y namaste ? ( pronounced nah.. ma.. stay.. )

namaste can be just a casual or formal greeting.. a cultural convention or an act of worship..

understanding its many meanings helps u define which is most befitting..

namaste is a sanskrit or indian derived word from ‘ nama ‘ meaning to bow and ‘ te ‘ meaning you..

literally it means ‘ bow to u ‘ but depending on tense means much more..

namaste is generally known as a nice salutatory gesture saying ‘ i honor the grand spirit in you which is also in me.. ‘

it is also a way of expressing that you and i are divine and equal..

there a many interpretations of namaste.. here are a few more examples..

the god/goddess within me acknowledges the god/goddess within you

the divine in me recognizes and honors the divine in you

the spirit within me bows to the spirit within you

i greet that place where you and i are one

i honor the place in you which is of love.. of truth.. of light and of peace

how its said
traditionally when performing this greeting the folded hands are kept close to the heart.. thus symbolizing the happiness in the meeting and that this greeting comes sincerely from the heart.. it also acts as a remark of respect for elders.. namaste is the first thing that is taught to a child born of indian families..

as we meet others.. it is said the real meeting is truly between our souls.. when we greet one another with namaste we include the various meanings like ‘ may our blessed souls pay homage to each other ’

the oft accompanying slight bowing of the head is a gracious form of extending friendship in love.. respect and humility..

spiritual significance
namaste recognizes the belief that the life force.. the divinity.. the self or the god in me is the same as in all.. acknowledging this oneness with the meeting of the palms we honor the god in the person we meet..

seeing others
seeing others through the definition of namaste will help one see the true divine spirit in everyone.. by doing so you are literally meeting them at the soul level.. you look beyond the surface into the true nature of every being..

now for u budding etymologist like myself.. preciate n understand that ‘ nama ‘ also breaks down to ‘ na ‘ and ‘ ma ‘

na signifies negation and ma represents mine.. the meaning would then be ‘ not mine ‘
the import being that the individual soul belongs entirely to the supreme soul.. which is identified as residing in the individual towards whom the namaste is directed..

indeed there is nothing that the soul can claim as its own.. namaste is thus the necessary rejection of ‘ i ‘ and the associated phenomena of egotism.. it is said that ‘ ma ‘ in nama means death ( spiritual ) and when this is negated ( na-ma ).. it signifies immortality..

the whole action of namaste unfolds itself at three levels.. mental.. physical.. and verbal

it starts with a mental submission.. this submission is in the spirit of total surrender of the self.. this is parallel to the devotion one expresses before a chosen deity.. also known as bhakti.. the devotee who thus venerates with complete self-surrender is believed to partake the merits or qualities of the person or deity before whom he performs this submission..

there is a description in the ancient texts known as agamas that the worshipper of a deity must first become divine himself.. for otherwise worship as a transaction would become invalid.. a transaction can only be between equals.. between individuals who share some details in common.. hence by performing namaste before an individual we recognize the divine spark in them.. further by facilitating our partaking of these divine qualities.. namaste makes us aware of these very characteristics residing within our own selves..

no matter which interpretation you choose you should think of it as a divine blessing that honors sacredness and equality in everyone..

namaste to u
j

portions of this piece from other web sources

by Jamal DePina
I had deleted Jamal as friend that I had met via facebook and didn’t really talk to to “free up space” and once again I find him back in my life again at a mutual friends page. I then saw his response to my post and immediately I felt bad but then I felt so bad I didn’t want to add him back because I was embarrassed. So I held back my pride and apologized and he said to me today…

Now everything I have experienced today has been about this…isn’t it amazing :-)

And on the same day this was my word for the day…