Namaste
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Hindu greeting of Namaste, yet again. What brought it to mind is a friend of mine emailed me a link to a very strong woman’s goodbye party.
I thought this was just great, that she was able to say goodbye, to
connect with all the people that meant something to her. She sounds
like a woman who has lived her life marching to her own drum and
intends on exiting life in the same way. How does this tie in with
Namaste, you might be thinking? I’m not entirely sure, I was thinking
how this woman had the strength to do what she wanted even though it
was against normal conventions. This lead me to thinking what was
something that I wish I could do but can’t/won’t because of a sense of
social pressure. THIS finally lead me to namaste…a convoluted trail
indeed! I think it is one thing that I wish I had the courage to
be able to practice, but I’m well aware how odd that would look. Now,
if I was actually a Hindu, then it would not embarrass me, but I would
feel a bit sacrilegious to do it otherwise. I did find a great
explanation of Namaste by a Dr. Jai Maharaj where he writes about the differences between the western handshake and the eastern namaste, summing it up:
So, there you have it, the whole of Eastern and Western
culture summed up in the handshake which reaches out horizontally to
greet another, and Namaste which reaches in vertically to acknowledge
that, in truth, that there is no other.
Further he quotes another Hindu who writes as explanation:
Namaste elevates one’s consciousness, reminding
one that all beings, all existence is holy, is the Almighty. It
communicates, “I honor or worship the Divinity within you.” Also it
draws the individual inward for a moment, inspires reflection on the
deeper realities, softening the interface between people. It would be
difficult or offend or feel animosity toward any one you greet as
Paramatma.
This is what is so beautiful about the gesture, which Maharaj sums up at the end of the article, noting,
This form of acknowledgment is so lovely, so graceful.
Just look at two people in Namaste and you will see so much human
beauty and refinement.
I
concur greatly with this assessment. Not because I know very much about
the Hindu religion, because I do not, but because I think there is a
great need to see each other in a different light–to see and
acknowledge the divinity in each other and in ourselves. People are so
terribly hard on each other and on themselves, Joseph Campbell once
said,
We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.
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