The powerful meaning of Assalum alaikum and Namaste

I must say I enjoy my weekend walks from Likoni to the outskirts of Kwale.   I have done this religiously for the last 5 years unless due to some unavoidable circumstances such as today. I did not walk but still remember the doses of assalum alaikum I receive from wonderful people from time to time. On average it takes me one hour and a half thereabout to accomplish this healthy mission and covenant I have with my body.There is a small fresh water pond at the middle of no where that never seems to dry. The villagers call it ziwa la Pungu. Its rain collection from the surrounding hills.

During my walks – I try as much as possible to focus in the now by interacting with the environment. This form of meditation is very nourishing  and works well for me.  The climax is usually when I meet people on the way in this sparsely populated subsistence farm region. It is humbling that there is always exchange of greetings. From the young and old – I receive Assalum alaikum. And I respond Wa Alaikum Salaam. Every greeting brings a smile and brightens  my heart – most of the time from people I had never met before.

Over the years – it has given me a lot of grace and peace by just reflecting the deeper meaning of this very powerful greeting. I have checked on its translations and discussed it with my coastal friends. With all humility – I wish to share this.

The deeper meaning - may peace be upon you – peace from what? A guarantee – I will not harm you – my guarantee to you is no harm will come to you. Can you imagine if you were to be told and to tell everyone you meet – I guarantee you no harm will fall upon you. This to me is a very powerful greeting and actually an every moment prayer.  

It goes further to say – May the blessing of the almighty be upon you – wa rahmatulullahi wa barakatuh’ – I ask the almighty to bless you.  You be at peace with your creator and may his blessings be upon you. May you be at peace with yourself, your soul and everything in you and about and around you. In English it sounds a mouthful to explain but I hope you grasp it.

 I was quick to learn that the Muslims are taught that they must always greet and if you were to receive greetings, it is your duty to receive the greetings either equally or better it.

If you did not know the meaning of Assalum alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa baraktuh – now you know. Feel it as I do when you receive. Attitude of gratitude teaches us – return the greetings too.

Thousands of years ago, we borrowed numerical writing from the Arab world. this science of 0,1 to 9 has translated the scientific world in calculations, predictions and you name it. probably we need to borrow assalm aleykum and Namaste too for a unified and peaceful global village.

Namaste is another greeting that fascinates me. I first took a note of it from an Austrian friend who every mail he wrote, he ended it with Namaste. Namaste is an ancient Sanskrit greeting still in everyday use in India and especially on the trail in the Himalayas. Translated roughly, it means “I bow to god within you,” or “The spirit within me salutes the spirit in you.” – a knowing that we are all made from the same one divine consciousness. Jai-Bhagwan – is also in common use, and carries the same meaning in Hindi. 

My main focus is Namaste as it is being used North America and Europe.

The notion in the East that we are spiritual beings temporarily occupyi9ng our bodies – make Namaste a very in-depth salutations on focusing soul to soul level. 

now you know the power of the two greetings.

General Relativity Theory has come to pass in my time.

 

 

A few year back – in 2002 to be precise I started getting interested with the work of Stephen Hawkins and black holes – (thanks to Tom and Nancy Stuehler from Baltimore who gave me priceless material on this). I have listened to his lectures and even read some of his books. It is a very interesting topic. It is said that fact is sometimes stranger than fiction, and nowhere is this more true than in the case of black holes. Black holes are stranger than anything dreamt up by science fiction writers, but they are firmly matters of science fact.

Yesterday was a very interesting moments for those who have always gazed up with quest to probe – what is up – or out there? Einstein theory of Relativity was finally and practically confirmed by scientist. They demonstrated a recording of two black holes colliding a billion light years away.

A Century Ago, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity Changed Everything. Worse, he had discovered a fatal flaw in his new theory of gravity, propounded with great fanfare only a couple of years before. And now he no longer had the field to himself. 

Gravity Probe-b

So Einstein went back to the blackboard. And on Nov. 25, 1915, he set down the equation that rules the universe. It describes space-time as a kind of sagging mattress where matter and energy, like a heavy sleeper, distort the geometry of the cosmos to produce the effect we call gravity, obliging light beams as well as marbles and falling apples to follow curved paths through space.

This is the general theory of relativity.  Since the dawn of the scientific revolution and the days of Isaac Newton, the discoverer of gravity, scientists and philosophers had thought of space-time as a kind of stage on which we actors, matter and energy, strode and strutted.

With general relativity, the stage itself sprang into action. Space-time could curve, fold, wrap itself up around a dead star and disappear into a black hole. It could jiggle like a belly, radiating waves of gravitational compression, or whirl like dough in a mixer. It could even rip or tear. It could stretch and grow, or it could collapse into a speck of infinite density at the end or beginning of time.

A team of scientists announced yesterday Thursday 11^th February that they had heard and recorded the sound of two black holes colliding a billion light-years away, a fleeting chirp that fulfilled the last prediction of Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

I’m glad to be awake in this moment of Stephen Hawkins and the confirmation of General Relativity.

This is a big deal and many people will read this discovery of the century millennium to come.

I will raise my glass to this.

(disclaimer - I'm just a village boy who gazes the star with strange curiosity.)

Please click   Illustration by New York Times