General - Namaskar or prstration and the codes

What is Prostration or namaskar?

Prostration or namaskar means submission, compliance or surrender to another person/s, doctrine or power (Sakti). It can be mental (emotional) submission or surrender or a body posture. In religious practice it is a combination of both the mental and body submission. Most of the religions suggest the practice of prostration or namaskar with certain modifications suiting to the environments. Hindu philosophy has a much elaborated codes to observe while doing the namaskar or prostrations. The act is the submission or surrender of the self to another, mainly to the noble, divine or elderly persons, or to the god or to the Supreme Being. It involves not only the surrender emotionally but also bodily. It is also done to respect the civil authorities like the kings or princes in the olden days and now the Government officials. It is a part of our religious, traditional and civil rituals.

How are namaskar to be performed?

First the persons have to join the palms and keep it in front of the chest and bow the head to the front. The eyes are to be closed. The closing of the eye is done to visualize the god within ourselves.

Why foot wears should not be worn?

For Hindus wearing of foot wears is prohibited. The reason given in the holy scriptures of Hindu philosophy is that wearing foot wear will increase the rajo and thamo gunaas (the worldly or animal instinct) in us which is contrary to the principle of submission. The prostration or namaskar is intended to increase the kundalini energy (a core of the spiritual energy system in the body). As the foot wears increases the rajo and thamo gunaas namaskar (paying obeisance or respect) will not activate the kundalini. However in cold countries like the Europe, Russia etc it will not be wise and practical to avoid wearing footwear (shoes) to prevent catching cold and cold related illnesses. So they have to wear footwear. If the rajo or thamo gunaas are increased correspondingly the satva guna will reduce. So one of the benefits of doing namaskar is nullified or marginalized as the satva guna is not derived from the act of prostration (namaskar). If the namaskar with the footwear on is done to a deity, the deity may get annoyed. Besides wearing foot wear may not bring in the mental part of submission as the ego do not get reduced.

Do not hold anything while doing namaskar

When we hold something in the hand the fingers will be bent or curled. But while doing namaskar fingers should be straight to get the benefit of prostration. The bent of curled position is believed to prevent the satva energy from entering into us through the tips of the fingers. The satva energy coming towards the persons prostrating will be deflected by the object held in the hands. One more reason is that the object held in the hands may be with rajo or tamo energies and if the person touches the chest or forehead as required in the act of namaskar, the rajo or thamo energies enter into us which is contrary to the desired effect of getting the satva energy through the prostration.

Should the head be covered during namaskar?

According to the ‘Aapasthamba Dharma sutra’ persons doing namaskar is not to wear footwear, hold things in the hands or cover their heads. We have already seen the effects of wearing foot wears and holding things. Let us see the effect of the covering of head. When one do namaskar his/her kundalini gets activated when the folded hands touch the portion where the kundalini is situated. This will facilitate the satva energy is to be absorbed in the body. Many a times when kundalini is activated satva energy enters through the head also. But at the same time there is also a possibility of the negative energies getting mixed with the satva energies. Men are more susceptible to get the negative energies mixed with the satva energies. But the women get distressed by some of the negative energies more. Therefore the rule is that the men should not cover the heads and the women should cover their heads with the end of the saris they are wearing to prevent the negative energies entering through the heads. The saris act as an obstacle for the negative energies from entering the body. Just as the cloth is obstacle to the negative energies, it is also a barrier to the positive energies (satva gunaas) and hence the benefit of the positive energies is also reduced. However the satva gunaas are more subtle than the negative ones and hence to some extent they enter the bodies due o their suitableness. The difference between men and women in this respect is due to the energies beneficial to them due to their respective nature and constitution and functions. This is to indicate to us that the god takes care of all of us in spite of the differences. If the devotee or the person prostrating with full involvement of the spiritual emotion or deep devotion the restrictions need not be followed as the mental attitude will take care of the rajo/tamo or the satva gunaas.