What does "namaste" mean?
Namaste is a greeting traditionally used by Hinda to recognize the divine aspect of a welcome person. The greeting and its variant, Namascar , was accepted outside India and the Hindu world, thanks to the influence of Indian spiritual practices such as various forms of yoga. While Namaste can be used as a daily greeting in a similar way to a "good day" in English, the term has a specific spiritual meaning for Hindu and Sikh. Yoga teachers often evoke a greeting at the beginning and at the end of the classes to help students recognize their own divinity and connection with the teacher. It denotes respect for the other person when the extension is added to the other person. Therefore namaste literally means "Bow You". More more could be interpreted to mean "I will be in the light of light (or divine spirit)." When performing greeting, the eyes are closed and the hands are connected in a prayer gesture over the heart and at the same time bow.
It is used as an ordinary daily greeting to the Indian subcontinent, the word namaste is often omitted because the bow and connected hands mean greeting. When the greeting is used during the yoga classes in the West, the word is usually declared as a means of helping students to realize the nature of divine love and acknowledge that the same divine power is embodied in all perceived beings. In yoga, the heart chakra is perceived as the energy center of this universal love and by the fact that the teacher and the student evoke Namaste, recognize their divine connection with each other and with the universe in general. During the meditacestudent, he can also offer a greeting inward as a way to recognize his own divine nature.
One of the purposes of Indian spiritual practices, including different yoga schools, is to tame and reduce the requirements and weaknesses of the human ego. Using the greeting namaste helps to implant a feeling of humility and respect for others and for all creatures. By recognizing the divine aspect in us and in ourselves withE assumes that a human personality with all his fears and desires can be subordinated to our higher, noble aspects. On the intellectual level, Namaste tries to create a meeting mind to achieve a greater good.