In this context, a question is erupted, i.e. if a word 'ghata' is uttered rhythmically as 'gha', 'a', and 'ta', then at what point of utterance the hearer obtains the sphota?

Bhartŗhari expressed that each sound utters to convey the word and thereby signifies its meaning, is known as sphota. His explanation is as follows. The first sound manifests the sphota vaguely, the next one brings a little more clarity, the following one still more distinctly and so on and so forth until the last one, which aided by the memory impressions of the preceding perceptions, reveal it clearly and distinctly (Raja, 1963, 125-126).

Śesakŗsna in his sphotatattvanirupana gives an example (Raja, 1963, 129) to understand this phenomenon.

"Let's say a man begins the utterance by saying "ka..". We know that (s)he is trying to utter a word which begins with "ka". Thus the whole word is vaguely suggested by the first syllable itself, for it gives a clue to the identity of the word. When the speaker utters the next syllable "ma" the field is still narrowed down to those words which begins with "kama" only. But still we are not sure what the word is going to be. It can be "kamalam" (lotus) or kamalā or a whole lot of words beginning with "kama..". When the last syllable "lam" is uttered, theword is known fully and clearly. (Pathiraj, 1995, 72)

Nagesabhatta in his Paramalaghumanjusa mentioned eight types of sphota. These are:

1. Varnasphota
2. Padasphota
3. Vākyasphota
4. Akhandapadasphota
5. Varnajātisphota
6. Padajatisphota
7. Vākyajātisphota
8. Akhandavākyasphota

Out of all, 'akhandavākyasphota' (Gaurinath Bhattacharyya, 1937, 90) is considered as the true sphota in reference to the Bhartŗhari explanation of sphotavāda. It expresses that a sentence is considered as an indivisible and changeless unit. Even though a careful analysis is made on sphotavāda, yet it is not free from some shortcomings, which confirms and proves the intellectual rigor of Indian thinkers.