In article <33f57cea.0@mapperley.innotts.co.uk>,
ukindia@innotts.co.uk (amar joshi) wrote:
> I am lookingh to verify the correct spelling and
> definition of the word "Namastee" from sandskrit.
Commonly written "Namaste", it is pronounced as "Namastay"
with the first two a's as the first a in "America" and the
ay as in "stay", but with the t pronounced soft with the
area just behind the tip of the tongue pressing against the
upper-front teeth with no air passing (as the t in "tamasha").
- Jai Maharaj
> I have been told it means something like to
> pay homage to the inner light in all living things.
> Can you help me with this???
> sgray@javanet.com
I had occasion to post the following in 1993 and 1996:
Subject: Re: Sukhmani says Namaskaar to Brahmins
From: Dr. Jai Maharaj <jai@mantra.com>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.punjab,
soc.culture.indian.delhi,alt.fan.jai-maharaj,
soc.culture.indian.gujarati,soc.culture.indian.marathi,
soc.culture.indian.telugu,soc.culture.indian.karnataka,
soc.culture.indian.kerala,soc.culture.bengali
Date: Sun, 14 Jan 1996 14:01:55 -1000
In the article <30F7BAD4.5907@sky.net>,
of Sat, 13 Jan 1996 07:59:48 -0600,
Rahul Anand Narain <narain@sky.net> wrote:
COLLinda wrote:
>> What is the difference (if any) in saying "Namaste" and
>> "Namaskar"? Are they addressed to or used by different people?
>> Or are they essentially identical? I've heard people using
>> both, but I haven't noticed any pattern. / Linda Nelson,
>> Chicago Online
>
> Jai Maharaj had a lovely post regarding this. a couple of years
> ago or so. I had had saved it but am not able to locate it.
> Maybe he can repost the article?
There have been several posts on the subject during the last
few
years, but I think the following authorized reproduction
from
HINDUISM TODAY is one of the best. For subscription
and other
information about Hinduism Today, please connect with the
Web site
at this URL:
http://www.HinduismToday.kauai.hi.us/ashram/
Hinduism today is a full-color, international monthly which
has been
published continuously since January 1979.
Copyright 1993 by Himalayan Academy. ISSN: 0896-0801.
All Rights
Reserved. Please see full copyright notice at the end
of the
article.
N::N "Shake hands and come out fighting."
It's the referee's
A::A final counsel to two pugilists about to
beat each other's
M::M brains out with clenched fists. Even
outside the ring, a
A::A handshake can be a little off-putting.
When one returns
S::S to the West from
an extended sojourn in Bharat or
T::T elsewhere in Asia, the hand
suddenly thrust forward can
E::E seem more ominous than friendly, especially
if the hand
offered is that
of a stranger. Of course, one soon
acclimates and the menacing aspect of this salutation subsides.
Perhaps that moment of intimidation derives from
the history of
the handshake. According to one anthropologist,
the handshake
evolved in medieval Europe, during the times of knights.
It seems
not all were laudable Lancelots or gallant Gallahads. More
than a
few would approach opponents with
concealed weapons and when
within striking distance do the
needful, driving dagger or
striking sword into the unguarded paladin.
To fend off the fear of a foe's
foul foil, knights took to
offering their open and visibly empty hand to each
other. It was
a kind of surety, a gesture of trust
which said, "See, I am
unarmed, so you may safely let me approach."
As the story goes,
soon the gesture itself took on meaning and the less
noble, less
lethal man on the street adopted the handshake as the
proper way
to greet others.
In much of the world today, people do not shake
hands when they
meet. They may hug formally or kiss one another on
the cheek, as
in eastern Europe and Arab states. They
may bow softly, eyes
turned to the ground, as in
Japan and China. The Hawaiian
greeting, termed "honi," consists of placing
the nostril gently
beside that of the person greeted, a kind of
sharing of breath,
which is life and Pran(a).
For, Hindu(s), of course, the greeting of choice
is "Namaste,"
the two hands pressed together and held near
the heart with the
head gently bowed as one says, "Namaste."
Thus it is both a
spoken greeting and a gesture, a Mantr(a)
and a Mudr(a). The
prayerful hand position is a Mudr(a) called Anjali, from
the root
Anj, "to adorn, honor, celebrate or anoint."
The hands held in
union signify the oneness of
an apparently dual cosmos, the
bringing together of spirit and matter, or the
self meeting the
Self. It has been said that the right hand represents
the higher
nature or that which is divine
in us, while the left hand
represents the lower, worldly nature.
In Sanskrit "Namas" means,
"bow, obeisance, reverential
salutation." It comes from the root Nam, which
carries meanings
of bending, bowing, humbly submitting and becoming
silent. "Te"
means "to you." Thus "namaste" means "I bow to
you." the act of
greeting is called "Namaskaram," "Namaskara"
and "Namaskar" in
the varied languages of the subcontinent.
Namaste has become a veritable icon of what is Bharatiye.
Indeed,
there must be a Bharatiye law
which requires every travel
brochure. calendar and poster to include an image of someone
with
palms pressed together, conveying
to the world Bharat's
hospitality, spirituality and graceful consciousness.
You knew
all that, of course, but perhaps you did not know that
there can
be subtle ways of enhancing the gesture, as in the West one
might
shake another's hand too strongly to impress
and overpower them
or too briefly, indicating the withholding of genuine welcome.
In the case of Namaste, a
deeper veneration is sometimes
expressed by bringing the fingers of the
clasped palms to the
forehead, where they touch the brow, the site of the mystic
Third
Eye. A third form of namaste brings the
palms completely above
the head, a gesture said to focus
consciousness in the subtle
space just above the Brahma-randhra, the aperture
in the Crown
Chakr(a). This form is so full of reverence it
is reserved for
the Almighty and the holiest of Sat Guru(s).
