any similar Hindu expressions?

[heartfully]

Namaste,

Are there other expressions like namaste in Hinduism? Is there an equivalent to "God willing" or "thank God" or "God bless you" (or Goddess bless you, etc).

One other thing I wanted to ask for comments on: I fell in love with greeting others with namaste when I first heard it years ago. Most people feel a warmth in their heart to hear it. But now and then, it has offended (ie- some Unitarian Universalists),

When I say namaste to an atheist, I risk offending, but its not like an atheist wears a a scarlet letter or anything, :D . Anyhoo, is it wrong to try to say to the person who was offended, "I am saying that I see the Divine within you and me, but I am not saying you see the same in you or me." Would that be an appropriate response? For a long time I stopped saying namaste as a greeting because I didn't want to offend.

Love to you,
Heartfully

[Eastern Mind]

Vanakkam HF:
I use "Vanakkam" which is basically the Tamil version. Each individual Indian language (I think there are over 20 that have at least 20 million speakers.) probably has something. I understand namaste to be the Hindi version of the Sanskrit namaskaram, but I could be wrong. IMHO, a smile from the heart works better than any sound.

Aum Namasivaya

[devotee]

Namaste EM,

Namaste = Namah (bow) + te (to you) = I bow to you.

So, the meaning of Namaste & Namaskaar are same & the words are taken directly from Sanskrit without any change. Hindi has come from Sanskrit. So, there are many words which are directly taken from Sanskrit without any change in their form. These words are called "Tatsam" words in Hindi.

OM

[ScottMalaysia]

When I say namaste to an atheist, I risk offending, but its not like an atheist wears a a scarlet letter or anything, :D .

For a start, why would you say 'namaste' to a non-Hindu or non-Indian person? If you greeted everyone you met with 'namaste', most people would think you were strange, even if you were Indian (which I'm assuming you're not). It would be like saying "as-salamu 'alaykum" to everyone if you were a Muslim. If you said 'namaste' to an Indian atheist, they probably wouldn't be offended as they would see it as a cultural gesture.