नमस्ते! (Namaste!) It’s a form of hand-gesture by pressing your two hands together commonly used to greet another person. NAMASTE!

It’s been widely publicised to use this as a common way of greeting during this COVID pandemic rather than the normal handshake we are used to.

Ever wondered what it means. Namaste is a word that is just more than a form of greeting. I got to know this when I was reading one of my favorite book of all time “Aspire” by Kevin Hall; you should try reading this book.

The word can be traced back to Hindu mythology. The story goes that the Gods were frustrated with the humans who were misusing their godly power so they decided to hide this power but had no idea where. They wanted to hide it in a place where humans wouldn’t be able to find/reach. Hence, they thought about hiding it in the highest mountain but then prophesized that humans would one day be able to climb the highest mountain. They came up with another alternative, to hide it in the deepest ocean, however, they predicted that humans would one day be able to dive into the deepest sea and find it.

Finally, after much contemplation they found the perfect place. They hid it inside humans because they knew that humans were selfish, greedy and self-centric so they would never be able to discover it.

Hence when you say Namaste, you are paying your respect to this godly power or whatever you name it. So saying Namaste means ” I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honor the place in you of light, love, truth, peace and wisdom”

A lot can be learnt from this short summary from the book. I love telling this story to other people because it carries a special meaning, a meaning to not only respect the special-ness of all the humans that walked into your life as well as walk on this earth but also to respect the uniqueness and god-given gifts we have inside us.