Bowing: A Hindu View of Divinity All-Pervasive—Part 4

Bowing: A Hindu View of Divinity All-Pervasive—Part 4

Bowing and its Development

Bowing is a mark of humility. It is the most natural expression one of the most noble emotions of the human heart: the desire to acknowledge and express reverence and respect for things like learning, age, position accomplishments, nobility, divinity and the like in the other. Bowing is not only an expression of humility but also helps to develop humility. There are four stages in its development:

1. Pratyutthānam – rising to welcome a person
2. Namaskāraḥ – paying homage in the form of Namaste (folding hands). In this stage one is saying that at this moment I put my own being aside in reverence and homage to your presence. I am not important, you are!
3. Upasaṃgrahaṇaṃ – touching the feet. The relinquishing of the ego to make the mind receptive to higher reality.
4. Ṣāṣṭhāṅgaḥ – prostrating fully with the feet, knees, stomach, chest, forehead and arms. The total surrender of the being to the higher reality.
5. Pāī Lāgī – Cater for prostrations over the phone even!!!!!!!!

In their great vision and foresight, the Rishis always looked towards sustainable long-term development even at the cost of short term personal discomfort and inconvenience. In the Bhagavad Gita Bhagavaan Krishna speaks of “that which is like poison in the beginning but comparable to nectar in the end.”  Yat tad agre viṣam iva pariṇāme ’mṛtopamam – 18.37).

We have become a nation intoxicated by short-term political gains at the cost of the long-term development of the nation. The thirst for power is naturally associated with arrogance. “Caring for others” becomes a casualty in the pursuit of power. In fact, quite often, using others becomes the principal means of getting into positions of power. Divinity and worth are not seen in the other. When national leaders themselves subscribe to the binary hegemony they cannot but get involved in this type petty politics at the cost of the long-term welfare of the nation. We are staring at disaster in the making. In Gita Krishna says that the people do what the leaders do (3.21). Since it is the political leaders that get all the attention in Kali Yuga it is important that we groom future generations to ensure that we do not exchange social evolution and progress for petty political pursuits that is exclusive in its orientation.

As a nation of diverse peoples, we should be looking more towards first understanding each other and then taking the best practices from each other not look for every opportunity to condemn each other, but to enhance our social skills in relating to each other. When a national leader stands up and disparages the practices of any group without seeing the bigger picture we are exchanging social evolution for petty politics at the national level. These are sad days.

To be continued…

Source: Feature address delivered by Pujya Swami Prakashanandaji at Varsha Pratipada Sansad, 2012

Pujya Swami Prakashanandaji is a direct disciple of world renowned Swami Chinmayanandaji. He is the Head of Chinmaya Mission Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana with responsibility for the Chinmaya Mission’s works across the Caribbean and Latin America.