Namaste

Namaste! A warm welcome to the first post of the blog. Honestly, writing is not my forte. I like symbols more, when a lot can be expressed without trying to waste a lot of energy in speaking or writing. Moreover, one can interpret and understand symbols in more than one way, which make them altogether very flexible.

Though this thought or the idea is not limited to symbols, in a similar way, an idea can be flown across from one mind to another, in the form of pictures, signs, and even subliminally.

Anyways, not to bore the visitors of my first blog post, I would like to start with what I have already started with. Namaste!

We go on living our lives practicing certain customs, follow certain traditions without even knowing or wanting to know the reason or the logic behind them. For me, every tradition or a custom has a reason, and though knowing it won’t stop me from doing it, or won’t force me into doing it, but certainly worth knowing what the inceptor of that tradition had in mind. Now, we all do a hand-folded Namaste whenever we meet someone elder, or when someone would visit our home. Ever thought why we do it? Anyone?

While there are various theories related to folded hands and the reasoning, each one of pretty much denote the same thing, respect.

Symbolically, one hand represents the soul of the bearer- or jeevatma, as it is called. The other hand represents param-atma, or the divine power. So, folding of hands is actually a Mudra, which symbolizes the union of jeevatma with Paramatma. The act denotes total surrender before the divine lord, and thus while praying, denotes total devotion to the lord. The Mudra is also known as 'Anjali Mudra'.

In cosmic terms, both the hands symbolically denote left forces and the right forces. While it would be wrong to term those as negative and positive forces, they in a way, can be termed two sides of the same coin. Folding hands denotes fusion of both the energies, where we are perfectly balanced between the two extreme forces while offering our prayers to the lord.

Literally, Namaste can be broken down into Namah and Te, which would mean I bow to you. Nama itself could be broken down to Na-Ma, where Na means negation and Ma means mine, Nama meaning 'not mine'. This symbolizes complete devotion to the Lord. The body, the soul, the entire existence is not mine. Ma also means death, Nama thus symbolizing immortality.

Physically, the act is much richer in symbolism. We touch all the five fingers of one hand, with the other. While the fingers of left hand denote the five senses of Karma, those on the right denote five organs of knowledge. As mentioned in the Bhagvad Gita, knowledge without action is incomplete, and action without knowledge is meaningless, the Namaste denotes completion of the union of knowledge and actions.

In some ways, Namaste is also equivalent to the Ardha-Narishwara form of Shiva. Two distinct forces unified by one symbol.

Now, in Hinduism, a guest is considered equivalent to God, so doing Namaste, in a way is symbolic of our respect for our guest. By doing a simple gesture, we not only demonstrate sheer respect, the entire setup of folding hands and uttering 'Namaste' is equivalent to chanting a Vedic Mantra.

Now, how does Namaste score over the more famous hand-shakes? Firstly, you never shake hands with God, you fold hands in front of him, and so Namaste symbolizes respect for the person. Moreover, a leader or a CEO won’t be able to shake hands with all his audience, or all his employees. A better way is to either wave his hands or fold them in a 'Namaste'. And now if you ask me, no one can write all the symbols or advantages of waving hands, when compared to Namaste.

So, go on, go along...meet new people, welcome new guests and do a Namaste......

Coming up with a book based on Indian history/mythology.
Please join the Facebook page and invite others as well to do the same.
Please help me promote the book and the page and make it a huge success.

Please click here and like the page which comes up - Finders, Keepers