Another 'illiterate yank' question ( that's gonna be my running joke)

SarahK · December 23, 2005

I see so many greetings, words I do not understand the meaning to, Namaste and so on and so forth. Could someone tell me the usual every day greetings you all use and what they mean and what is appropriate?

December 23, 2005

well namaste means "the divine in me praises the divine in you"

"Nama" bascially means praise. and i guess "aste" means the divine in you..

im not sanskrit scholar, but i atleast noe the def of the term, so thats good.

and um.. ppl will always leave lil signatures, cute ones, like, "Om Namah Shivaya" and "Shanti" and "Jai Ganesha" etc...

each is like a mantra/phrase that has a special meaning.

there are alot.. so i dont think im going to translate them all. well.. Shanti means peace. like in the mantra "Om Shanti Shannti, Shaannntiihi..."

and Om Namah Shivaya means Om Praise to Shiva, and in this case shiva could mean God w/ form, or God w/out form as Absolute Truth. and then "Jai Ganesha" means, victory to Lord in form of Ganesha.

theyer fun to read.. well.. if u know what they mean.

December 23, 2005

hahha... just wait Sarah.. until you get into the hardcore stuff of Hinduism.

one greeting or w/e could be "Aham Brahman" and thats like, the highest truth in life. it means that my true nature is Absolute Truth, the Purest Consciousness. brahman. dam. just wait till u figure all that out, it'll floor u! it def floored me!

just need to realize all that now... sigh...

Om Namah Shivaya

ajit12 · December 24, 2005

Day greetings are essentially social mores rather than religous rituals.Invoking the name of god while meeting someone or leaving someone were common in the middle ages.

1] Greek farewell----errosthai (or hugiainein) se eukhomai (or boulomai)

{E)RRW=SQAI/ [or U(GIAI/NEIN] SE EU)/XOMAI [or BOU/LOMAI]}

= I pray (or wish) you to be sound/healthy.

2] latin farewell---di te incolumem custodiant (sing.), di vos incolumes custodiant (plur.)

= May the Gods guard your safety.

3]Arabic farewell---Fihamanulillah

=I leave you in care of God.

In the same way hindu greetings are.However due to multiplicity of langauges & gods this varies tremendously in Hidu culture. One common form is 'RAAM RAAM' which invokes lord Raam's name.

Namaste basically means I bow down to you i.e. Nama or namoh is bowing and aste means I am which is a very gracious form of greeting.This again varies to Namaskar,Namaskaram depending upon the region of India.

The gesture of putting your palms together is again a very elegant substitute for physical bowing . Japanese do bow to each other.