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VEDANTA
337 certain, the Mimāṁsaka contended, that karma is the sole theme of the Veda and that the Upanişads, which form a part of it, cannot be taken to point to Brahman or any other principle as the highest entity whose realization constitutes the end and aim of man. The inherent ambiguity of the Upanişads, the glaring contradiction between the pürvaand the uttara-kāndas of the Veda and, we may add, the growing power of heterodox beliefs, thus account for the attempts made in the Vedānta to systematize the teaching of the Upanişads.
There is evidence to show that this systematization was effected in more than one way. In the Sūtra of Badarāyaņa there is reference to as many as seven Vedāntic teacherswhether they were his predecessors or contemporaries is not known, and he alludes to differences of view among them in respect of essential points like the nature of mokşa’ and the need of samnyāsa3 for the spiritual aspirant. Even in regard to such an important question as the relation of the jiva to Brahman, Bādarāyana mentions two views other than his own,4 both implying vital distinctions in general philosophic outlook. Differences like these on fundamental issues show that the teaching of the Upanişads was from very early times understood in several ways by Vedāntic teachers. Bädarāyaṇa's exposition is only one; and, in all likelihood, the most influential of them. All current schools of Vedānta, though differing from one another in important matters, alike claim to represent precisely what Bādarāyana himself taught. The extremely laconic form of his sūtras has rendered such variety in interpretation possible. In fact, they are more cryptic than the Upanişads, and it is consequently much more difficult to get at their meaning than at that of those old treatises. The result is that even as regards the most essential points there is ambiguity. We do not for instance know for certain whether, according to Badarāyaṇa, the world actually emerges from Brahman (pariņāma) or is only
1 Cf. VS. I. i. 4 and Samkara's com. on it. The Mimärsakas are styled 'deniers of Brahman' (Brahma-nastika) in Rämānanda's gloss on the latter.
1 VS. IV. iv. 5-7. 3 VS. III. iv. 18-20.
4 VS. I. iv. 19-21.
