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philosophic subject, reality, truth, causality, the manifest, the unmạnifest, the physicality of the body, the mind, perception, speech, language, the self, was woven into the mystery of life-and its living. An inquiry into the limits of human knowledge was at the same time an inquiry into what it means to be truly human.
The meaning of being truly human was perceived in diverse ways, and was lived quite as diversely, with a common thread running through them all, though. Indisputably there were disputes and dogmatic assertions as to what that common thread was. But the neti, neti of the Upanisads: the systematicly relativistic method of the Mahābhārata in exploring the foundations of human relationships; and the syādvāda and anekānta of Jain philosophy prevented to a large degree the violence that must arise from a one-sided view of anything. Violence to one's self and violence to the other. And these three are inter-related, as we will see, and plainly reflect the many-splendoured rhythms of life.
Whenever we hear of the Upaņişads, we hear of 'neti', repeated twice, neti neti, with which every description of reality is to be qualified no sooner than it is made. And neti has always been translated, and translated always wrongly, as it is not this, it is not this'. Composed of two words na, meaning ‘not, and iti, meaning 'the end', the plain meaning of neti is 'it is not this alone' 'it is not yet the end', 'it is not yet the complete description'. Struggling to describe ultimate reality, ‘on knowing which everything else becomes known', the Upanisads were clearly suggesting that reality is not ek-anta. ‘not one-ended, or ‘not-onedimensional'. It is, as the Jain philosophy would say, anekānta, ‘manydimensional', ‘many-sided'. It should be added here, however, that not all the philosophers of the Upaņişads were qualifying with neti their final view of reality. They were distinguishing, in an abosolute sense, the big Self, the ātman, eternal, beyond change, having no attributes, from the empirical psychophysical self, which is transitory, subjcct to decay and death, with attributes-the human bondage, the samsāra, consisting in confusing one with the other.
'Neti' denotes an attitude of the mind, with which we perceive our self and the other. Apparently a negative, neti is a profoundly positive, even a loving, caution in the journey of life: ‘it is not this alone, it is not
FERLI UST SECR-ferycar. 2008
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