kAmya karmas (was Re: [Advaita-l] Animal sacrifice)

[S Jayanarayanan]

According to Ganganath Jha, there are at least two views in Mimamsa:

1) Doing nitya karmas does not lead to Punya, but forgoing them leads to sin. 

(This was accepted by the late Kanchi Paramacharya. e.g.
http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part12/chap9.htm
"Not performing sandyavandana is sinful, but its performance is not claimed to
bring any good. It is because this rite belongs to the category referred to in
this statement, "akarane pratyavaya janakam. . "")

2) Performance of Nitya karmas has the ability to destroy sins.

Of course, in Vedanta the performance of nitya karmas without desire brings
about purification of the intellect.

I haven't seen the view that doing nitya karmas has any special associated
Punya such as prosperity, so thanks for the quote from the Taittiriya Aranyaka.
But I'm certain that this Vedic statement has been taken into account by
Acharyas before claiming that performance of sandhya vandanam does not bear any
special merit, but non-performance is sinful.

I don't think that Kumarila Bhatta's opinions on Reality (he believes that the
pleasures of svarga promised by Mimamsa are Real and NOT an illusion of any
sort and quite different from a dream), nature of the Self (he believes that it
is a doer), or Moksha (the perceived world remains separate from the Self even
after salvation) are to be more esteemed than Vedanta. There is good reason why
Shankara took great care in refuting these Mimamsa theories that conflict with
Vedanta's view.

If Suresvara thinks that the performance of Karmas that commonly go by "Kamya"
can be done without desire for purification of the intellect, then that is the
final Vedanta view. Even if Kumarila's views on Moksha and Kamya Karma are to
be believed: as Suresvara says, the condemnation of "Kamya Karma" only applies
to the performance of Karma with desire, so Kumarila may be speaking of the
desire-ridden performance of Karmas as not being fit for a Mumukshu.

-Kartik

--- Ravisankar Mayavaram <abhayambika at gmail.com> wrote:

> I understand the part that not doing is a sin (akaraNe pratyavAya
> janakam), but I don't understand the "brings no specific reward" part,
> especially for sandhya. Earlier I used accept it without questioning.
> 
>  In taittirIya AraNyaka dvitIya praSna, in verse starting with
> "raxAgmsi ...", which talks about giving arghyam to Aditya, clearly
> says that
> "udyantamastam(y)yantamAdityamabhidhyAnkurvan.h  brAhmaNo
> vidvAntsakalaM bhadramaSnute ...".  When shruti says sakalam bhadram
> aSnute, then it means it, does it not? Hence, doing brings good
> things. Which implies that even sandhya vandanam can be done with
> desire to attain all good things.
> 
> Hence, I like the view posted by the Sri S. N. Sastri. Any vedic karma
> can be performed with desire or without it.  The term kAmya karma is,
> I think, often used to denote a non-obligatory karma and not
> necessarily a karma done with desire.
> 
> I may be wrong. Corrections are welcome.
> 
> (In my earlier post, I pointed to the archive mainly for new members
> to motivate them to look into the archives. It was not my intention to
> say that we are rehashing the same stuff over and over again. In fact,
> I agree with what once Jaldhar pointed out to me. that some of these
> topics so complex to grapple and so dear to members' hearts, they come
> up again and again. Each time, it comes up, some unknown facts also
> emerge. Also people change their positions. At least I have. Earlier I
> used to oppose animal sacrifice even in vedic karma-s, now  I am
> learning to have no strong opinion on matters on which I have no
> clue.)
> 
> Wish you all a happy makara sankranti (pongal). And to those like me,
> happy mATTup pongal ;-)) [1]
> 
> 
> Ravi
> 
> [1] mADu means cow/bull. In TN, mATTu pongal is celebrated to honor
> the cattle for their role in the society, especially agriculture.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 1/12/06, Shrisha Rao <shrao at nyx.net> wrote:
> 
> > remark.  This is somewhat at odds with the "classical" mImAMsA perspective
> > that nitya-karma such as sandhyA is useless, i.e., brings no specific new
> > reward (though failure to perform it brings harm), whilst kAmya-karma such
> > as the jyotishhToma or putreshhTi is what brings all purushhArtha-s
> > including wealth, sons, svarga, moksha, etc., vide `jyotishhTomena
> > svargakAmo yajeta', `putrakAmo putreshhTyA yajeta', etc.
> >
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