Nameste, the greeting



EVEREST BUILD, 2010



No longer "Hello". Instead use the familiar "Nameste" of southeast Asia.

When Nepali folks meet and part, palms pressed together and fingers pointed upwards, they often say, Namaste, which signifies the real meeting between us. It represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart.

It is both a greeting and an acknowledgment of the soul in one, by the soul in another. ‘May our spirits meet’.

As most commonly used, Namaste is roughly equivalent to "Hello", implicitly with the connotation "to be well". As opposed to shaking hands, kissing or embracing each other, Namaste is a non-contact form of respectful greeting and can be used universally while meeting a person of different gender, age or social status.

I honor the place within you where the entire Universe resides;

I honor the place within you of love, of light, of truth, of peace;

I honor the place within you, where, when you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us. -- Mahatma Gandhi