assume the existence[330] of an indivisible _sphoṭa_ as a distinct category, which has the power to manifest the word's meaning. All this has been established in the discussion (in the Mahábháshya) on "genus" (_játi_), which aims at proving that the meaning of all words is ultimately that _summum genus_, _i.e._, that existence whose characteristic is perfect knowledge of the supreme reality[331] (Brahman). "But if all words mean only that supreme existence, then all words will be synonyms, having all the same meaning; and your grand logical ingenuity would produce an astonishing result in demonstrating the uselessness of human language as laboriously using several words to no purpose at the same time!" Thus it has been said-- "The employment of synonymous terms at the same time is to be condemned; for they only express their meaning in turn and not by combination." "Therefore this opinion of yours is really hardly worth the trouble of refuting." All this is only the ruminating of empty ether; for just as the colourless crystal is affected by different objects which colour it as blue, red, yellow, &c., so, since the _summum genus_, Brahman, is variously cognised through its connection with different things, as severally identified with each, we thus account for the use of the various conventional words which arise from the different species,[332] as cow, &c., these being "existence" (the _summum genus_) as found in the individual cow, &c. To this purport we have the following authoritative testimony-- "Just as crystal, that colourless substance, when severally joined with blue, red, or yellow objects, is seen as possessing that colour." And so it has been said by Hari, "Existence [pure and simple] being divided, when found in cows, &c., by reason of its connection with different subjects, is called this or that species, and on it all words depend. This they call the meaning of the stem and of the root. This is existence, this the great soul; and it is this which the affixed _tva_, _tal_, &c., express" (Páṇini v. 1, 119).