Eternity of Śabda: An Exploration to Mīmāṁsā Philosophy

Verbal testimony (śabda) is the mail source of valid knowledge for communicating to one another. Without śabda it would not be possible to express anything to others. Thus, if śabda did not enlighten, the entire universe would be covered by blinding eclipse. However, people can also communicate their thoughts through written words or gestures etc., other than śabda. But, śabda is the most popular and the highest quality than other communication. Everyone wants to convey others which they realized and wants to realize of other realization. Now the question is what is śabda? And what is the nature of śabda? The answer of these questions can be many types like śabda is the ether (ākāśa), śabda is wave, śabda is substance, śabda is quality, śabda is nitya (eternal), śabda is anitya (non eternal) and śabda is also a source of valid knowledge according to Indian philosophy. Śabda can be discussed from two ways, one is the metaphysical point of view and the other is the epistemological point of view. The epistemological view of the nature of śabda is a source of valid knowledge or independence pramāṇa. On the other hand the metaphysical point of view of śabda is substance (dravya) or quality (guṇa) śabda is eternal or non eternal etc. The main attempts of this paper is that, ‘is śabda eternal or non eternal’? It may be established from the Mīmāṁsāsūtra that śabda is eternal.