![vanakkam meaning vanakkam meaning](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8nZiSfRJB9Y/mqdefault.jpg)
Very few individuals like Saibaba claim to be a god whereas in a few cases the followers of a particular guru or sannyasi (like Sri Ramana, Kanchi Chandrasekara Saraswati Swami, etc.) call the individual ‘bhagavan’ and treat him like God. So when we say ‘vanakkam’ or ‘namaste’, we don’t worship any God in that person or worship her/him as God.Įven this concept of ‘human-god’ does not have a uniform understanding. Even in the case of gurus and sannyasis/swamijis, they are considered ‘human gods’ and not deities or eternal ones. Similarly, in Tamilnadu, most people say ‘Vanakkam’ to greet/salute others and say ‘namaskaram’ to those from the older or elite society.īut according to my understanding, I think that with the exception of gurus and sannyasis/swamijis, no other person is greeted with reverence as if worshipping God. Of course, this is not a pan-North Indian custom too.
![vanakkam meaning vanakkam meaning](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WLPWfIEN5Xk/maxresdefault.jpg)
To gurus, acharyas, sannyasis and family elders, they touch the feet and say ‘pranam’ or ‘pailagun’ (I touch your feet). In North India, they say ‘namaste’ to people at the same level and ‘pranam’ to elders and out of respect. Similarly, when we say ‘Vannakkam’ or ‘Namaste’, do we really mean that we worship the other person as God or we say that we are worshipping the God in that person?Įach culture has its own form of greeting others. For example, I need not point out that ‘stiff neck’ does not mean any health issue but rather disobedience. 32:9 33:3, 5 34:9 etc.) which in English means, ‘those who have a stiff neck’.īut we know that taking the literal meaning doesn’t help us understand the actual meaning of a word and the context in which it is used. The opposite word is ‘Vanagga’ which was used in the Old Tamil Muktiveda as ‘vanagga kazhutu ullavarhal’ (வணங்காக் கழுத்துள்ளவர்கள், Exo. Though I don’t know the etymology or root word of the Tamil word for ‘Vanakkam’, it might come from ‘Vanangu’ which has several meanings like bowing down, humbling, lowering, respecting, etc. As a joke, I said, “There are three kinds of folding hands, one keeping the before one’s face, another in front of the heart and another above the head – which one do you mean?” Then I pointed out to him that in general when we say ‘vanakkam’, we keep our folded hands in front of our face and when we worship deities, we keep them either in front of our hearts or on top of our heads. One can well understand that he said this in his context of defending his handshake to greet others. Though there was no specific reason for asking this question, I have noticed that some people object to saying ‘namaste’ with hands folded because it is supposed to be a sign of worship of that person and therefore equating her/him with God. Recently one bhakta asked what ‘Vanakkam’ (in Tamil) actually means.