Namaste is unfamiliar perhaps to many of you and certainly not a standard “holiday” greeting. Yet, when I read this paragraph recently:
In India when we meet and part we often say, “Namaste,” which means: I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides; I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace. I honor the place within you where, if you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us. ~ Ram Dass in Grist for the Mill
I was moved to share it. A similar expression of Namaste comes from singer/songwriter, Trish Bruxvoort-Colligan:
Namaste
Namaste, Namaste, I greet you with my heart wide open.
I bow to the place in you where God dwells.
In Light and Love we are one. We are one!
I wish I could share with you a recording of her angelic voice singing that sentiment!
Namaste is based on an understanding that God – or Universal Love – is within each and every one of us. At any point in time, we may not feel it within ourselves or see it in another’s actions. But, what if we did? What if we lived from and into Namaste each time we connected with a family member or stood in a check-out line or passed a neighbor on our daily walk?
How do we greet one another with “heart wide open”?
I believe that Namaste is asking us first to go deep inside and find within ourselves the root, the core, the indwelling love, the inner perfection, perhaps the personal “God within.” This means that we must see, accept and move beyond elements of our human expression which may not resemble love – qualities such as hate, anger, fear, doubt, confusion. Yes, they are in you – and in me – just as each of us is and expresses compassion, empathy, joy, connection, love.So, first we connect within and honor the place “where the entire universe resides — the place of love, of light, of truth, of peace.” We go there each dawn and again before each and every interaction of the day. We go within and become one with our innermost loving source. We open our heart.From there, from this loving, accepting, honoring energy, we greet others with “heart wide open”. Looking past the more negative elements of their human expression and looking for the indwelling “place of love, of light, of truth, of peace” we find it! It is there.
This is how we greet one another with the essence and intention of Namaste, with heart wide open.
Throughout the holiday season and beyond, I greet you with heart wide open. I wish for you an ever expanding understanding and experience of Namaste, of Love greeting Love.
Namaste, my friends.