Significance of Namaste!

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Dear Members,

Please read a beautiful article with clarity,

composure, comprehension and carefully presented by

sister Babitha.Next time when you bow down or convey

your devotion by way of Namaskaram, please remember

its significance again and again.

 

Namaste:

 

In a well-known episode it so transpired that the

great lover god Krishna made away with the clothes of

unmarried maidens, fourteen to seventeen years of age,

bathing in the river Yamuna. Their fervent entreaties

to him proved of no avail.

 

It was only after they performed before him the

eternal gesture of namaste was he satisfied, and

agreed to hand back their garments so that they could

recover their modesty.

 

The gesture (or mudra) of namaste is a simple act made

by bringing together both palms of the hands before

the heart, and lightly bowing the head. In the

simplest of terms it is accepted as a humble greeting

straight from the heart and reciprocated accordingly.

 

Namaste is a composite of the two Sanskrit words,

nama, and te. Te means you, and nama has the following

connotations:

 

1). To bend

2). To bow

3). To sink

4). To incline

5). To stoop

 

All these suggestions point to a sense of submitting

oneself to another, with complete humility.

 

Significantly the word 'nama' has parallels in other

ancient languages also. It is cognate with the Greek

nemo, nemos and nosmos; to the Latin nemus, the Old

Saxon niman, and the German neman and nehman.

 

All these expressions have the general sense of

obeisance, homage and veneration. Also important here

is to note that the root 'nama' is a neuter one, the

significance of which will be elaborated upon later.

 

The word nama is split into two, 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 prescription 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 him. Further by facilitating our

partaking of these divine qualities, namaste makes us

aware of these very characteristics residing within

our own selves.

 

Simply put, namaste intimates the following:

 

'The God in me greets the God in you The Spirit in me

meets the same Spirit in you' In other words, it

recognizes the equality of all, and pays honor to the

sacredness of all.

 

Translated into a bodily act, namaste is deeply rich

in symbolism.

 

Firstly the proper performance of namaste requires

that we blend the five fingers of the left hand

exactly with the fingers of the right hand. The

significance behind this simple act in fact governs

the entire gamut of our active life.

 

The five fingers of the left hand represent the five

senses of karma, and those of the right hand the five

organs of knowledge.

 

Hence it signifies that our karma or action must be in

harmony, and governed by rightful knowledge,

prompting us to think and act correctly.

 

Contributed by Babitha Vasanth

-------------------

 

P.S. few words by Murthy garu to the article:

 

1.When you blend the hands(palms and fingers) together

in perfect alignment and placed at the Heart centre,

it also signifies that you are presenting your ego, 5

karma orgons, 5 Jgnana orgons and the heart 5+5+1=11,

to the Light before you,i.e. say that you are through

all these 11,surrendering to the Almighty with full

heart. So placing the folded hands at the Heart Centre

is equally important.

 

2. When you Namaskarams, Karams mean hands again

signifying 5+5 orgons, and say all these 10 are not

yourself(na maha), but belong to HIM. This aspect has

already been explained by Babitha.

 

3. When you bow down, it means accepting that someone

is above you, and you are under the Divine power.This

aspect allows us to grow further and learn further.

 

4.The basic structure of NA MAHA = NENU KAADU(NOT ME),

SIVAYAHA= It is only SIVA, is taught at the time of

AKSHARABHYASAM=the first initiation into

learning(education), before put to school.So right

from the early childhood of learning A,B,C,D (Ome, Na,

Maha) it is the awareness given to the child that what

all we are doing is only by HIM, and not ME(the

person). This keeps a person always aware of the

continuous CHAITANYA being received from HIM. Inspite

of very high qualifications they attain, still make

them realise that there is a purpose behind that

education, and hence they will be ready to take up any

work, for and on behalf of HIM.

 

5.The exhaustive meaning covered by sister Babitha

should make everyone realise that whenever we do this

ANJALI, it is not to the stature and cadre of the

person opposite and in front of us, but to the Lord in

him. Once we realise this we can do NAMASTE with

folded hands to anyone, poor or rich, officer or

subordinate, servants and pepolple who beg for charity

too, for giving us an opportunity to donate.

 

6. The Masters who receive our namaskarams, do so,

because, they will give us an opportunity to bow our

head down, thus make us realise that we are not the

ultimate, but below something in the nature.

 

7. Another important point in performing PADA

NAMASKARAMS, that is bowing down and touching the feet

of the elders or Great Seers is like this.

 

When the top of the head(Sahasrara Chakra) touches the

feet of Master, the north point of the person(top of

head) comes in contact with the southern point(feet)

of the Master and Pranic Energy flows from Master to

the person. Like water flows from higher altitude to

lower, current flows, magnetism flows etc. Hence the

person doing Namaskar is the beneficial and oneway the

person whose feet are touched is the deplinisher in

energy. However Masters are channels of continuous

flow of Energy and hence whatever is flown out of

them, still nothing is deplinished in the energy

levels in them. Like taking a vessel of water from the

flowing river or sea.

 

It is how described in the SLOKA

 

"POORNAMIDAH, POORNAMIDAM,

POORNATPOORNA MUDACHYATE,

POORNASYA POORNAMADAAYA

POORNAMEVAA VADISHYATE"

 

Hence a normal person should be very careful before

accepting to receive PadaNamaskaram to him.He is

supposed to channelise and flow Pranic Energy from his

body to the Namaskaram doing person. If he is not a

sacred person, he will loose energy and becomes

drained off the energy. Receiving Namaskaram requires

and puts on lot of responsibility. Similarly receiving

even a small gift also shoulders a great

responsibilty. If we receive one $ worth of fruit or

of any kind, we are supposed to return more than 10 $

worth of service to them. It is highly dangerous to

receive gifts. Lot of burden is imposed on us by

receiving gifts. Be aware of this.

 

8. That is why Master C.V.V. said to keep one's hand

always on the giving side and not to ask anything from

anyone. He says if at all u need something, u r

advised to present your desire only to the

Master(C.V.V), so that if the wish is good for the

seeker, Master allows it. If it is harmful anf likely

to cause loss of peace and damage, then Master

disalows the wish. He also takes care to wipe off the

wish from the disciple's mind. This is the important

point.

Let Thanks sister Babitha for her good

article.

 

regards

Lakshmi