: 52–53 As a consequence of the belief in sanctity of the ritual, Mimamsas rejected the notion of God in any form. Mimamsa philosophers believed that the revelation of the Vedas was sacred, authorless ( apaurusheyatva) and infallible, and that it was essential to preserve the sanctity of the Vedic ritual to maintain dharma (cosmic order). The core text of the school was the Purva Mimamsa Sutras of Jaimini (c.
Mimamsa was a realistic, pluralistic school of philosophy which was concerned with the exegesis of the Vedas. The Brihadaranyaka, Isha, Mundaka (in which Brahman is everything and "no-thing") and especially the Chandogya Upanishads have also been interpreted as atheistic because of their stress on the subjective self. The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation? Nasadiya Sukta ( Creation Hymn) in the tenth chapter of the Rig Veda states: It does not, at many instances, categorically accept the existence of a creator God. The Rig Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, deals with significant skepticism around the fundamental question of a creator God and the creation of the universe. Thus, the Vedas could be cited to corroborate a wide diversity of views they were used by the Vaisheshika thinkers (i.e., those who believe in ultimate particulars, both individual souls and atoms) as much as by the Advaita Vedanta philosophers. On the contrary, the acceptance of the authority of the Vedas was a convenient way for a philosopher's views to become acceptable to the orthodox, even if a thinker introduced a wholly new idea. However, even when philosophers professed allegiance to the Vedas, their allegiance did little to fetter the freedom of their speculative ventures. Technically, in Hindu philosophy the term Āstika refers only to acceptance of authority of Vedas, not belief in the existence of God. Sanskrit asti means "there is", and Āstika (per Pāṇini 4.2.60) derives from the verb, meaning "one who says 'asti'". The Sanskrit term Āstika ("pious, believer") refers to the systems of thought which admit the validity of the Vedas.