Namaste

Namaste is in India, but also some other countries in Asia, a ubiquitous among Hindus salutation and greeting gesture ( Mudra " gesture " ), the reverence for another human being as well as for the divine in a sanctuary expresses.

Word meaning and origin

Namaste (also Namasté, Sanskrit, Hindi, Nepali, नमस्ते, namaste, [ nʌmʌste ː ], from Sanskrit: nam " salute, bow, worship " ) literally means " worship you," a composition of Sanskrit namas " worship " and the enclitic pronoun te " you". The greeting is the first time in the Rig Veda and is delivered in Avestan as nəmasə.tē.

Statement of salutation and greeting gesture

According to Deepak Chopra this greeting makes the following statement: "I honor in you the Divine Spirit, whom I honor in myself - and I know that we are one thus. "

Asked by Albert Einstein, what did he want to express with the greeting Namaste, Mahatma Gandhi is said to have replied as follows: " I ​​honor the place in you in which the entire universe resides. I honor the place of light, of love, of truth, of peace and wisdom within you. I honor the place in you where, if you're there and I'm there, we both only have one more thing. "

Exercise of greeting gesture

As usual gesture while the indoor palms are brought together, placed in proximity of the heart to the chest and a slight bend of the head. While in the Western world usually also the word Namaste is pronounced to the gesture is not necessarily accompanied by the verbal greeting in India. Sometimes a still deeper homage is expressed by the clasped hands raised and the fingertips of both index fingers are placed on the point between the eyes. It was on the site where the mystical " third eye " is hidden by Hindu teachings. In the various languages ​​of the Indian subcontinent, the actual act of this greeting gesture Namaskaram, Namaskara or Namaskar is called; the folded hands are also known by the terms Anjali Mudra, Atmanjali or Hrdayanjali.