8. Sunyavada 23. Here we start with a thing which has a concrete form and on analysis we go on step by step and end up with one Satya which has no form. The turban which a man is wearing is first understood as Sat. In the next step we understand it as cloth. When once we understand it as cloth, cloth becomes Sat and turban becomes Asat. In the next step we understand it as an assemblage of cotton threads and so conclude it is this thread that is Sat and the cloth is Asat. In the next stage we understand cotton is Sat and thread is Asat. In this way we end up with earth (mrttika) as the Sat and all other things are Asat. 24. Continuing the above analysis we find that the earth has its origin in waters and waters become Sat. In the next step we declare Tejas (agni) as Sat. That leads us to Vayu as Sat. From Vayu we move to Vak as Sat. Then from Vak we move to Prana and then Manas as Sat. Finally we end up with our own Pratyaya as Satya, and the rest are all Sunya. 25. Asat is something which is assumed and does not really exist. It is this Asat which when named becomes the origin of the vastu. For example the pot never existed before, but the potter made some figure out of earth and gave it the name pot. This is only the greatness that lies in the name and actually the pot does not exist. It is only the mrt that exists. That is why the Upanisad says.
In other words, my Pratyaya which is Satya takes on the name and produces the differences that I see. Actually these differences do not exist and is only an apparition. 26. Now there is an objection. To say that pot etc. are only my Pratyaya and they do not exist is not correct. When I need water to drink I need a pot to store it and if the pot does not really exist, where shall I store the water. My needs will not get fulfilled but yet it is not so. Therefore your contention is wrong. To the above objection, Ojha replies by saying that when a man walks in the dark and imagines that he is seeing a dark figure and thinks it is a ghost. He is terribly shaken because he thinks it is really a ghost. This is purely a creation of his Pratyaya and he completely forgets that it is so.