1. Concept of Duty
Firstly Mimansa stresses the concept of duty, and says that while people are concerned with their rights, they are not so concerned with their responsibilities and obligations. The Law of Duty is a network of responsibilities for family, society and nation. However, people are usually attached to family, society and nation because or fear or attachment, rather than following the concept of the Law of Duty, which is to do actions because they are the right thing to do.
When one acts with full understanding, respect and knowledge, when all one's actions are performed for the sake of peace and harmony and centred on self-realisation, then following the Law of Duty is a kind of self-realisation. One should maintain one's duty with Dharma. Family responsibilities are not an excuse to break the law or take advantage of others or be selfish ´´because of my children´´ : everyone has family responsibilities. This perspective helps one to see clearly and leads to self-realisation. Moral relativism leads to confusion: Mimansa offers time saving clarity as whatever breaks the Law of Duty need not be considered.
When performing duties, common sense should also be used to avoid a waste of time and money. For example, parents usually want to give their children a good start in life and to see them succeed, but do not always give them the moral education necessary for the children to develop into all-round successful people. Buying a child a place at an expensive college, rather than inculcating good study habits and self-discipline may be counter-productive. We sometimes see that children born into rich, successful and indulgent families have little drive or direction and may lose their way in later life. It is a better idea to help the child understand that actions (karma) lead to consequences (phalkarma 'the fruit of karma') some of which may be predictable and to take as much responsibility as possible for his or her own life and happiness,
Those who seem to have many opportunities and an easy life may never get happiness and freedom, but suffer and remain fearful, missing their chances for self-improvement. Yet for those who struggle, there may be greater satisfaction and more real progress. Depending on one's Karma one may have to struggle more to progress in the world. Not everyone seems to get what they deserve – Buddha and Ghandi did not have especially easy lives, for example, but look at the impact they had and continue to have on the happiness and enlightenment of others! Heroes are not made from those who compromised their Dharma for their own personal ends, but those who struggled exceptionally in their single-minded pursuit to obtain knowledge and liberation. It is difficult to find the goal of human life and it is common for us to assume our limitations are greater than they are. We may think our possibilities are small. However, spiritual, political and business leaders are not put off by difficult circumstances, or lack of opportunity and persist in creating the conditions for their own success.
We cannot know the Karma of a person from the outside; those who appear privileged and lucky may be wasting their opportunities and suffering internally, while those who appear to have little going for them may make enormous progress materially and spiritually by acquiring and acting on spiritual knowledge. We should not misuse the concept of Karma in order to selfishly refuse help to others who are struggling with difficult circumstances with the excuse that they need to ''go through their phal karma'', but focus on doing our own Karma (actions) to the best of our ability,
Sometimes adolescents don't know what they really want, but are excited by something – they need parental wisdom. Parents should use intelligent suggestion rather than force when advising and guiding their children. A saying has it that until the age of 14 children should be guided by reward and punishment. However from the age of 14 a child ''must be managed like a friend.''
2. The Concept of Rituals
Mimansa appreciates divinity in everything, so external rituals are done to deepen inner meaning, resolve or appreciation. Rituals provide a context in which one receives the full opportunity to understand the value of ritual or external objects. Rituals are a matter of paying respect and showing gratitude, not of asking for particular boons. The main goal of rituals is to make all the actions one does conscious and thus spiritual. By performing these rituals, one develops the attitude of living in God consciousness, so that in every moment one is conscious of the divine. This creates a certain mental attitude. In doing it you feel and enjoy the presence of divinity, even when blessing food, eating food, etc. so life becomes like an ongoing, unbroken meditation in which mind and body are harmonised. One can reduce the effect of past actions through Mimansa, by performing good actions in this life. How you behave, how you get up, how you take a shower, how you prepare food, all these can be ritualised in order to increase awareness. (For example there's a mantra for use in the Ganges, where water is offered to the sun. There is also a mantra for conception, for use while trying to conceive.)
Sources of Valid knowledge
Mimansa accords with Nayaya in that the following are sources of valid knowledge:
1. Direct observation, perception
2. Inference
3. Comparison
4. Testimony
But recognises two more sources:
5. Postulation – hypothesis
6. Non-perception (if you don't see it it's not there)
Presumably non-perception means that we can make deductions from the absence of certain characteristics, for example the absence of certain symptoms pointing to a particular illness would aid diagnosis by a process of elimination
The concept of soul in Mimansa is more practical than philosophical. Like Vedanta, it conceives of the soul as eternal, all-pervading, infinite consciousness, but concerns itself with action rather than reflection. It offers ordinary citizens a guide to everyday rituals as a way of approaching the divine and achieving spiritual liberation.
Major teachings for good life/realisation
1. Selfless action
2. Non-attachment
3. Self-control
4. Daily schedule and rituals
5. Social awareness as a citizen
6. Sense of equality with others
7. Unity within diversity
8. Gratitude
9. Seeing eternity within the ephemeral
No comments:
Post a Comment