History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.277

v7.c93.277

In ordinary life when a person says to another ‘this should be done by you’, the prompting to do something comes from a person. But Veda has according to the Mīmāṁsā no author, human or divine. Therefore, in a Vedic vidhi the prompting arises from the injunctive or the optative form of the word; there is no person, human of divine, behind the injunction; hence the bhāvanā is said to be śābdī (i. e. based on the word itself and not on the will or direction of a person). Therefore, śābdī-bhāvanā is defined as a particular operation (or activity) of an agent (here the word of the Veda) that conduces to the activity of a man; and it is expressed by that part or element which is optative. It is called 'śābdī' because it is 'śabdanisṭha (centred in the word of the Veda) and not puruṣaniṣṭha (*centred in a person*). In a śābdībhāvanā there are three elements viz. (1) there is prompting of the agent to activity, (2) the injunction is the instrument and (3) the manner is furnished by the desirableness proclaimed by arthavāda passages. The śābdī-bhāvanā gives rise to ārthī-bhāvanā. In an ārthī-bhāvanā (that aims at or seeks the artha, the *phala*) also there are three elements viz. (1) svarga is the *phala* that is to be brought about, (2) the means or instrument is yāga, (3) there is also the procedure or method (itikartavyatā) of the yāga. All this is based on the P. M. S. sūtra II. 1. 1, on Śabara's bhāṣya and certain important verses of the Tantravārtika quoted below. This whole discussion leads on to the idea of *apūrva*. Yāga lasts for a short time, while svarga comes to a man after death, which may be years after the performance of the sacrifice. What is the connecting link between yāga and svarga (the cause and the result)? It is the force or potency generated by yāga that brings about svarga.