“अहो अहं नमो मह्यं” (Aho Ahaṃ Namo Mahyaṃ) – I bow down to myself

“Aho Ahaṃ Namo Mahyaṃ”; quoting one of the extracts from ancient Vedic text ‘the Aṣṭāvakra Gītā. It means, ‘I bow down to myself’; not to the material body but to the eternal soul that resides within. Hinduism emphasizes the sacredness of the Soul as an element of the divine. Indians bow their heads and join their hands in a gesture named “Namaste” to acknowledge the divinity that exists in everyone. God inhabits every being and thing in the universe, which implies that he also dwells inside each of us. Given this, bowing down to ourselves comes from complete surrender rather than the ego. It solely infers that we do not have a separate identity from the Lord as we are his part and parcel, which is why we are entirely submitting ourselves to him. We are transcending the illusions of “I”, “me” and “mine” and becoming one with the creator of the Universes. It is about moving beyond the physical frame; we can then really fathom this timeless truth. Look at yourself through spiritual eyes and you shall find the Lord in you. Swami Vivekananda said, “If you don’t believe in yourself, you cannot believe in God.” For he is the same God that resides in the temple, in the cosmos, and you! 

Mansi