Mimamsa

(Skt., investigation) One of the six orthodox schools (darshanas ) of Hindu philosophy, and the most concerned to interpret the texts of the Vedas as a system of ritual. The fundamentalism of Mimamsa includes a reverential, non-conventional view of the nature of the meaning of the Sanskrit language in which the scriptures were written. In this school, as in some modern theology, ritual and worship become ends in themselves, with the actual divine dropping out of sight by comparison. Like the Vedas, Mimamsa conceives of heaven as a positive goal, rather than as the release from the cycles of living, as in other Indian schools.