Purva-Mimamsa in its Sources c8.s3.2

c8.s3.2

Knowledge is not the direct cause of Liberation, which is purely *negative* in character; all that Knowledge does is, as shown above, to lead to the stoppage of further *embodiment* of the Soul; it cannot lead to the expiation of past karma, which can be brought about only by experience. There is no means of knowledge, Pramāṇa, indicating Knowledge to be the cause of Liberation. The Veda also does not enjoin 'knowledge' as leading to Liberation. The injunction that 'the Soul should be known' is not meant for the purposes of Liberation; in fact all that the knowledge of the Soul does is to bring about the activity of man towards acts conducive to results which accrue only to a lasting entity like the Soul,—such results, for instance, as Heaven and the like; apart from these latter, there is no result that follows from the Knowledge of the Soul. If Liberation is regarded as consisting in the experiencing of pleasure, then it is only a form of 'Heaven'; but Heaven being something transient, such Liberation cannot be lasting. An effect that is brought about by a cause must be evanescent. Hence we conclude that when all Karmic residua have become exhausted, and there is no further Body for the Soul,—such a Soul becomes liberated through the mere fact of there being no cause left which could bring about a Body for such a Soul. There can be no justification for Liberation being regarded as ever-lasting, permanent, except the fact that it is purely negative in character. (*Shloka-vārtika-Sambandhākṣēpaparihāra* 101—107.)