The Light in Me Meets the Light in You

Whenever Nima meets someone on her long walk to the market village in Nepal, she brings her hands together with her fingers almost touching her chin, bows her head slightly, and says "Namaste," which means "the light in me meets the light in you."
- Namaste! by Diana Cohn

A child dragging bent useless legs is crawling up the hill outside the village. Nose to the stones, goat dung, and muddy trickles, she pulls herself along like a broken cricket. We falter, ashamed of our strong step, and noticing this, she gazes up, clear-eyed, without resentment - it seems much worse that she is pretty. .....the child that lies here at our boots is not a beggar; she is merely a child, staring in curiosity at tall, white strangers. I long to give her something - a new life? - yet am afraid to tamper with such dignity. And so I smile as best I can, and say "Namas-te!" "Good morning!" How absurd! And her voice follows as we go away, a small clear smiling voice -"Namas-te!" - a Sanskrit word for greeting and parting that means, "I salute you."
- The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen