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Sunday, October 09, 2005

What does Namaste mean?

I have received a message from the far India. Namaste was an unknown word to me until few minutes ago. Never heard or read it before. My curiosity and my will to learn something new helped me to find an answer about the meaning. It comes from the Sanskrit language...

"The gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. "Nama" means bow, "as" means I, and "te" means you. Therefore, Namaste literally means "bow me you" or "I bow to you."
To perform Namaste, we place the hands together at the heart charka, close the eyes, and bow the head. It can also be done by placing the hands together in front of the third eye, bowing the head, and then bringing the hands down to the heart. This is an especially deep form of respect. Although in the West the word "Namaste" is usually spoken in conjunction with the gesture, in India, it is understood that the gesture itself signifies Namaste, and therefore, it is unnecessary to say the word while bowing.
We bring the hands together at the heart chakra to increase the flow of Divine love. Bowing the head and closing the eyes helps the mind surrender to the Divine in the heart. One can do Namaste to oneself as a meditation technique to go deeper inside the heart chakra; when done with someone else, it is also a beautiful, albeit quick, meditation." (Aadil Palkhivala in "Yoga Journal").

2 Comments:

At 11:03 PM, Mike said...

Hi there, I was searching for the meaning of the word Namaste and your blog came up. Thank you for that post it helped me out. It's a band name thats on myspace and I didn't know what their name meant

Take Care

 
At 7:45 PM, Prags said...

Hey there, I am from India, and I always thought I knew what 'namaste' meant. But after reading ur post, I am not so sure anymore. I always just related 'namaste' to 'hello', a bit more traditional and formal than 'hello', but 'hello' nonetheless. I never knew there was such meaning behind the word! Amazing isn't it? Being Indian and all, and still not knowing the true meaning and power of the word! Take care!

 

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