If, then, the word 'then' intimates immediate consecution it must be
explained on what antecedent the enquiry into Brahman specially depends;
just as the enquiry into active religious duty (which forms the subject
of the Pûrvâ Mîmâ/m/sâ) specially depends on the antecedent reading of
the Veda. The reading of the Veda indeed is the common antecedent (for
those who wish to enter on an enquiry into religious duty as well as for
those desirous of knowing Brahman). The special question with regard to
the enquiry into Brahman is whether it presupposes as its antecedent the
understanding of the acts of religious duty (which is acquired by means
of the Pûrvâ Mîmâ/m/sâ). To this question we reply in the negative,
because for a man who has read the Vedânta-parts of the Veda it is
possible to enter on the enquiry into Brahman even before engaging in
the enquiry into religious duty. Nor is it the purport of the word
'then' to indicate order of succession; a purport which it serves in
other passages, as, for instance, in the one enjoining the cutting off
of pieces from the heart and other parts of the sacrificial animal.[53]
(For the intimation of order of succession could be intended only if the
agent in both cases were the same; but this is not the case), because
there is no proof for assuming the enquiry into religious duty and the
enquiry into Brahman to stand in the relation of principal and
subordinate matter or the relation of qualification (for a certain act)
on the part of the person qualified[54]; and because the result as well
as the object of the enquiry differs in the two cases. The knowledge of
active religious duty has for its fruit transitory felicity, and that
again depends on the performance of religious acts. The enquiry into
Brahman, on the other hand, has for its fruit eternal bliss, and does
not depend on the performance of any acts. Acts of religious duty do not
yet exist at the time when they are enquired into, but are something to
be accomplished (in the future); for they depend on the activity of man.
In the Brahma-mîmá/m/sâ, on the other hand, the object of enquiry, i.e.