Her name was Ayong. She was to be our guide in Korea. Pretty, petite and smiling she stepped up to me and said, “Namaste!”
“Namaste!” I replied, surprised she’d learnt the Indian greeting.
It was while we were in the bus she turned to me, “Do you know what it means?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said, “Namaste is a polite Indian gesture of greeting or farewell. In Hindi, the word literally means “bowing to you. But it actually means “I honor the sacred that is within you!”
“Wow!” she said, “That’s some meaning!”
She was silent for awhile and I wondered what was going on in her pretty head as her face had a far off look, “Have you ever had anyone honouring the sacred in you?” she asked finally and before I could answer she said, “I have!”
“Tell me!” I said and lowered the seat to listen to her.
“It was the day I moved from Seoul to Bhusan,” she said, “I went to the local store to do some grocery shopping and picked up food items so I filled four grocery carts full. I asked if I could pay with an out of state check. “I just moved here,” I explained, “and don’t have local checks yet.”
They said, “No problem!” But when I began looking for my checkbook, I discovered I’d left it at home.”
All of the groceries had been checked and packed. “I’m so sorry,” I said, “I thought I had it with me. If I could just leave the groceries here for a few minutes, I’ll run home and get the checkbook.”
“Don’t worry about it,” the cashier told me. “Take the groceries
home. The next time you’re in the store you can pay for them!”
“I had just moved from a large city and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! This clerk had never seen me before. But she treated me as if I was a VIP. She was honouring the divine in me!” said Ayong and I saw a tear appear in her eye, “Namaste means just that!”
I thought of Ayong a few months ago when I got onto a local flight. The airhostess at the entrance had a fixed smile as she looked into space.
“Namaste!” she said.
‘Namaste!” I told her happily, “Where is seat Thirty two E?”
“Namaste!” she said to the passenger behind me and I ploughed down the aisle to find my seat myself.
Ayongs voice came back to me, “Don’t you love it when you are treated like you are somebody? That even strangers can be treated with honor and respect?”
“Yes Ayong,” I said silently and looked back at wooden faced airhostess at the entrance, “What a remarkable thing it would be to actually honor the sacred that is within each person we meet! Even strangers. Nobody would go unnoticed and everybody would count!”
And then a thought struck me; when I’d replied ‘Namaste’ to the airhostess had I honoured the sacred in her in my reply or only thought of seat Thirty two E?
Namaste..!
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Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
Wow, Bobby this article is so beautiful and so meaningful. Wish we all can greet each other from the heart with the Namaste. God bless you Bobby
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It may be of interest to your readers that the word Namaate is derived from the Sanskrit word ”Namas”
Which according to Sanskrit dictionary means: bow, obeisance, reverential salutation, adoration (by gesture or word;
The same word with identical meaning exists in
Persian too and often referred to the ritualistic prayers of Zoroastrians. Later, with the influence of Persian language, the Muslim prayer was also called Namaz and now very commonly used in the Indian sub continent even though, the original Arabic word for Namaz is “Salat”
The point I am trying to make is “It is small world”
Trust you Arshad to make the column even more interesting! Namaste!
Thank you for the input.It’s informative and interesting
If we can feel the presence of God in ourselves we can also feel the same presence in every other person and vice versa.
Most enjoyable! Were you only thinking of your seat yet expected a genuine greeting from her. Yes, we have to cast out the log from our own eye instead of the speck from others. Invigorating banter!