{"id":7447,"date":"2015-05-15T06:34:56","date_gmt":"2015-05-15T10:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/?p=7447"},"modified":"2015-06-07T14:23:46","modified_gmt":"2015-06-07T18:23:46","slug":"what-does-namaste-really-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whitehindu\/2015\/05\/what-does-namaste-really-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Namaste Really Mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It gives me a bit of a twitch when I see people giving super poetic translations of the greeting \u201cNamaste.\u201d Sometimes people say to me, \u201cWow, isn\u2019t it amazing how much meaning can be packed into one word like that?\u201d and I say, \u201cNo. That meaning might be implied but it\u2019s not what the word literally means.\u201d<\/p>\n

A translation of \u201cMy divine soul recognizes the divine soul in you\u201d is lovely and very much in keeping with Hindu belief. But the word by itself translates directly as \u201cI bow to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Namah is the verb \u201cto bow\u201d in Sanskrit. Sanskrit uses a complex system of endings to show the relationships between words (unlike English, which uses word order).<\/p>\n

When I was growing up we had a short prayer that we said before and after every activity: Om Param Atmane Namah<\/strong><\/p>\n

Param is supreme. Atman is Self, the -ne ending means \u201cto ____\u201d. Namah is bow. I bow to the supreme Self. (Because there seems to be some confusion in the comments, Self here means the Supreme Lord of Creation, the True Self of All)<\/p>\n

-te is an ending that means \u201cto you.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Namaste means \u201cI bow to you.\u201d It\u2019s that simple. It\u2019s usually accompanied by an actual physical bow.<\/p>\n

Namaskar is another version, which is a bit more formal, I believe.<\/p>\n

Now, as I said above Namah<\/em> is a verb used when speaking to God as well as when speaking to human beings. So in that way it does imply that the respect you show others is the same as the respect you show God. (But then again in English we only have one word for \u201cbow\u201d also).<\/p>\n

But for many, Namaste is nothing more than \u201chello.\u201d I feel like assigning these dramatic definitions to Namaste is a way of exotifying another culture.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So it can seem pretty odd when I see someone with a tattoo that says Namaste. I hope it reminds them to see God in everyone even though that\u2019s not a literal translation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It gives me a bit of a twitch when I see people giving super poetic translations of the greeting \u201cNamaste.\u201d Sometimes people say to me, \u201cWow, isn\u2019t it amazing how much meaning can be packed into one word like that?\u201d and I say, \u201cNo. That meaning might be implied but it\u2019s not what the word […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1305,"featured_media":7450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[121,134,6,53,2276,924,925,2275,5],"class_list":["post-7447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wild-card","tag-ambaa","tag-american-hindu","tag-hindu","tag-hinduism","tag-meaning-of-namaste","tag-namaste","tag-what-does-namaste-mean","tag-what-is-namaste","tag-white-hindu"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Does Namaste Really Mean?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It gives me a bit of a twitch when I see people giving super poetic translations of the greeting "Namaste." 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