Namaste.

If you are familiar with this word, then this article is for you. Or even if you have read it in the Oxford Dictionary that describes it as a verb, ‘to give Namaste (to), be with us.

If you have even attended yoga classes even once then, you must know that Namaste is a very common greeting that represents a gesture to the universe in hope of receiving a positive message and as a thank you to the world that is created around us.

For those planning to visit India, this will come as you guide you absorb India’s cultural knowledge from those that we meet with compassion, patience and generosity.

This is the word that you are going to hear very often on your trip to India – especially when you meet locals, see it in prayer rituals, attending a yoga class, or watching a classical dance performance, in Indian homes, restaurants, hotels and streets. Now you must wonder if there are thousands of languages spoken in India, so why do we just need to learn about this one word – Namaste? What makes it so unique? How could just a simple salutation hold the Indian culture together and bring out a unifying experience?

“To understand the true meaning of Namaste, let us travel deep in its origins.”

Origins of Namaste

Taken from Sanskrit, the ancient and classic literary language of Hinduism, the word Namaste is formed from namaḥ, meaning “bow, obeisance, adoration,” and the pronoun te, meaning “to you.”

What does it mean?

Namaste, in layman language, means ‘I bow to you’. The “you” is the “real you” inside – the soul. The first part of the greeting — na ma — means “not me” or “not mine.” If we put it in simple words, it means that you are reducing your ego.

In Hinduism, it is believed that no matter how casual the meeting is, it is the meeting of two souls. Namaste is related to the third eye or mind center – a gesture that represents meeting someone with respect and humility.

How to use Namaste

Apart from being used as a simple verbal salutation, Namaste uses hand gestures that allow you to connect with its spiritual significance.

  1. Bend your arms facing up and bring the two palms of your hands together.
  2. Keep it front of your chest; just remember to place your fingertips softly together.
  3. Say the word and bow your head slightly toward the tips of the fingers.

Namaste & its Spiritual Significance

A Norwegian philosopher describes culture as “…ideas, values, rules, norms, codes, and symbols that a person receives from the previous generation, and which one seeks to transmit – usually slightly transformed – to the next generation” (Klausen 1992: 27)

Similarly, India’s cultural roots are unified in Namaste. As a gesture, it recognizes the Indian belief that the life force, the divinity, the Self in me is the same in all. The coming together of the palms represents Oneness and equality.

“When your mind is fully withdrawn in superconsciousness, it becomes centered in the bliss of the spine,” Paramahansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi, says. “You are then in your ideational, or casual, body. That is the level of the soul.”

Last, but not least, you, yourself will see how this simple salutation would open doors of a cultural experience of you in any part of India that you are in. Works magic.