Bhartŗhari and Sphotavāda

Consider a word 'cow'. To understand this word, on the account of Bhartŗhari, essentially we need to fulfill two conditions. First, whether the word 'cow' stands for an object or a concept, second, does the hearer's mind grasp the content of the meaning of the word when a speaker utters it? If these two conditions are met then understanding the word 'cow' becomes palpable. Therefore, to understand the meaning of a word we need to find the relation between its meaning and what it designates. In this context, Bhartŗhari expresses that "the relation between a word and its meaning is called vŗtti or 'designatory function'" (Pathiraj, 1995, 68).

Vŗtti is of two kinds.

1. Sakti or primary meaning
2. Lakshana or secondary meaning

Sakti describes about the lexical meaning of the word whereas 'lakshana' delineates the metaphorical meaning of the word. These two varieties of meaning will be clarified with an example. Let's consider the word 'ghata'. The word 'ghata' refers to the object 'pot' in English language which is used for Hindu rituals (puja). While performing certain pujas, the ghata is placed before the idol(s) and on it a tender coconut is kept. This posture of ghata is ideated as welcome of an auspicious event. In our analysis the purpose of 'ghata' is not important. So, let's get back to our issue. The word ghata cannot exist as a unit or a whole because there will be no such time where we can claim that we have grasped the word 'ghata' as a whole. It is because it is a combination of different letters or sound-units; 'gha', 'a', 'ta'. These three sounds are produced in a sequential order. The question arises, when each sound is ephemeral and there will be no such time where we can utter all the syllables at once, then how can the hearer grasp the meaning of the word as a whole? The reason is, to utter the word 'ghata', the speaker will start with the sound 'gha' then 'a' and thereafter 'ta'. When (s)he utters the first sound, the second and third sounds were not present in it. When he creates the second sound, the first sound was dissolved and the third sound did not present in it.

Though we can't avoid this problem in our language communication, yet we understand the meaning of the words uttered by the speaker, and it is similar to sentences also. If we understand the meaning of a word and the meaning of a sentence as a whole, then there must be a cause (principle) which accounts for this fact. Grammarians in this context claim that this is possible through 'sphota'. 'Sphota' is an "indivisible word" which is different from the utterance of the word (dhvani).