वेदान्त पारिजात सौरभ (भगवद् निम्बार्काचार्य - द्वैताद्वैत वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र भाष्य सटीक)

[sū. 1. 1. 1.
ADH. 1.] VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA 21
according to Śrīkaṇṭha, we must first study religious duties and then
Brahman, because the two stand in a relation of worship (ārādhanā)
and the worshipped (ārādhya),¹ cause (hetu) and effect,² means
(sādhana) and end (sādhya) ³. The proper performance of Karmas
purifies the mind. But unless we first know the nature, etc. of Karmas,
we cannot perform them properly, i.e. choose the right ones (nitya
and naimittika ones) and avoid others (kāmya ones), and unless we
perform karmas properly, our mind is not purified, and unless our
mind is purified, there can be no rise of knowledge in it. It is for this
reason that we should first study the Karma-mīmāṁsā and then the
Brahma-mīmāṁsā.⁴ Like Rāmānuja, Śrīkaṇṭha holds that the
Karma-mīmāṁsā and the Brahma-mīmāṁsā form one and the same
treatise.⁵
Baladeva
Interpretation different. According to Baladeva also, the word
"atha" means 'immediate sequence', but he points out that it cannot
be said that the study of the Karma-mīmāṁsā is an essential pre-
requisite to the study of the Brahma-mīmāṁsā, for it is often found
that even one who knows the Karma-mīmāṁsā by heart, but who is
deprived of the company of the good, has no desire to enquire into
Brahman, while one who does not know the Karma-mīmāṁsā, but
is purified by truthfulness, prayer, etc. and associates with the good,
has a natural inclination to enquire into Brahman. It cannot be
said also that the term "atha" means that the enquiry into Brahman
can be undertaken only after the acquisition of the four-fold qualifica-
tions, viz. discrimination between the eternal and the non-eternal and
the rest, as held by Śaṁkara, for these cannot be acquired unless one
first associates with the good and the holy.⁶
Hence, what the term "atha" means is as follows:—A man who
has properly studied the Veda and has understood its meaning in a
general way, who has faithfully performed the duties incumbent on
1 ŚK B 1. 1. 1, p 34, Part 1.
2 Op. cit., pp. 37, 39, Part 1.
3 Op. cit., pp. 39, 43, Part 1.
4 ŚK.B. 1.1.1, pp. 33, 39, 43, 50, 68, 70, Part 1. Of course Śrīkaṇṭha is
not a Jñāna-karma-samuccaya-vādin like Bhāskara.
5 ŚK.B 1.1.1, p. 33, Part 1.
6 G B 1. 1. 1, pp. 24-25, chap 1.