Namaste

Our multi-skilled, multi-lingual and multi-tasking cab driver put on the brakes all of a sudden. He had just finished maneuvering a hair-pin bend while still on phone with a mate. He back tracked about 20 metres while looking up out of the window. Then stopping under a sprawling tree, he pointed at a black monkey in a meditative pose on one of the branches.

"Black Monkey" he said to us and then continued his phone conversation. After our initial excitement at spotting a rare animal subsided, the car moved on and the driver concluded his phone conversation.

"You have seen that monkey, no?" he started. "There is a belief around here that drinking a very small potion of that monkey's blood can cure all the health problems of human beings. Especially Asthma" the possession of such secret knowledge made him sound slightly pompous.

We all looked at him in disbelief.

"Yes sir. But it is very difficult to kill that monkey, you know why?"

"May be it is too quick and elusive" I said.

"That is there. But just about when one is ready to kill, it joins its hands in a 'Namasthe' posture, just like we do. Anyone with a heart will find it very difficult to kill such an animal. On the other hand the medicinal benefits of its blood are too many. Very tough sir"

"I don't believe it" I said.

"I have seen it with my own two eyes sir. When I was young, my uncle once took me into the jungle to kill a black monkey to get its blood for an ailing relative. But when he saw the monkey begging for its life with folded hands, he just could not kill it. So we had to let it go"

The car moved on and so did the conversation. But the drivers story set me thinking. Why'd a monkey stop resisting and start begging for its life? What does it know about forgiveness? Is it not a human trait to seek forgiveness while animals are just known to fight for their life till the very last? It was just fascinating information.

And then another possibility occured to me. From what I learnt, "Namasthe" is a 'sandhi' word in Sanskrit. Made of three smaller words - Na meaning No, Mah meaning me, Asthi meaning exists - the word literally translates to "No me exists". When we make a 'namaste' posture, it basically is like saying - "There is no me that you are looking at. It is just God looking through this body. Forget the physical body and look at the God in me". It is a very spiritual way of communicating according to some interpretations. Very few people are aware of such an interpretation even as they routinely use that gesture to mean a very dry 'hello'. Such a great meaning hidden in such a simple daily routine! And for a wild beast to make that gesture, fascinating.

The thought haunting me since then is - "Does the monkey know this meaning of that gesture?"

How will we know?