Mimamsa is the darshana favored by many orthodox brahmins whose lives are desvoted to performing Vedic rituals.
Mimamsa is attributed to the ancient sage Jaimini. It emphasizes the performance of duty as the structural law which holds families, nations, and the universe itself together. Literally from their first walking moment, Hindus who follow this tradition devote each moment of the day to the conscientious performance of religious duties, from chanting sacred mantras before getting out of bed, chanting other prayers the moment their feet first touch the floor, and so on throughout the day.
The Mimamsas are not deeply in defining the nature of God or in spiritual liberation. Their preoccupation is with the performance of sacred ritual in the effort to live righteously here on earth and to obtain a heavenly state after death. They're not interested in getting off the wheel of rebirth, but in living ethically in the here and now.
To the Mimamsas,the universe itself is an unending fire sacrifice. Life is offered back to life as one creature to feed another by aligning ourselves with the self-sacrificial nature of the universe, we live in accord with eternal law.
The Mimamsas have developed elaborate theories built around grammar and sound. That probably sounds like just about the most boring thing in the world, but when I tell you more about their ideas in Chapter 10, " The sacred sciences ", I suspect you'll the grammar we learned in grade school!
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