Monday, November 14, 2011

NETI-NETI

In the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya is asked by his students to describe Brahman. He states, "The Divine is not this, and it is not that," (neti-neti).

Thus, the Divine is not real as we are real, nor is it unreal. The Divine is not living in the sense that humans live, nor is it dead. The Divine is not compassionate as we use the term, nor is it without compassion.

This is to say, we can never truly define the Divine in words. All we can say, in effect, is that "It isn't this, but also it isn't that either." In the end, the student must transcend words to understand the nature of the Divine.

In this sense, neti-neti is not denial per se. Rather, it is an assertion that whatever the Divine may be, when we attempt to capture it in human words, we must inevitably fall short; we are limited in our understanding, and our words are limited in their ability to express the transcendent.

Neti-neti is meant to aid one's union with the Divine.

By the way, neti-neti is not unique to Vedanta. Called apophatic or negative theology, it is also found in Greek philosophy, in Islam, in Buddhism, in Christianity, in Judaism, and in Taoism. The positive approach, called cataphatic theology, is found as well in all these philosophies and religions, including Vedanta.

1 Comments:

Blogger Ron Krumpos said...

Scriptures, theologians and many religious leaders tell us what the divine is by listing grandiose attributes. Most mystics worship personal aspects of the divine, but they also speak of what it is not. Many of them said that the divine essence is nothing, i.e. no thing, that it is immanent in all things, yet it is transcendent to everything. Mystics consider this seeming paradox to be a positive negation.

Avidya, non-knowledge in Sanskrit, is used in Buddhism for our “spiritual ignorance” of the true nature of Reality. Bila kaif, without knowing how in Arabic, is Islam’s term for “without comparison” to describe Allah. Ein Sof, without end in Hebrew, is the “infinite beyond description” in the Kabbalah. Neti, neti, not this, not this in Sanskrit, refers to “unreality of appearances” to define Brahman. In via negativa, the way of negation in Latin, God is “not open to observation or description.”

Mysticism emphasizes spiritual knowing, which is not rational and is independent of reason, logic or images. Da`at is Hebrew for “the secret sphere of knowledge on the cosmic tree.” Gnosis is Greek for the “intuitive apprehension of spiritual truths.” Jnana is Sanskrit for “knowledge of the way” to approach Brahman. Ma`rifa in Arabic is “knowledge of the inner truth.” Panna in Pali is “direct awareness”; perfect wisdom. These modes of suprarational knowing, perhaps described as complete intuitive insight, are not divine oneness; they are actualizing our inherent abilities to come closer to the goal.

(quoted from my free ebook, "the greatest achievement in life," on comparative mysticism)

November 15, 2011 at 1:32 PM  

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