Namaste?

[Guest guest]

Is there anyone here that knows the meaning of the word Namaste? Is

there anyone here that speaks the language?

 

More than once in my life I have run across translations by an English

speaking person that was not the same as the spoken language of that

culture.

 

Since Bengali and Hindi are the language of the people that use the

word Namaste. I have no doubt that some Hao'le some where was told

that the meaning was the one I originally learned(The spirit in me

recognizes the spirit in you)and that person passed it on as an

absolute truth. I have asked many people from that culture. All those

that speak the language have told me , it means "hello". This came up

because of a situation recently. Some people are very fanatic about

Namaste and its relation to Reiki (?what ever that is, since Reiki is

Japanese?). I had a student that was upset because he had tried to

enter a chat room and he was given all kinds of grief because he

didn't want to say Namaste, saying he didn't really know what it meant.

 

Even as a little kid. My dad always gave me the sancho's to take care

of. I thought Sanchos was baby goats. After years of being away

from Texas, I came back and was shocked to find out Sancho's meant

"boyfriend" as in a secret lover. When I thought about it that was my

dad's and grandad's joke about orphaned baby goats, ones that the mom

wouldn't acknowledge or feed. So even though they would never try to

give a child the wrong word, they didn't feel they could explain the

situation to a child's "Why".

 

Then there is the tons of jokes the Hawaiian's play with words. The

Hawaiian life style is teasing. They told one lady her name sounded

like Lanai. She was told meant Light. She was also trained in healing

by a Menehuni. In reality in the hawaiian language, Lanai is a patio

or back porch (the island Lanai is a porch to the other islands) and a

menehuni is a rascal like leprechaun. You blame the menehuni when you

can't find your keys. So basically this lady was the butt of a joke

because of who knows why. Maybe she was too aggressive and pushy so

they played a trick on her, or just maybe they were having a bad day

and needed something funny.

 

There was another lady that was told Hao'le mean Breath. Hao'le means

generally "White person". I wonder and hope they didn't also give her

the word Peelau or lolo. Peelau means stink and Lolo means stupid and

not in a cute way. However this lady was fanatical about the meaning

of Hao'le. There was no convincing her otherwise because some local

told her that on her visit to Hawaii.

 

So ask your friends from India or those that speak the language and

ask them what Namaste means before you decide what you heard or read

in a newspaper "is the absolute truth". I was told to say Om Shanti

which translated means "peace" and in this day and time sounds like

something we should be saying. But don't take my word for it. Ask a

friend that speaks the language.

 

Carolyn