandhAkshepa-parihAra", where Kumarila Bhatta argues strongly
aganst the existence of a creator God.  The arguments he gives are all
very interesting to read, and seem (to me) to be very ingenious (not new,
maybe).

This seems to contradict what you said. Or maybe Kumarila Bhatta is
willing to accept the existence of a different conception of ISvara which
doesn't involve creation?

Regards,
Ganesh.



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