It is always interesting, often
revealing and occasionally
enlightening to muse about the
everyday cultural traits and
habits each nation and community
evolves, for in the little
things our Big ideas About
Life find direct and personal
expression. Take, for instance, the different ways
that American
and Japanese tool-makers approach
the same task. A saw for
cutting lumber, if designed in the U.S., is made
in such a way
that the carpenter's stroke away from his body does
the cutting.
But in japan saws are engineered so that cutting
takes place as
the carpenter draws the saw toward himself. A
small detail, but
it yields a big difference.
The American saw can, if leaned into, generate more
power, while
the Japanese saw provides more control and refinement in
the cut,
requiring surprisingly less effort. Each
has its place in the
global toolbox. each speaks -- like the
handshake and namaste
greetings -- of an underlying perception of man's
relationship
with things.
In the West we are outgoing, forceful, externalized.
We are told
by Ma bell to "reach out and touch somebody." We are
unabashedly
acquisitive, defining our progress in life by how much we
have --
how much wealth, influence, stored
up knowledge, status or
whatever. Every culture exhibits these traits to some extent,
but
in the east Mother is there to remind us, "Reach in and touch
the
Self." here we are taught to
be more introspective, more
concerned with the quality of things than their
quantity, more
attuned with the interior dimension of life.
So, there you have it, the whole of Eastern and
Western culture
summed up in the handshake which reaches
out horizontally to
greet another, and Namaste which
reaches in vertically to
acknowledge that, in truth, that there is no other.
As a test of how these two greetings
differ, imagine you are
magically confronted with the Divine. The
Paramatma, Almighty,
walks up to you on the street. What do you do? reach out
to shake
His hand? Probably not. Though suitable between man and man,
it;'
an unseemly expression between man and Paramatma. We
never shake
hands with paramatma. I mean, what if your palms are sweating?
So you namaste instead. the reason it feels
natural to namaste
before Paramatma is that it is, in its very essence,
a spiritual
gesture, not a worldly one. By a
handshake we acknowledge our
equality with others. We reveal
our humanity. We convey how
strong we are, how nervous, how aggressive or
passive. There is
bold physicality to it. For these and other reasons,
Popes never
shake hands. Kings never shake hands. Even mothers
don't shake
hands with their own children.
Namaste is cosmically different. Kings do namaste,
Sat Guru(s)
namaste and mothers namaste to their own family.
We all namaste
before the Almighty, a holy man or even a holy place. The
namaste
gesture bespeaks our inner valuing of the sacredness
of all. It
betokens our intuition that all
souls are divine, in their
essence. It reminds us in quite
a graphic manner, and with
insistent repetition, that we can see Paramatma everywhere
and in
every human being we meet. It is saying,
silently, "I see the
Deity in us both, and bow before Him or Her.
I acknowledge the
holiness of even this mundane meeting.
I cannot separate that
which is spiritual in us from that which is human and ordinary."
And while we are singing the praises of
Namaste, it should be
observed how efficient a gesture
it is in an age of mass
communication. A politician, or
performer can greet fifty
thousand people with a single Namaste, and they
can return the
honor instantly. In such a situation a handshake
is unthinkable
and a mere waving of one hand is somehow too frivolous.
There are other, more mystical meanings behind Namaste. The
nerve
current of the body converge in the feet, the
solar plexus and
the hands. Psychic energy leaves the body at these
junctures. To
"ground" that energy and balance the flow of
Pran(a) streaming
through the nerve system, Yogi(s) cross their legs
in the lotus
posture, and bring their hands together. The
Anjali Mudra acts
like a simple Yog(ic) Asan(a), balancing
and harmonizing our
energies, keeping us centered, inwardly
poised and mentally
protected. It closes our aura, shielding us psychically.
It keeps
us from becoming too externalized, thus we remain
close to our
intuitive nature, our super consciousness.
Here are some insights into Namaste from a number of Hindu(s):
o Namaste elevates one's consciousness, reminding
one that all
beings, all existence
is holy, is the Almighty. It
communicates, "I honor or worship
the Divinity within you."
Also it draws the individual
inward for a moment, inspires
reflection on the deeper realities,
softening the interface
between people. It would
be difficult or offend or feel
animosity toward any one you greet as Paramatma.
o Namaste is a gesture of
friendship and kindness, also of
thanks or special recognition.
Mystically it is called
"Namaskara Mudra" in the Agami(c) Pooja,
and it centers one's
energy within the spine.
o I've heard it means "I salute the Almighty
within you." The
true Namaste gesture is is accompanied
by bowing the head and
shoulders slightly. This is a gesture
that lessens our sense
of ego and self-centeredness, requiring some
humility to do it
well -- whereas shaking hands can be quite an
arrogant event.
o Touching the hands together
puts you in touch with your
center, your soul. namaste puts you forward
as a soul, not an
outer personality.
o The gesture has a subtle effect on the aura
and nerve system.
bringing focused attention and a collection
of one's forces,
so to speak. It also
protects against unnecessary psychic
connections which are fostered by shaking hands.
This might be
called a form of purity also -- protecting one's
energies.
This form of acknowledgment is so lovely, so
graceful. Just
look at two people in Namaste and you
will see so much human
beauty and refinement.
================================================================
Copyright 1993 by Himalayan Academy. ISSN: 0896-0801.
All Rights
Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced,
stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
================================================================
End of Forwarded Article.
Edited, formatted for electronic media by Jai Maharaj <jai@mantra.com>