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Namaste is thus the necessary rejection of "I" and the associated phenomena of egotism.
The whole action of namaste unfolds itself at three levels: mental, physical, and verbal.
A transaction can only be between equals, between individuals who share some details in common. Hence by performing namaste before an individual we recognize the divine spark in him. Further by facilitating our partaking of these divine qualities, namaste makes us aware of these very characteristics residing within our own selves. Simply put, namaste means the following:
The God in me greets the God in you
The Spirit in me meets the same Spirit in you
In other words, it recognizes the equality of all, and pays honor to the sacredness of all.
Translated into a bodily act, namaste is deeply rich in symbolism. Firstly the proper performance of namaste requires that we blend the five fingers of the left hand exactly with the fingers of the right hand. The significance behind this simple act in fact governs the entire gamut of our active life. The five fingers of the left hand represent the five senses of karma, and those of the right hand the five organs of knowledge.
By combining the five fingers of each hand, a total of ten is achieved. The number ten is a symbol of perfection, and the mystical number of completion and unity. It is true for many ancient traditions *.
Another significant identification of namaste is with the institution of marriage, which represents a new beginning, and the conjoining of the male and female elements in nature. Marriage is a semi-divine state of wholeness - a union between the opposite principles of male and female necessary to crate and protect new life. In the exhaustive marriage rituals of India, after the elaborate ceremonies have been completed, the new husband and wife team perform namaste to each other. Wedding customs, full of symbolic meanings, attempt to ensure that marriages are binding, hence fruitful and happy.
Namaste is one such binding symbolic ritual. The reconciliation, interaction and union of opposites is amply reflected in this gesture. It is hoped that the husband and wife team too would remain united, as are the hands joined in namaste. By physically bringing together the two hands, namaste is metaphorically reconciling the duality inherent in nature and of which the marriage of two humans is an earthly manifestation, a harmonious resolution of conflicting tensions. Thus namaste, which symbolizes the secret of this unity, holds the key to maintaining the equilibrium of life and entering the area where health, harmony, peace and happiness are available in plenty.
Finally, the gesture of namaste is unique also in the sense that its physical performance is accompanied by a verbal utterance of the word "namaste."
Notes:
1. Significantly, the word "nama" has parallels in other ancient languages also. It is cognate with the Greek nemo, nemos and nosmos; to the Latin nemus, the Old Saxon niman, and the German neman and nehman. All these expressions have the general sense of obeisance, homage and veneration.
2. Ten is the number of the Commandments revealed to Moses by God. In the Pythagorean system, ten was a symbol of the whole of creation. Ancient Chinese thought too thought of ten as the perfectly balanced number.
3. Namaste recognizes the duality that has ever existed in this world and suggests an effort on our part to bring these two forces together, ultimately leading to a higher unity and non-dual state of Oneness. Some of these dual elements which the gesture of namaste marries together and unifies as one are:
Man and Woman/ Theory and Practice/ Wisdom and Method/ Pleasure and Pain/ Mind and body/ Conscious and Unconscious/ Objectivity and Subjectivity/ Extraversion and Introversion/ Intellect and Instinct/ Reason and Emotion/ Thought and Feeling/ Inference and Intuition/ Argument and Experience/ Talent and Genius/ Silence and Cacophony/ Word and Meaning
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