Monday, March 26, 2007

NAMASTE: BEATS SHAKING HANDS!


According to Gandhi, the meaning of NAMASTE, a Buddhist greeting with palms held together and a slight bow, is as follows: "I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the place in you of light, love, truth, peace and wisdom. I honor the place in you where, when you are in that place, and I am in that place, there is only one of us."

According to Wikipedia the word has many meanings but the one above seems to cover most of the important points. It suggests that there is an automatic, beautiful connectedness between humans who allow enlightenment, love, truth, peace and wisdom to dominate them rather than ignoble ideals, base instincts and totally self-serving, divisive beliefs.

Namaste!

9 comments:

Voice said...

Namaste to you, Daniel!

Life has its ups and downs, and I have realised that the only way to change the world to a better place is action however great and small. You've helped me realise that and now that I've worked out my technical difficulties I plan to be back in action!

Cheers!

Daniel said...

Damian, people each helping each other along life's often difficult journey should be the number one priority for everyone.

If it were, peace and happiness would reign instead of conflict and greed which the Bethlehem photo shows!

Namaste!

Anonymous said...

In that case,Dan, My dear friend.......I have two words....No..... four! lol

"Here, Here.....Well referenced"!

And "Well said".....Ok... thats 6 words...sorry I've had a big day!

hmmmmm.....I'm goin to bed! LOL

Zoe XXX

Daniel said...

Sleep well, little Zoe. May your dreams be happy! xxxxxxxx

Blue said...

Ah, what a beautiful morning meditation, Daniel!

Not being Buddhist (but respecting many who follow the teachings), I have heard this greeting before but had no frame of reference for its meaning.

billie said...

namaste. i have a feeling that there is a reason that buddhism isn't as big as any of the other religions of the world. it's about enlightenment.

Daniel said...

Thanks bluegrrrrl. It's nice to present something positive on my blog.

Betmo, that is a wonderfully insightful comment. Cheers!

xyz said...

Well, I grew up in the land of Namastes. The meaning is profound...but pretty much every sanskrit word has some interesting resonance.

In some sense "Namaste" is like recognizing the God in the person you are greeting. Well, it is not even God - there is no concept of God in Hindusim as far as I know - it is like recognizing "The Force" or Brahman.

But I dont think we conciously mean all that when we say Namaste. It is more of a polite greeting than anything else.

Daniel said...

Thanks for that insight, D.P. The slight bow gives it special meaning, suggests that each person has some respect for the other. Cheers.

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