Namaste: The Safest and Respectful Greeting
COVID-19 has undoubtedly put forth a remarkably bad effect on almost every aspect of our lives. It has not only distanced us from our loved ones, made us hygienically aware but has also pushed us to adapt to certain lifestyle changes. Wearing a mask is definitely one of them but along with that, it has also influenced many countries wherein shaking hands, kissing and hugging was a symbolic gesture of greeting, to think of a safe, warm, friendly, respectful and social distanced replacement. And we have one!
There are no second thoughts about the fact that Coronavirus spreads with touch and close proximity with people, and hence social distancing is one of the ways to keep it at bay. But now the most important question that has been facing us is, how are we going to achieve it in our day to day lives? Let us begin with greetings. Handshakes to high-fives, have become alien and they are being viewed as high-risk gestures. They must be forgotten for some time and the world must adopt some already existent mannerisms. It is time for no-touch greetings to be used all around the world. We can continue to greet each other and yet maintain social distancing.
Revival of Namaste!!
In
the wake of this pandemic, bowing gesture of Namaste has been declared as the safest method of greeting and has gained a momentum among many high dignitaries
across the world. Several world leaders and others have been folding their hands to say “Hello”, “Hi” and “How do you do”, the Indian way with Namaste.
Namaste
is our traditional greeting gesture which prevents physical contact between
two people and stops proliferation of the corona virus which has affected lakhs of
people all across the world. Namaste has a spiritual meaning too. It is believed
that “divine and the soul is the same in everybody”. It is formed by joining
two words, namas and te. Namas means ‘bow’ and Te means ‘to you’. It also means I bow to the soul inside you.
Since Namaste is a non-contact
form of greeting, Presidents and Prime Ministers of other countries have also been encouraging their countrymen to adopt the Indian way of salutation in place of
formal gesture of greeting. This is the need of the hour too.
Let the world follow what the Indians have been practicing for ages. Also, let us teach our younger generation and teach them some lessons of our old practices.
Namaste!
Comments
Post a Comment