What is चरण - स्पर्श (charan - sparsh)?

There are different ways of greeting people in different cultures. Hand shaking, hugging, bowing, kissing or just saying a Hi to other person are some of the ways to greet each other depending on which culture or geography you are from.

In Indian culture, general way of greeting anyone is by folding your hands 🙏 and saying *Namaste. But when you meet your elders whom you respect esp. parents, spiritual gurus, teachers, relatives or any elder person for that mater, you don't just greet but express your respect with your gesture. This gesture is bowing and touching your forehead by bringing it to the feet of the other person and taking his or her blessings. It's called charan sparsh.

First thing I do when I wake up every morning is to touch the feet of my parents and all elders in my family and take their blessings. This tradition of charan sparsh is very common in our culture. Even junior politicians touch feet of senior politicians to demonstrate their respect towards them.

But with time, new generation is embracing foreign culture of saying hi and shaking hands. So to explain the importance, power and significance of this tradition, a talk by Rahul Kapoor Jain called Charan Sparsh was organized by JITO (Jain International Trade Organization).

I too went for this talk this evening. I was surprised to see the response. Some 4,000 people gathered for this program.

The speaker was very energetic and a great presenter. He kept engaged for two hours continuously and still he had more to say on this subject! His communicating skills were great. But that was expected of him as he had also worked with the Royal Challengers Bangalore Franchise as the official in-stadium host in Indian Premier League (IPL) season 3, 4 & 5. He is a motivational speaker who speaks world wide and authored a few books too.

It's too late to share much about my today's experience but here I'm sharing some of the pictures from the event:

You can comprehend the impact of his talk by the fact that during his talk itself, many people started doing charan sparsh of their parents and elders seating next to them.

• Have you ever heard about or done a Charan Sparsh of any one in your life?
• What do you feel about the practice of touching other's feet to show respect towards them?