Neti Neti Takes the Form of Ram
Bala Kanda, Chhand 2
Doha 51 · Movement 2 of 3
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Steadfast sages, yogis, and perfected beings sit with pure minds turned toward the Reality no image can contain. Vedas, Puranas, and Agamas approach its immensity and fall into the reverent negation of neti, neti. Not this boundary. Not this concept. Not any object thought can grasp.
That same all pervading Brahman, Lord of the hosts of worlds and master of maya, appears upon the forest road as Ram. No compulsion has drawn him into birth. Ever free and governed only by his own divine will, he has descended for the sake of his devotees.
The form does not replace the infinite. The infinite has made itself lovingly visible.
Beyond every definition, Brahman steps through the forest beneath the name of Ram.
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AI-created devotional illustration · Chhand 2
A representative unnamed adult sage meditating from the first line; all four source lines retained.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 75 · printed pages 73. Reader passage: bala-kanda-chhand-002. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Steadfast sages, yogis and siddhas constantly meditate upon him with pure minds.
- Vedas, Puranas and Agamas sing his glory saying neti, not this; no quoted text painted.
- That same Rama is all-pervasive Brahman, lord of the multitude of worlds and master of Maya.
- Eternal and independent, the jewel of the Raghu lineage incarnated for the benefit of his devotees.
Artistic choices
- One representative unnamed adult sage illustrates the source plurality without specifying a participant census or named identity. Face, age, robe, pose, crimson field, bough and daylight are artistic choices; no physical cosmic transformation or actual narrated hermitage event asserted.
- Complete source facts remain in metadata; source and existing translations are unchanged.
- The actual image has a fuller overhead bough than requested; tree trunk, leaf number, facial features and lap-hand arrangement are artist choices.
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
मुनि धीर जोगी सिद्ध संतत बिमल मन जेहि ध्यावहीं। कहि नेति निगम पुरान आगम जासु कीरति गावहीं।। सोइ रामु ब्यापक ब्रह्म भुवन निकाय पति माया धनी। अवतरेउ अपने भगत हित निजतंत्र नित रघुकुलमनि।।
He whom steadfast sages, yogis, and siddhas constantly meditate upon with pure hearts; He whose glory the Vedas, Puranas, and Agamas sing while declaring 'neti, neti' (not this, not this). He is the very same One who has appeared as Ram.