Neti Neti - Not This, Not This
Brahman is defined by negating all limited descriptions.
Neti Neti is the via negativa of Vedanta - by negating all finite descriptions, what remains is the infinite Brahman. It cannot be defined by what it is, only by what it is not.
Not this, not this.
This method reveals Brahman by exhausting all limited concepts.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
Written about in
- What the Upanishads say about the self
Not this, not this. Every description offered is refused, because anything you can hold in front of you as an object is not the one holding it.
- What the Upanishads say about doubt
The method for approaching the highest thing is negation: not this, not this. Doubt is promoted to technique — every description is refused, and what survives the refusing is what was being looked for.