Over the past 19 years we have had many best selling stickers, but none have sold better or more consistently than Namaste.
When we first started making this sticker in 1997 we had no idea how it would be received or if anyone even knew what it meant. We would find out quickly that our growing base of stores and fans certainly did know what it meant and were ready to express the idea of seeing and respecting the divine in each other.
We find it fitting that this idea, an idea that is based in mutual appreciation, mindfulness, and respect is the one out there more than any other idea we promote as Root Concepts. It exemplifies what Infamous Network has been about ever since the beginning, it is an honor to continue to put this idea in the world and have the positive vibrations of Namaste continue to ripple with every sticker applied. Although Namaste is a very old idea, the more it is shared in the present day the more relevant it becomes in contributing to evolution of human consciousness right here and now.
I Bow To You
You’ve heard the term, you have probably seen the sticker, so what does it actually mean? Namaste’ (na-mas-tay) is a very old sanskrit word, originating in India with the Hindus. “Nama” means bow, “as” means I, and “te” means you. Therefore, namaste literally means “bow me you” or “I bow to you.” It is a great gesture of pure compassion, recognition and respect as we bow to the divine residing in each one of us. It is often used as a greeting or salutation and is spoken with reverence, hands pressed together and close to the chest in front of the heart and accompanied with a respectful bow.
Namaste is a tool remember that we find the place of peace, happiness, love, and light within ourselves, it reminds us that when you are in that place and I am in that place, we are one.
- “I honour the Light within you.”
- “The Light in me honours the Light in you.”
- “I honour the sacred place within you where – when you are in yours, and I am in mine – there is only One of us.”
The most common definition of namaste:
I see and celebrate the love that you are; the light in me recognizes the light in you; I honor the light and love within you; I greet that place where you and I are one; I see and honor in you the place where the universe resides; when you are at that place in you, and I am at that place in me, we are one.
Namaste also reminds us to keep our consciousness rooted in that sacred place of mindfulness, openness and oneness. No matter what brings us together with another human being, namaste is a reminder to recognize each of our relationships as opportunities to awaken.
In short: “In India,” Ram Dass writes, “when people meet and part they often say, ‘Namaste’, which means: I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides; I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace. I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us . . . ‘Namaste’.” [Source: Joan Chittister, The Rule of Benedict: Insights for the Ages (New York: Crossroad, 2009), 141.]