Yoga Teacher Training Forum

Namaskar Plato,

This is a very good question. There is not much difference between Namaskar and Namaste. But there are some slight differences. Both words are greetings of deep respect.

Namaskar is the most popular greeting in India. It is a general salutation and is used as a welcome and sometimes as a farewell, which means "Humble Salutations" in Sanskrit. Some people would translate namaskar as: "The Divine in me salutes the Divine in you"

Namaste is also spoken as a greeting or in parting. And Namaste is commonly used as an ending to yoga class. Namaste = "I bow to you," or "I bow to the divine in you"; from the root words: Namas - bow, reverential salutation (from "Nam" - humbly submitting) Te - to you, acknowledging the divine presence in another.

Sometimes we forget that God is all around us, but can be within us as well. Many Christians are familiar with the concept of God being everywhere. This seems to be a universal concept for most of the world's religions. People have more in common than they care to admit.

Om Shanti,

Patel