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 Purva Mima/m/sa) 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 Purva Mima/m/sa).  To this question we reply in the negative, because for a man who has read the Vedanta-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-mima/m/sa, on the other hand, the object of enquiry, i.e.  Brahman, is something already accomplished (existent),—­for it is eternal,—­and does not depend on human energy.  The two enquiries differ moreover in so far as the operation of their respective fundamental texts is concerned.  For the fundamental texts on which active religious duty depends convey information to man in so far only as they enjoin on him their own particular subjects (sacrifices, &c.); while the fundamental texts about Brahman merely instruct man, without laying on him the injunction of being instructed, instruction being their immediate result.  The case is analogous to that of the information regarding objects of sense which ensues as soon as the objects are approximated to the senses.  It therefore is requisite that something should be stated subsequent to which the enquiry into Brahman is proposed.—­Well, then, we maintain that the antecedent conditions are