Talk:Mimamsa-Karmamarga:Sankara and Non-Vedic Systems

By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami

The Ācārya views the last stage or Āśrama in a man's life as the years during which he renounces Vaidika Karma and devotes himself to meditation and metaphysical inquiry. But, unlike the Buddha, he does not want Vedic karma to be given up in the earlier stages. According to him, only after a man cleanses his consciousness through years of Vedic rituals is he to become exclusively devoted to Ātmic inquiry. First accept the Karma that Mīmāṃsā asks us to perform and finally give up that very Karma as suggested by Buddhism.

The Ācārya goes along with systems like Buddhism, Mīmāṃsā, Sāṅkhya, and Nyāya up to a point. He accepts them on a certain level, but on another level he disapproves of them. Each of these systems regards one aspect of truth to be final. Our Ācārya harmonises them all into a single whole Truth.