The method of negation to discover what you truly are by eliminating what you are not.
Author
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
नेति नेति (Neti Neti)
Not this, not this - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.3.6
When asked to describe Brahman (the ultimate reality), the sage Yajnavalkya simply said “Neti Neti”—not this, not this. The Self cannot be defined by what it is, but by negating all that it is not.
The Self cannot be objectified. Whatever can be objectified is not the Self.
Everything that can be perceived, thought, or experienced is an object. The Self is the eternal subject, the witness, the consciousness in which all objects appear.
पञ्च कोश निषेध (Pancha Kosha Nishedha)
नाहं देहः (Naham Dehah)
I am not the body
The body:
Neti Neti—I am not this body.
न प्राणः (Na Pranah)
Not the life force
The prana (breath, vital force):
Neti Neti—I am not the prana.
न मनः (Na Manah)
Not the mind
The mind:
Neti Neti—I am not the mind.
न बुद्धिः (Na Buddhih)
Not the intellect
The intellect:
Neti Neti—I am not the intellect.
न आनन्दः (Na Anandah)
Not even bliss
The experience of bliss:
Neti Neti—I am not even this bliss.
When everything that can be negated is negated, what remains?
Pure consciousness itself—the witness of all, untouched by anything witnessed.
Not a blank nothingness, but luminous awareness—the light by which everything else is known.
याज्ञवल्क्य उपदेश (Yajnavalkya Upadesha)
When King Janaka asked Yajnavalkya, “What is the light by which man sees?”
Yajnavalkya answered:
The Self is self-luminous. It doesn’t need another light to be known. It is awareness itself.
And how do you describe this Self?
नेति नेति (Neti Neti)
You cannot say “It is this”—because then it becomes an object. You can only say “Not this, not this”—until all false identifications fall away and what remains is the Self-evident truth.
Sit quietly and systematically negate:
Whenever you identify with something (“I am worried,” “I am successful,” “I am hurt”):
Neti Neti has two aspects:
1. Negation (निषेध - Nishedha)
2. Indication (लक्षणा - Lakshana)
Like cleaning a mirror—you don’t add anything to make it reflective. You remove the dust, and its nature shines forth.
यतो वाचो निवर्तन्ते (Yato Vacho Nivartante)
Where words turn back - Taittiriya Upanishad
The Self is beyond words and thoughts. Language can only point to it by saying what it is not.
This is not a limitation of the teaching—it’s because the Self is prior to all concepts, all categories, all definitions.
You cannot define water to a fish—it lives in it. Similarly, you cannot define the Self to consciousness—you ARE it.
After all negation, there’s a shift:
Neti Neti (Not this, not this) becomes Iti Iti (This indeed, this indeed).
Not “this particular thing”—but the realization: “I am THIS—pure consciousness, eternal presence, the unchanging reality behind all change.”
अहं ब्रह्मास्मि (Aham Brahmasmi)
I am Brahman
Neti Neti removes all false identifications.
What remains is not nothing—it is EVERYTHING.
Not the limited “I am this” or “I am that”—but the unlimited “I AM.”
Not a thing among things—but the reality of all things.
Not an object in awareness—but awareness itself.
Neti Neti leads to the final affirmation: I am the infinite, eternal, unchanging consciousness—the substratum and source of all existence.
This is not something to become—it is what you have always been. Neti Neti simply removes the ignorance that obscures this truth.