It may be appropriate to pause a little and reflect upon the meaning of the word NAMAH which accompanies every name in the series.

Namah:

Bowing: bending; stooping; adoring; reverential salutation; respectful obeisance. This word is used after every one of the Names, for each Name is a call for adoration, an invitation to surrender to the Majesty that is signified by it, an acceptance of one's role as the fortunate servant of the All-Powerful Master.

The act of bowing before God or before an image or idol or picture or object or other symbol of the Immanent-Transcendent Divine Principle, is called Namaskar or Namasthe. It is called prostration also, for, man has to give up his individuality and deny himself, before he can win the joy of Grace. The I must be cut, right across, and the individual must be crucified in that. 'Namah' means, 'na mama' - says Baba; this is to say 'Not mine! I am not mine, but Thine!'

Namaskar is defined as Sa-ashta-anga Namaskara; the prostration, done with eight limbs; one has to touch the earth or ground, with eight 'members' to indicate total surrender:

Jaanubhyaam cha thadaa Paadaabhyam
Paanibhyaam urasaa dhiyaam
Sirasaa vahasaa dryshtyaa

Pranaamo ashtaanga eerithah

The eight members, which must bend low are: the knee, the feet, the palms, the chest, the intelligence, the forehead, the word (one must repeat the word, Namah, 'Not I but Thou'), the sight (one must have his eyes directed upon the Master). This is to say, it is not a physical act involving some contortions or genuflections; it is an intellectual discipline, done with eyes open: The word, 'dhi', that is used is for the intelligence, indicates that the surrender is to be performed, after due discrimination, and not in a fit of renunciation or despair.

It is also called Danda-pranaama, or Danda-vath-pranaama, or simply, Dandavat - that is to say, 'stick-prostration', falling like a stick before the Master, signifying, absolute surrender and denial of one's particularity.

When the Names are repeated, one need not go through the discipline of standing, and prostrating, every time. This may be done, at the end of the whole series of 108. But, one should be fixed in the attitude of surrender, mentally and intellectually. One should be like the piece of iron, at the moment when it is being drawn by the magnet or the river, when it is just merging in the sea - that is to say, joyous at the prospect of the fulfilment of the deepest desire. This is why, in the Ashtanga, dhi, is included. Perhaps, that is the most important of the posture of surrender.

Baba has also explained the significance of the 'folded palms', kept upright on the chest', which is the prescribed attitude of Namaskar. (Incidentally, this avoids the contact with the other's body, and the embarrassing problem, how long and how vigorously to hold and shake the palm of another, which the ritual of shaking hands involves). When folded, the fingers come together, and so, they represent the five karmendriyas (the organs of action, the tongue, the hand, the feet, the phallus and the rectum) and the five organs of knowledge, the jnanendriyas (the ear, the skin, the eye, the tongue and the nose). All action and all the means of knowledge and awareness are thus offered at the Feet of the Master, before whom one bows, with folded palms. That is the meaning of this gesture, says Baba.

As early as 1961, Baba said, in a Discourse at Prasanthi Nilayam, "Do not try to fall at My Feet, when I am going somewhere or when I do not grant you the chance. Be satisfied with one Namaskaram, allowed and accepted. The one Namaskaram (Namah) you do, do with devotion. That is enough. But you do not have devotion even for that. You do it so automatically, so callously, so indifferently! When you bring both your hands together and fold the palms and keep the fingers together, feel that you are offering at the Feet, all the actions of the Five Karmendriyas and the Five Jnanendriyas, as indicated by the ten fingers.

"Again, the purpose of Namaskarams is to touch the feet and have Sparsan of the Lord. The Negative Pole (Mayasakthi) and the Positive Pole (Mahasakthi) have to meet, in order to produce a spiritual current that will flow through you."

Baba has given another illuminating interpretation of the 'hand- gesture', the folded palms placed on the chest, when one says, 'Namah!' This , He did, in 1964 at Prasanthi Nilayam.

"Take the simple rite of Namaskaram (Namah-karam is Namaskaram, the act of offering Namah), the folded palms with which you greet reverentially, elders and others. What does it signify, that gesture?

The right palm is Thath (The Unseen Basic Universal Absolute, the Param-atma), the left palm is Thwam (The seen, the particular, the limited, the wave, the image, the Atma in the Jiva, the Jivatman). When the two palms are brought together, and kept in contact, the oneness of that and this, of Thath and Thwam (of all that is outside you and all that is inside you) is emphasised and demonstrated! The Namah-kara (Namaskara) is, indeed, the mudra (gesture-symbol) of Aham Brahmasmi (I am Brahman, the Jivatma is Paramatma).

What greater, grander, and more meaningful greeting can human aspiration prescribe and practise, when two men meet? The underlying truth of the Namah, is 'you greet the other with as much joy, as when you greet yourself.' That is to say, the maximum Joy you are capable of, for no man loves another more than himself; all are loved, for the sake of the Self, as Yajnavalkya asserted and proved in the court of Emperor Janaka.

There is a sloka or verse which millions of people recite in India before the Namaskara to the Lord, which indicates the totality of the surrender as well as the identity of the devotee with the object of devotion; The sloka runs thus:

Twam eva maathaa, cha, pithaa thwam eva!
Twam eva bandhuscha sakhaa thwam eva!
Twam eva vidyaa, dravinam thwam eva!
Thwam eva sarvam mama deva deva!

"You are my mother, you are my father, you are my kinsman, you are my friend, you are my trained intelligence, you are my wealth, strength, valour and power, you are my All, O God of Gods."

When the word Namah is uttered, this sloka and its deepest undertones must reverberate in the mind. Then only can the Name sink in the subtle layers of the subconscious and purify the silent cavity of the heart.'