A.M. Bhattacharyya, Hindu faith adviser of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council: “Namaste” is a respectful form of greeting in Hindu culture when two persons, male or female, meet and when they depart.

This form of greeting is customarily used when one meets a stranger or a guest. “Namaskar” and “namaskaram” are different versions also used for courteous greeting.

Persons greeting each other place their palms together, fingers pointing upward, and say namaste with a bow.

“Namaste” is a combination of words derived from Sanskrit that mean “I bow to you.” It is a noncontact form of greeting, as opposed to hugging or shaking hands. It is quite proper if a person from a different culture uses this form of salutation to another person, Hindu or non-Hindu.

Though considered a part of Hindu culture, namaste has a spiritual overtone.

According to Hindu belief, God is transcendent as well as immanent. Divine spirit is everywhere, even within our innermost self. Divinity is present in all of us.

When I greet you, I greet the divine spirit in you. I bow to you with folded hands, the same way I pray to God. You may be Hindu or non-Hindu; you are a “temple of God” to me.

To greet you respectfully by namaste posture is absolutely proper. Because of its spiritual connotation, and a sense of oneness in all, the namaste greeting is being revered and is getting wider attention and usage beyond its Hindu origin.

Arvind Khetia, Hindu and an engineer: “Namaste” is a Sanskrit word and the common expression of greeting in Hinduism. Namaste literally means, “I bow to you.”

This expression is accompanied by the gesture of joining two palms together, placing them at the heart level and bowing one’s head while saying namaste.

Although a simple expression of greeting, namaste carries a profound spiritual meaning that is derived from the Vedantic ideal of recognizing the divine in everything and in every being. This ideal of the divinity of soul, in a spiritual sense, unifies all of humanity.

Swami Vivekananda echoes this and defines God by stating, “The only God to worship is the human soul in human body. The moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God within him, that moment I am free from bondage (ego).”

The spiritual meaning of namaste conveys that “the divine in me respectfully recognizes the divine in you.” Namaste invokes the feeling of spiritual oneness of heart and mind, with the person one is greeting.

With the increasing popularity and acceptance of yoga and meditation as a way of life, namaste has become a popular mode of greeting among non-Hindus who practice these spiritual disciplines.

In namaste is an expression of reverence, respect, humility and unity: the essential qualities in every human interaction. When understood in a spiritual context, namaste can be a proper greeting for us all.

Let me take this opportunity to say namaste to all of the readers of this column.