[ 54 ] Here arises the question : what was the material from which fire was evolved ? Is it Sat itself or some thing else ? If it be the former we will have to accept that Sat itself undergoes changes where as there are unequivocal statements in the Upanishats declaring that it is absolutely changcless. That some thing other than Sat was the material is equally unacceptable be. cause there was nothing else than Sat before creation That some thing could come into existence out of no. thing has been rejected. In reply to this question we may say that we accept the second alternative. Since nothing could come into existence from nothing there must have been something othe; than the changeless Sat which served as the material cause of the fire. Since fire is an insentint being its material cause also must have been so. This material cause of fire is called matter, prakriti in Sanskrit. Thus the statement f•It created fire itself suggests and warrants the inference of matter existing even before creatio:. The state- 1ent cannot be explained otherwise; it vuld be mean ingless. Such inference based on authoritative state ments is called in Sanskrit Srilarl%ap.utta. There is no statement contradicting the existence of matter befere creation. It has been said that **only one in the previous statement contradicts Sat with
- many which it becomes after creation . It becomes
many means it assumes and exists in many forms Bearing this in mind we may easily understand that 'orly one' in the previous sentence ...only one with out a second means the absence of created forns
