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Jaimini was a direct disciple of Vyasa and the founder of the Mimamsa (aka. Purva-mimamsa) school of philosophy.
The word ‘mimamsa’ means ‘investigation’, and the object of Jaimini’s doctrine was the primary enquiry into the nature of dharma and the acquisition of freedom through the performance of duty.
The word dharma cannot be properly translated into the English language. Generally it is translated as religion, duty, virtue, ethics etc. However, dharma (according to Jaimini) refers to the intrinsic nature of rta, the breath of cosmic life. If one desires to live properly in this world he must live in harmony with rta. Activities that coordinate one’s individual life with rta constitute dharma, and the highest activities that help one to harmonize with rta are the rituals of the Vedas. One who lives his life performing his daily activities and the vedic rituals with the proper mental understanding, attains liberation. The Mimamsaka views his daily activities as being linked to the cycles of the cosmos, thus his consciousness expands beyond the mere adherence of mechanical rituals.
According to Jaimini, the performance of rituals are not to please any particular deity, but are simply performed because the Vedas command one to do so. It is a matter of duty. There is no act of devotion to a God in Karma-mimamsa – in fact, in Jaimini’s philosophy, God is obliged to give benedictions to those that strictly follow the rituals of the Vedas. Furthermore, the followers of Karma-mimamsa reject the notion of religious faith – rather, Vedic rites are grounded in empirical science, or to be more precise the science of sound and words.
The Mimamsa school traces the source of the knowledge of dharma neither to sense-experience nor inference, but to verbal cognition (i.e. knowledge of words and meanings). Mimamsa philosophical works give copious arguments for apauruseyatva ("unauthored-ness") of the Vedas. Mimamsa believes that all words and meanings exist eternally – a concept that is quite close to Greek Platonism.
The human mind only perceives words and meanings temporarily. Thus ancient philosophers saw, not with the physical, but the metaphysical eye, the eternal words and meanings of the Vedas that constitute dharma and gave them to mankind as a revelation.
Karma-mimamsa does not study sound only at its articulated level but explores the subtle levels of sound by delving into its origin and realizing its various vibrational patterns.
Jaimini states that there are two universally intertwined factors in manifestation: sabda, the sound; and artha, the object denoted by that sound. One signifies the name, and the other signifies the form. They are inseparably associated; there can be no sabda without artha, no artha without sabda. Together, they are the self-existent reality that is not subject to change, death, and decay. As they manifest, a double line of creation -- words and objects -- is formed.
Jaimini’s Mimamsa does not pay much attention to emancipation. Later on however, the Mimamsa school changed its views in this regard and began to teach the doctrines of an ultimate source of intelligence (Brahman) and liberation (moksa).
