Neti, Neti Beyond Every Hymn
Bala Kanda, Doha 12
Doha 12 · Movement 2 of 2
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A hymn rises through the worlds. Saraswati gives it speech. Shesha bears it upon a thousand tongues. Shiva and Brahma add their praise, while Agamas, Vedas, and Puranas pour their accumulated wisdom into the sound.
Still the glory before them does not approach an edge. Every affirmation opens upon a greater mystery. At the limit of language, the vast assembly can only say, neti, neti. Not this alone. Not even this.
The singing does not cease because description has failed. It becomes more reverent. Each voice knows that the One praised exceeds the hymn and receives it nonetheless.
Beyond the last word, the choir continues into immeasurable silence.
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AI-created devotional illustration · Doha 12
A blank manuscript beside an expansive indigo horizon and gold arc symbolizes inexhaustible divine praise.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 35 · printed pages 33. Reader passage: bala-kanda-doha-013. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Saraswati, Shesha, Shiva and Brahma continually praise the Lord's qualities
- Agamas, Vedas and Puranas also praise, saying neti neti
Artistic choices
- Blank manuscript, limitless indigo horizon and gold arc symbolize inexhaustible praise
- Stone slab and flowers imagined; no literal event or divine figures represented
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
सारद सेस महेस बिधि आगम निगम पुरान। नेति नेति कहि जासु गुन करहिं निरंतर गान।।12।।
Saraswati, Shesha, Mahesh, Brahma, the Agamas, Vedas, and Puranas all sing His virtues without ceasing, and yet can only say "neti, neti" (not this, not this), for His glory has no end.