neti neti
नेति नेति neti neti"Not so, not so." The Upanishadic method of pointing at Brahman by negating every description, since the absolute is never one of the objects it could be named among.
Where this term appears
- Atman and Brahman Essentials
The phrase is neti-neti , "not this, not this" (Brihadaranyaka 2.3.6, repeated at 3.9.26 and 4.4.22).
- Tat tvam asi: three readings Philosophy
The same Upanishadic corpus also says aham brahmasmi , "I am Brahman" (Brihadaranyaka 1.4.10), and neti neti , "not this, not this" (Brihadaranyaka 2.3.6).
- What is Advaita Vedanta? Philosophy
for there is nothing else higher than this." This is neti neti , "not so, not so." Brahman is not this, not that, not anything you can hold up and name, because everything you can name is an object, and the abs…
- Ishvara, Bhagavan and Brahman: How Hinduism Conceives God Essentials
Their most famous method is pure subtraction, neti neti , "not this, not this": not the body, not the mind, not any object you could name.
- Saguna and Nirguna: Form and the Formless Deities
For him Brahman is personal by its very nature, Vishnu-Narayana possessed of infinite auspicious qualities, and neti neti negates only the divine's defects, never its perfections.
- Sat-Chit-Ananda: Being, Consciousness, Bliss Essentials
… answer, a stern pointing-away that says of the ultimate reality only neti neti , "not this, not this": not the body, not the mind, not any object you could name or grasp.
- What are the Upanishads? Scriptures
The Upanishads are a body of Sanskrit texts, the latest layer of the Veda, composed across several centuries beginning around the 7th to 6th century BCE. The two…
- Is your soul the same as the ātman? Journal
The tradition's most precise method for pointing at it is not description but negation: neti neti , "not this, not this." You are not the body; watch it change and you remain.