Namaste: The Paradox

When I enter the temple I bow my head and press my hands together as if in prayer, "Namaste." I hear in return, "Namaste." We are bowing to each other, we are bowing to the divine in each other and in an instant we are no longer strangers.

In India and Nepal this is a standard greeting for everyone. Namaste means:

"I honor the place in you where Spirit lives.
I honor the place in you which is
of Love, of Truth, of Light, of Peace.
When you are in that place in you,
and I am in that place in me,
then we are One."

Can you imagine saying this to everyone you come in contact with? Could you imagine an entire nation holding on to this idea and bringing it up at the beginning and ending of every interaction? Each person knows they hold inside them love and peace all while knowing the same exists inside everyone else. It is truly beautiful. 

So with all that beauty in a simple greeting why is India and Nepal so dirty and smelly? Why is there so much honking and pollution? Why is there so much corruption? How can they greet you with "Namaste" and demand $10,000 rupees to move your travel documents to the top of the pile when you were the first in line, already?? 

Easy. It's all true. One does not negate the other.

I can see how a foreigner could view the attitude of Indians as very self serving, self centered and righteous. Take for example the honking. There is incessant honking, it's an art form. Although I have been here for three weeks I can not for the life of me figure out any rhyme or reason to it. To the untrained ear this honking sounds like a declaration of space. An aggressive, determined, angry declaration to the other drivers letting them know who is boss.

However a very wise  a woman said to me on my first day in India, "When you travel in India you must remember what you have in your pockets. In one pocket, it must be full of patience. There are too many people to have anything other then patience. The other pocket is your expectations, empty them. Carry none with you. You will only be disappointed if you keep your expectations. Besides you need more room for patience. If you open your heart you will see wonder everywhere you go!" 

She was right. I opened my heart to this beautiful country and the people in it and everywhere I looked people are living in alignment with "Namaste". 

On the streets people are honking still and when I listen with my heart I understand that they are communicating with each other. Each honk says, "I'm here, brother. I see you." They aren't declaring their space, they were sharing it. The traffic is busy and packed and yet each vehicle, although moving in a different direction, moves like water. They all flow together. Traffic lights and lines on the ground are just for decoration, these people don't need them. They are paradoxical masters as far as I am concerned, they make a stand for getting what they need and at the same time allow for others to do the same. 

I noticed this on our second day in New Delhi when Lindon and I took a rickshaw ride. A rickshaw is a tricycle with a bench built into the back. Its about 3.5 feet wide and we were going down streets that were 6.5 feet wide with rickshaws going the opposite direction. Now if at any time the rickshaw driver got aggressive and claimed the space as his own we all would have been stuck and traffic would stop in both directions.However no one thinks like that, they all move together.

At the end of the ride we thanked our driver and tipped him. Our driver then gave everything over to another rickshaw driver, all of them did. Lindon and I sat and watched this, as each rickshaw driver came in, they were tipped and they turned over all their tips to one man. 

What we figured out is that these drivers, after building a case for having worked so hard, pushing their legs to the brink and finally asking for "good tip" take all their money and pool it together. They each get more when they work together. It's really brilliant.

Lindon and I toured Muslim Mosques, Hindu Temples and Buddhist Stupas and what struck us most was what the guides called "Indo-Islamic Architecture"; a blend of Hindu and Islamic styles. For example a Mosque will have Hindu elements in it like "Namaste" arches and a temple will have a rounded dome which is an Islamic style. 

The greatest example of this is the Taj Mahal. This is a tomb built out of love by a Muslim emperor for his Hindu wife. 

This country has a very rich history of coming together and honoring the beliefs and ideals of others. What I have come to understand is that honoring someone else's beliefs is not at the expense of dishonoring my own. "Namaste" doesn't mean I put my beliefs aside for yours.  

I am so grateful for this trip and everything that I learned. I am so happy to be going home and seeing all my friends and family. I am desperately home sick and so sad to be leaving here and the incredible adventure I have shared with my husband. This journey has been hard, exciting, sad, thrilling, fulfilling, annoying, joyful, irritating, enlightening, frustrating and totally and completely beautiful. 

Today I am leaving with an understanding I didn't have when I came: it's all true. Everything is possible. The idea that it isn't only shows the limit to my thinking. I can be sad and happy at the same time. I can be selfish and considerate at the same time. I can be in love with this country and desperately home sick at the same time. I can be all that is me and be one with you at the same time. They do not negate each other, one does not cancel out the other. When I empty my expectations and see with my heart I see that all is possible right now. 

This moment. Right now. It is all possible. All Ways. Always.