Namasté

At the present time I am evaluating high school students on their English language proficiency. Part of the exam consists of one-on-one conversations. I have been testing teens from Mexico, Central America, Korea, China, Laos, Cambodia, and India.

One young man, newly-arrived from Cambodia, was able to speak some English with me, so before we started the test I told him that even though I have visited Cambodia I don’t know how to say anything in his native language. I asked, “How do you say hello in Cambodia?” Instead of uttering anything, he put the palms of his hands together and brought them up to his face. I wasn't expecting such a response. This lovely gesture is an everyday salutation in Buddhist countries. And it's one I have received and given, not only in Asia, but here at home as well.

The gesture signifies Namasté. It is a Sanskrit word that can have the following deeper meaning:

I honor the place in you
Where the entire universe dwells.
I honor the place in you
Of love, of light, of truth, and of peace.
When you are in that place in you
And I am in that place in me,
We are one!