Apophatic theology in Hinduism

Dated centuries before the advent of Platoan and Christian doctrines

Apophatic theology is the idea of interpretation of God through the process of eliminating everything God is not. An apophatic approach is today utilized even in areas like mathematics wherein a geometric theorem tries to define the properties of an object by eliminating simple features of what it is not.

For a human brain to understand something abstract and complex in nature, it needs some parameters (that the human brain is familiar with) to relate to it and understand it as an analogy. A similar understanding process is the apophatic approach where you try to base your understanding on what something is not, and somehow through that, you understand what it exactly is.

From a philosophical perspective, the understanding is quite subjective, meaning, everyone has their own interpretation of a concept, but the way they may explain it might not resonate with others. This is due to the limitation of using Words or Vāk.

Sadhguru’s recurrent use of the word “dimension” may be confusing to many

It is commonly believed that Apophatic theology originates from “Plato and some Early Christian writers”. While it is good to recognize the presence of apophatic approach in different cultures and timelines, it is also important to recognize one of its early appearances in renowned texts like the Vedas.

Atharva Veda, Mandukya Upanishad, Verse 7 states:

nāntaḥprajñaṃ nabahisprajñaṃ nobhayataḥprajñaṃ naprajñānaghanaṃ naprajñaṃ nāprajñam adṛśyamavyavahāryamagrāhyamalakṣaṇamacintyamavyapadeśyamekātmapratyayasāraṃ prapañcopaśamaṃ śāntaṃ śivamadvaitaṃ caturthaṃ manyante sa ātmā sa vijñeyaḥ

The verse, while talking about the nature of self uses the apophatic approach. The lines have every word starting with a negative prefixation indicating that the nature of self is not that. Let’s go into what the self is not by understanding some of those words:

nāntaḥprajñaṃ — Not an inner state of awareness

nabahisprajñaṃ — Not an external state of awareness

nobhayataḥprajñaṃ — Not both

naprajñānaghanaṃ — Not one with a mass

naprajñaṃ — Not the awareness

nāprajñam — Not not the awareness