Mimamsa is also called karma-mimamsa
(“study of actions”) or purva-mimamsa (“prior study”) because
it is concerned with the earliest of the Vedas, the Samhitas and the
Brahmanas, which focus on the rituals. Another of the six darshans, vedanta, is also called uttara-mimamsa (“posterior study”) because it
focuses on the Upanishads, which are the later part of Vedic scripture.
The Mimamsa school's goal is
enlightenment about dharma, which Mimamsa scholars define as
ritual obligations and privileges that maintain harmony for the
individual and the world. The Vedas are seen as infallible and,
therefore, as the authority for knowing dharma.
On a metaphysical level, the Mimamsa
school believes in the reality of the individual soul and the
external world, but postulates that there is no reason to believe
that God exists or ever did exist. Everything in the universe came,
and continues to come, into existence via natural processes.