Pranams

By Staff

Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 13:46

It is a habit and is considered meritorious in Hindu culture to do pranam to elders, Saints and Sages - sometimes to touch the feet of elders and saints and sages and for barely acquainted persons with folded hands.

Any person who can interest another with the thought of God is a Saint and the person who can see Mantras is a sage. Of course we know who the elders are.

"Namaste" with folded hands, the Indian way of greeting is one of the most effective and useful traditions in Indian culture. This form of greeting transcends all man made barriers of colour, creed,
caste, religion and nationality in sincere friendship. Namaste is an expression of humility and it means "I recognize the God in you".

It is a common feature found among Indians. Country to country, the way of greeting each other differ, but the real sense of greeting stays the same with all. The reasons are many. The way of doing with folded hands is a clean act of ensuring self protection and avoiding contagious diseases, loss of energy and personal magnetism due to frequent shaking of hands. It will also avoid contact with minds and hands that might have been soiled with impure thoughts and acts.

There is another important meaning of two folded hands. It signifies the oneness of Atma in both of us and the expression calls for one word, 'Namaste'. Sometimes, we may lose our poise and harmony of our mind by shaking hands with persons whose minds are weak, pessimistic or evil. A smile and 'Namaste' mean more than words and they can conquer the world.

One must be careful to do pranam to others, when one sadhaka does pranam to another. It is better to know the place where each stands or we may be put to great difficulty and trouble by doing pranam to another. An illustration is given below to show this.

A sadhu visited a village. He was a real Sadhaka and made his home for sometime outside the village under the banyan tree. The villagers came daily to pay their respects to him along with their pranams and contributions. Out of them there was a person, who used to come to the sadhu daily and contributed whatever he could, stood respectfully for some time, heard the words of the sadhu with attention, but he never did pranams to the sadhu. This hurt the pride of the sadhu and he expressed his dissatisfaction to others. In course of time this reached the person concerned. That person was also a Sadhaka - advanced in his way. Next day while coming to the sadhu he brought a coconut and kept it beside the sadhu and addressed the gathering. “The reason for not making pranam before the sadhu was because it will be dangerous to the sadhu and not because of disrespect. Please observe", so saying the person prostrated to the coconut. The coconut immediately broke into thousand tiny pieces, showing the advancement of the Sadhana in him. The sadhu was amazed to see this and left the village early, the next morning.

This shows that one should not expect and accept pranams in front of all persons - it is not right and could be dangerous.

About the author

Padma Bai.R.S

This article is written by Padma Bai.R.S for Vedanta Vani, Chinmaya Mission.