Namaskar – The ultimate bow down !
You are going down from the top of a very tall mountain using a bike. The road is okay except it’s a slope. The mountain is very tall and the journey could be very long. Due to the slope, the speed of the bike would increase on it’s own.
You are very unfamiliar with this road as you happen to be on the top of the mountain by some other way. The first aid is available only at the top of the mountain.
One of the best approach to ride the bike in this situation would be to apply the brakes at regular interval. Especially if you are busy watching mountain beauty, the habit of braking regularly will make your journey smooth. If you forget to apply the brakes before the speed of the bike becomes uncontrollable, you will hurt yourself and the rest of the journey will not be so good, sometime you got to start again from top.
One carries a pride of being someone or doing something with him all the time. I am a xyz manager or I am the best xyz player or I am the best Son among siblings or I am the best at making business or I run this house of my own etc. all of these are same at the root level of mind and that can be called as ego.
This ego is a continuous flow of thoughts (mostly unconscious) which is running down the hill with your mind(bike). It runs by its own gravity pull and if you don’t brake it it will surely hurt you badly. Sometimes so badly that one has to begin the journey again. This journey of life(climbing down the mountain) is very unfamiliar to you and mostly things happen without you being conscious of it. You are busy earning your survival so much that you forget that the the bike is crossing the speed limit. Applying brakes at regular interval surely is a solution.
In my culture we have been taught (samskara -संस्कार ) to do Namaskar (bowing down) to elderly people by touching their feet. Touching the feet means “whoever I am, whatever I have achieved , it is grounded (zeroed) at your feet. All the pride that I was carrying till now, I ground it at your feet”. This is the brake; the brake that one can use to slow down the ego flow.
We do namaskar to God idols, saintly people, elders etc. This bowing down helps to nullify/reduce the flow of your ego. Anyways, sooner or later, time will swallow you and everything you have. Letting ego swallow you will be a foolish act. It is wise to let the ego slow down at regular interval.
Purity 