Namaste!
Preface: I saw someone sign an e-mail with this, and decided to Google it. I came up with the following, and have determined that this is a way of thinking that is very compatible with my own. Read on...
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").
For Hindu(s), 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 [lower-case 's'] meeting the Self [upper-case 'S']. 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.
Read more...
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").
For Hindu(s), 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 [lower-case 's'] meeting the Self [upper-case 'S']. 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.
Read more...