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User:	namaste21 (8983)
Name:	Namaste
Location:	Smithfield, North Carolina, United States
Birthdate:	1979-09-05
Bio:	And to all who visit here, I say to you, "Namaste". This journal is, for me, a place to examine my personal and spiritual growth, as well as examine my daily life. I talk about a variety of subjects, including my children, my relationships, my meditations, my struggles to finish my environmental engineering degree. I rant about my long commutes to school, my husband's paintball habits, and how hard it is for me to convert to a vegan/Ayurvedic diet. I am trying to become a more spiritual person, someone who lives a life that reflects knowledge of the Divine and the joy of simply being. If these values and ideas seem important to you, and if you would like to get to know me, please send me an email. Namaste: The Significance The gesture (or mudra) of namaste is a simple act made by bringing together both palms of the hands before the heart, and lightly bowing the head. In the simplest of terms it is accepted as a humble greeting straight from the heart and reciprocated accordingly. Namaste is a composite of the two Sanskrit words, nama, and te. Te means you, and nama has the following connotations: 1). To bend 2). To bow 3). To sink 4). To incline 5). To stoop All these suggestions point to a sense of submitting oneself to another, with complete humility. Also important here is to note that the root 'nama' is a neuter one, the significance of which will be elaborated upon later. The word nama is split into two, na and ma. Na signifies negation and ma represents mine. The meaning would then be 'not mine'. The import being that the individual soul belongs entirely to the Supreme soul, which is identified as residing in the individual towards whom the namaste is directed. Indeed there is nothing that the soul can claim as its own. Namaste is thus the necessary rejection of 'I' and the associated phenomena of egotism. It is said that 'ma' in nama means death (spiritual), and when this is negated (na-ma), it signifies immortality. The whole action of namaste unfolds itself at three levels: mental, physical, and verbal. It starts with a mental submission. This submission is in the spirit of total surrender of the self. This is parallel to the devotion one expresses before a chosen deity, also known as bhakti. The devotee who thus venerates with complete self-surrender is believed to partake the merits or qualities of the person or deity before whom he performs this submission. There is a prescription in the ancient texts known as Agamas that the worshipper of a deity must first become divine himself, for otherwise worship as a transaction would become invalid. A transaction can only be between equals, between individuals who share some details in common. Hence by performing namaste before an individual we recognize the divine spark in him. Further by facilitating our partaking of these divine qualities, namaste makes us aware of these very characteristics residing within our own selves. Simply put, namaste intimates the following: 'The God in me greets the God in you The Spirit in me meets the same Spirit in you' In other words, it recognizes the equality of all, and pays honor to the sacredness of all.
Memories:	33 entries
Interests:	54: ancient religion, art, astrology, autumn, backrubs, buddhism, candles, celebration, children, college, computers, crystals, dancing, drawing, earth power, environment, fantasy, feminism, folk magick, green cars, herb gardens, herbal healing, hippies, journaling, medieval fashions, meditation, music, mythology, myths & legends, native american spirituality, natural magick, nature, neo-paganism, paganism, painting, pantheism, purification, quilting, radicals, reading, sam, science, sewing, sex, soul-searching, spiritual naturalist, spirtuality, squirrel kisses, stones, taoism, vegetarianism, web design, writing, yoga
Friends:	25: aditu, ahsu, artemii, cheryln, chrysslyn, danskpige, dragoneerl, dragonfly, erinbish, evanfoo, fairy, firegrrl, firinel, gaijina, gezellig_girl, gmalivuk, kitiara, littledevi, marnanel, namaste21, renshi, ryl, stonebear, veshadana, wander
Account type:	Paid Account, previously an Early Adopter