MANDUKYA UPANISHAD with GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA: 30 - Swami Advayananda.

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Saturday 27, Jul 2024, 06:45.
MANDUKYA UPANISHAD 
GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA
Agama Prakarana – “The Scriptural Treatise”

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GAUDAPADA’S KARIKA:  PART 4/4:   ALAATA-SHANTI PRAKARANA (100 mantras): Quenching the Firebrand:
The SANKHYANS Refuted:
Karika Section 4.3:   
Mantras - 14-23 (10 No.) 
Post-30.

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The MEEMAMSAKAS Refuted :

Karika Section 4.3:   

THIS SECTION IS DEVOTED to a particular argument which concerns the viewpoint of 

the Meemamsakas. [For those who have followed the earlier Texts of Sandeepany, the 

whole of Upadesh Sara, Text 7, was an answer to this view.]  

The Meemamsakas assert that by the performance of actions one obtains the results 

he wants with no obstruction from anything else. This view encourages its followers to pin 

their faith on actions, and ignore the fact that results of actions are governed by our Karma. 

It is a materialistic philosophy bent on enjoyments regardless of any moral restraints. 

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Mantras - 14-23 (10 No.) :

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Mantram: 4.14: The Meemamsakas’ Assertions:

 1 

hetoh aadih phalam yeshaam, =  i) “The effect is the origin of the cause”, 

2 

aadih hetuh phalasya cha; = ii) “The cause is the origin of the effec”; and 

3 

hetoh phalasya cha anaadih, = iii) “Cause and effect are both beginningless ”. 

4 

katham taih upavarnyate. =  How can such (absurd) assertions be made by them? 

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This nantram launches the discussion pertaining to this section. The belief of the 

Meemamsakas is presented before the Vedantins for their reply. 

Firstly, the terms need to be clarified for what they stand. 

Hetuh: “the cause” – this is the Punya or Paapa  (merit or demerit), which produces  the effect, namely, the human being. 

Phalah: “the effect” – this is the Karya-Karana-Sangaatah, i.e. the composite of  body-mind-intellect; the Upadhis of an individual; or simply called the body conglomerate. 

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Now we can take each of the three statements of the Meemamsakas’ philosophy: 

The First Statement:

 1

 “The Effect is the origin of the Cause.” This says that the body aggregate is the 

origin of the merit or demerit we earn. The body aggregate is certainly the instrument used 

to produce the merit or demerit. The validity of this statement lies in the fact that life in the 

world determines the Karmas that we accumulate. There is certainly some truth in this. 

 

This view stems from the Meemamsakas strong belief in the power of ritualism 

(Karmas) to produce the desired results. 

The Second Statement:

2

 “The Cause is the origin of the Effect.” The validity of this statement lies in the fact 

that Punya or Paapa is the cause of the formation of the body aggregate. This is also true. 

The thinking is that in accordance with the merits or demerits earned in the past, we acquire 

this human body instrument to function. Defects in our Karma will produce a defective 

body. This means that our merits and demerits, earned through actions in this birth or past 

births, determine the type of body we get and the world we are born into in our next birth. 

Again, the idea of the Meemamsakas is to assert the efficacy and power of actions to 

determine our future. Their idea is that there is no need to believe in God. Action itself is 

God for the Meemamsakas. Action replaces God. Actions can bring all that they desire. 

The Third Statement

 3

 “Cause and Effect are both beginningless.” Both these – the collection of merit and 

demerit, as well as the body aggregate – are beginningless. Rendering them beginningless is 

a convenient way of ignoring them! It is as good as deleting them from the equation of Life. 

The situation resembles the famous “chicken first or egg first?” argument. Both are 

taken as true! Such are the insinuous ways of the Meemamsakas and their beliefs. 

4

 The Vedantin prepares himself to reply to them. He begins by expressing his utter 

disbelief that such assertions could be made. To him, there are no logical or philosophical 

grounds to make such assertions. Let us see what he has to say about them . . . 

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Next

Mantram- 4.15: The Vedantin’s Reply to the Meemamsakas  

Continued

Swami Chinmayananda:

Devotees all over the world would vouch for the fact that every letter written to him would elicit a reply in a few days from wherever on the globe he happened to be at that point of time, in which even the address on the envelope often handwritten by him! He wrote over a hundred letters a day, over and above all the other aspects of his busy daily schedule. On one occasion, when his address book was misplaced by his secretary, he dictated two hundred and fifty addresses, including the PIN codes, from his photographic memory!

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