Namaste : Necessity for revival of its spirit and benefits

– Bhesh Jung Badal

Namaste as a symbol for greeting takes us higher than our ordinary mental level. We know many things which are conducive to both our material and spiritual progress. But when we try to translate our feelings or thought into action we make many mistakes. A famous English saying “There are many a slips between the cup and lips” succinctly explains it.

Namaste helps us to cultivate positive habits such as patience, tolerance humility etc to give up selfishness, lust, greed, dishonesty etc. The spirit of Namaste springs from our heart which is the source of noble deeds and is the proper ground of concentration. There are as many as 112 methods of meditation mentioned in our Tantric text Vigninabhairab. A person may choose any method suitable to his physical stamina and attitude. But any method however ideal can absorb our mind within the merit of the ideal we can take the example of lust and love.

In spiritual evolutionary process, we can get control over lust for sex. But we find expansion in love: If we love somebody, we can extend our love for someone near to us to everyone who come into contact with us. The spirit of Namaste generates this quality in all. The element of surrender of self to the unknown on God or Power in expressed through the regular practice of Namaste. Secondly it also broadens our minds and helps to get rid of negative forces.

Namaste helps us to fill in the gap between feeling and thinking and to integrate our personality to ensure a happy life free from tension and miseries.

Nepal is a land of multi-ethnic groups or communities. These ethnic communities follow their own age long customs or rituals and speak various languages. The majority of the people are Hindus followed by the people who adhere to Buddhism as Nepali is a official state language, it is a medium of communication or lingua franca between the various people who have their own mother language.

Similarly various ethnic groups have their own customary tradition of showing respect to their elders and guests on different occasions. Namaste is a traditional customary greeting which is common to every Nepali and it has been vogue in Nepal since time immemorial.

In many parts of India and Nepal children who go to English medium school are taught to do handshakes and greet their elders and guests in English. In this way we are diluting our culture. When many Western scholars are taking keen interest in our culture and various rituals and doing research in these fields, we feel proud of our children when they follow western customs and fashions. It is a dangerous sign against which we should be alert in time. Because according to a wise saying. “If our blood is poisoned, it can be cured, but if our culture is poisoned, we lose our identity of being the people of independent nation”.

Namaste is one of the most effective and powerful traditions in Nepalese culture. Many spiritual leaders and social workers of our country has inherited it in its true spirit. Therefore it is the duty of every conscious parents in Nepal to teach to do Namaste as our national greeting. It is worthwhile to inspire every child to develop his personality through proper understanding that the two aspects of life, matter and spirit is embodied into one through the gesture of Namaste. If children are taught to cultivate the habit of Namaste in early stage it produces better results in serving humanity.

We find that there is lack of sincerity and honesty in every field of life in nation. The government employees or civil servants are not satisfied with their jobs and do not do justice with their responsibilities and duties while the people who are unemployed do not find enough to eat and are deprival of basic needs of life. A rich man does not like to give away even a little portion of his earning to the needy persons. In villages people do not get clean water to drink while the rich people who live in tall buildings and have 411 luxuries of life at their disposal want continuous supply of water. Today there is no rhythm and reason in the lives of the vast majority of people. They toil from morning to evening but yet do not get basic needs of life while a small minority of people are pilling wealth after living their lives luxuriously and lavishly.

If we do not surrender our self egos at the feet of that unknown power or God who gives us water, air and sunlight for our survival, it proves only our arrogance and narrow mindedness.

Man is exploring other planets if he could built house there and make his habitat there. But in his quest for conquering over Nature he has forgotten to take care of this earth, as the result of rapid destruction of forest not only the ecological balance is disturbed but also people have to suffer from natural calamities such as flood, drought and global warming. Because of increase of amount of carbondioxide and carbonmonoxide in the atmosphere, the ozon layer is becoming thinner and thinner. There is now more carbonoxide in the atmosphere than the plants can absorb. So we must now learn to live in harmony with Nature.

Just as to reduce environmental pollution we need to harmonise our activities so that we do not interfere with the working system of nature.So we need to revive the spirit contained in Namaste which is a part of our cultural heritage. It is easy for us to revive the spirit of Namaste as a national form of greeting because it is flowing through the blood of every Nepali.

As the true spirit of Namaste springs from our inner consciousness there is no place for any kind of discrimination. If we propagate the underlying significance contained in the spirit of Namaste, it will help to develop the feeling of national integration among the various ethnic communities of Nepal.

Badal is a freelance journalist.

Photo : Prince Harry of United Kingdom  gives a namaste greeting as he is welcomed by villagers during his visit to Nepal / Buro 24/7 Getty