[Advaita-l] How to read Puranas?

[Venkata sriram P]

Dear Yaduji,
 
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I have been collecting references to "Viniyoga".  Most of them I 
fond them in various BrahmaNaa's.  I would appreciate if you could 
share specific references from praraaNa or from any other source 
for that matter.
 
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I was told that Sankaracharya of karavIra peetha did extensive research on
pUrva mimAmsa and wrote a book called "Mukha Pratibimba Bhava Bodhini". 
It has wonderful references related to the Purva Mimamsa Mantra Bhaga.  Though i 
don't have the complete book of His Holiness, i could procure some of the references.  
It has a few references on Viniyoga Vidhi with good explanation of the sUtra
"sa cha vidhi chaturvidhaH" and they are 1) utpatti 2) viniyOga 3) prayOga 4) adhikAri
 
Swamiji discusses these issues by taking one sutra "agnihOtraM juhuyAt".  This is 
a simple example of utpatti.  
 
The viniyOga takes into account shruti, linga, vAkya, prakaraNa, sthAna, samAkhya
that are called "ShaT pramANAs".  Thus, viniyOga is of 2 types again as siddhi &
sAdhya rUpa. 
 
The prayOga is the anga alongwith pradhAna vidhi ie., agnihOtra alongwith its limbs.
The ShaTpramANAs of prayOga are shruti, arthakrama, pAThakrama, sthAna, 
mukhyakrama, pravrittikrama.
 
And the last is adhikAri ie., agnihOtraM juhuyAt svargakAmaH.  Here the adhikAra nirnaya
is svarga kAmaH (desirous of heaven). 
 
Dear Jaladharji,
 
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I don't think that's right.  The Sutras of both darshanas include the 
"losing" arguments as well as the conclusion.  It is the process that is 
mimamsa not just the product
 
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The bhAva bodhini defines the mimAmsa as:
 
"mimAmsakAnAM shabdatattvaM agratAnidhAya vaidika vAkyAnAM sOpapattikamarthaM
nirdhAryituM eva shrutyanukUlaM tarkaM samAshrayati"
 
Mimamsa having accepted the sabda-pramANa, arrives at a conclusion with the
help of the logic that is not opposed to the shruti (shrutyanukUlaM tarkaM samAshrayati).
 
So, whether it is "dharma mimAmsa" (athAto dharma jignAsa) or "brahma jignAsa" 
(athAto brahma jignAsa), it is the siddhAnta nirdhAraNa with tarka which is 
most important.
 
regs,
sriram