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Bhatrhari was the elder step-brother of the famous king Vikramaditya of Ujjain. According to legend, Bhatrhari was so attached to his wife that he neglected his administrative duties. One day, Bhartrihari was presented with a fruit that when eaten would increase his lifespan. The infatuated Bhartrhari gave the fruit to his wife. His wife, in turn, preferred the intimate company of the chief horse-keeper to whom she gave the fruit. The horse-keeper was in love with a prostitute. In the end, the fruit found itself in the prostitute’s hands. The prostitute felt unworthy of such a great gift and gave it back to Bhatrhari. When he realized that the prostitute was giving him the very same fruit that he had given his wife, he immediately renounced his royal life and became a mendicant and philosopher.
Although primarily a grammarian, Bhatrhari was also the propounder of the doctrine of Sphotavada. In his famous work, the Vakyapadiya, Bhatrhari explains Sphotavada – is a monistic philosophy based on Sanskrit grammar.
The word ‘sphota’ is not easy to translate into the English language. It is somewhat similar to the Ancient Greek concept of logos. The term, Sphota, is derived from the root 'sphut' which means 'to burst', but is also described as 'is revealed' or as 'is made explicit'. Sphota can also be said to refer to the non-differentiated language principle, or the abstract or conceptual form of an audible word.
The traditional Vedic view of the cosmos is one of constant and cyclical creation and dissolution. At the dissolution of each creative cycle a seed or trace (samskara) is left behind out of which the next cycle arises. What is significant here is that the nature of the seed from which each cycle of creation bursts forth is expressed as "Divine Word" (daivi-vak). If language is of divine origin, it can be conceived as being Brahman expressing and embodying itself in the plurality of phenomena that is creation. According to Bhatrhari, the origin of creation is the Sabda-brahman (the supreme word principle).
Bhatrhari considers the Sabda-brahman to be the basis of reality and to be eternal, as a concept that is not subject to the attributes of temporal sequences of events, either externally or in the succession of mental events that form cognitions. The word principle, shabda Brahman, is not defined in terms of the temporal nature of our cognitive states, because it functions as the inherent, primordial ground of all cognitions.
There has been some scholarly debate regarding the meaning of the term "eternal" as Bhartrhari applies it to the word-principle. While some interpret this to refer to an all-pervading entity, existing in opposition to the multiplicity of objects in space and time, others see it as Bhartrhari's specialized way of referring to phonemes, the minimal units of meaningful sound. It seems that phonemes understood in this way explain how it is the case that Word appears as objects. Eternity is “that which appears as objects, and from whom the creation of the world proceeds.” Phonemes are thus the eternally possible elements that can be combined in inexhaustible ways to manifest the plurality of nature.
This principle accounts for creation on a number of levels: it is the origin of consciousness, of cognition, sensation, language use, cognitive and experiential aspects of the world. In other words, objects of thought and the relations between them are word-determined, regardless of whether they are objects of perception, inference or any other kind of knowledge. When we perceptually apprehend external reality, we always do so in terms of names, for without names objects are neither identifiable nor knowable.
Bhatrhari’s Sphotavada looks at consciousness on two different levels. Firstly on the transcendent and metaphysical plane, and secondly on the empirical physical plane. Bhartrhari's theory of language is connected with the purpose of living, which is the realization of moksa or liberation from the bonds of material nature. Liberation can only be achieved when one attains unity with the ‘supreme word principle’ – the Sabda-brahman, and this is also the level of higher knowledge. Within this theory, consciousness and thought are intertwined, and language is the base of all human activity. In this approach, Grammar is the path to liberation. At the metaphysical level, Bhartrhari investigates the nature and meaning of language.
At the lower level, Bhartrhari is concerned with the process of communicating meaning. Here Bhartrhari deals with the traditional psychology of India, the yoga psychology. Investigating the process of communication, Bhartrhari deals with word and sound distinction, word meaning, the unitary nature of the whole sentence, word object connection, levels of speech, etc. His focus is on cognition and language.
However, this division of Bhatrhari's theory into two levels does not imply that he was a propounder of dualism. Bhartrhari's sees the entire world as a non-transforming emanation of the non-dual Brahman, the Word. Brahman, without beginning or end, the indestructible Essence of Speech, manifests Itself in the form of things the world-process thus proceeds.
It is important to note however that Bhatrhari is not considered to be the founder of the Sphotavada doctrine by Sanskrit grammarians. Rather it is claimed that he modeled it upon an earlier Vedic concept that goes back as far as 4,000 BCE.
SOURCES:
http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/h_es/h_es_bauri_texts4.htm
