One of the meanings is “I salute the Divine in you”. Man's body is a temple, the soul within is part and parcel of the Supreme Spirit. By greeting each other, one is greeting the Divine. Of course, this wisdom is unknown to most modern people because they do not realize that man is divine. Thus, the greeting is a mere formality. This kind of greeting also reminds one of the fact that it is only the Lord who is the real ‘I’ or SELF, the ego being only illusive or a reflection. The word namasté is also made up of three parts: na, aham and asti. Here, it means, ‘It is not me but God who is the Absolute Reality.’ Every time one greets somebody, one is reminded, “Not I, but Thou." In this way, he knocks at the ego to be kept awake to the absolute truth that only God IS.
By joining the palms together, the mystic reminds of the unity or oneness of existence. Darkness and light, good and bad, right and left and all other dualities are only manifestations of the One. Alone, man is incomplete, he has to unite the dual energies in himself so as to realize yoga or oneness with existence. From one angle therefore, namasté is the symbol of yoga. The right and left hemispheres of the brain, representing the male and female aspects of the individual, have to work in harmony to avoid inner conflict and confusion. Such an attainment is nearly absent today in our world.
The secret of life is oneness or unity. Whatever be the walk or field of life, unity brings only goodness. Namasté is always here to remind us of this. It is a body language. Though used by many people, hardly anyone can understand it and live up to its ideal. Try a small experiment: bring both palms of the hands as close as possible without their touching each other, move them apart slowly then bring them close again. Repeat the process a few times: do you feel something? During meditation, both hands are brought together to produce a magnetic current that helps in attaining concentration.
