Meaning: Namaste = Namaha + te. Namaha means bowing, surrender, respect, gratitude, obeisance, salutations, adoration, greetings. “te” means to you, to the one who is right in front of the one offering the greetings.

Other names: It is also know as Namaskara, Pranama, Namaste

How: It is practiced by bringing the palms together with fingers kept close in a gesture called Namaskara Mudra, Anjali Mudra or Pranamasana.

Namaskar Mudra: The Mudra of Namastey is practiced by the joining of the masculine and feminine energies in a being as we bring the right and left sides together as left and right hands. Get the Namaskara Mudra pin (inspired by the book Mudra: The Sacred Secret) and place it on your favorite bag, t-shirt, yoga mat bag, purse etc. (pls avoid putting it on your leggings, trousers)

Various hand positions:

1. Close to the heart: When the Namaskara Mudra is kept close to the heart it symbolizes a greeting to/acknowledgment of the fellow seeker, family member, community member.
2. Close to the forehead: offering of the individuated mind, ego and limited knowledge of self to the Guru, master, teacher, guide, mentor.
3. Close to the nostrils: gratitude to the cosmic prana, invitation to/ of the cosmic prana into the pinda (individual body)
4. Stretched over the head: salutations to the cosmic natural forces like the sun, moon, fire, space
5. Resting overing the head: salutation to the realized beings

Intention and purpose:

• acknowledging the presence of the other person
• acknowledging the presence of divine within self and in the other
• unity in uni-verse
• Oneness and sameness in creation of the creator
• thankfulness to the giver of blessings, teachings and wishes
• offering of the individuated mind to the collective mind
• invitation to the Gods and Goddess in a vedic ritual
• offerings from the heart

Read more about Mudras in my book, Mudra The Sacred Secret

When: As per the Tantraloka by Abhinava Gupta, the practice of Namaskara Mudra is expressed at three times during a ritual:

Avahane: At the time of invocation

Pujanante: At the commencement of a ritual

Visarjane: At the time of immersion of the energy invoked

I offer Namaskara to the readers who constantly inspire me to share.

I offer Namaskars to my Gurus who have shared very lovingly and selflessly the knowledge of the realized beings and the cosmos.

I offer my Namaskara to my parents who gave me this body so that the karmas I have accumulated in the past could be burnt/ dissolved by my tapas.

I offer my namaskars to the various well wishers who support and clear the path so that I may walk my path of dharma with grace, courage and dedication.

Short Practice for You: Post your Yoga Practice, join the palms in Namaskar Mudra and bow down towards earth as witness with the intention of detachment from the experiences of practice, letting go of the sense of accomplishment and failures with the mental repetition of the mantra "Idam Na Mama" which means "Not Mine". Offer this fullness of experiences to the lineage of the realized beings, Yogis and Yoginis, Rishis and Gurus. Rise up with Namaskar Mudra with the fullness and emptiness.

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