While on vacation somewhere, maintaining good manners is of course very important. Because as migrants, surely we must be good at putting ourselves wherever we are. One form of politeness that can be shown is greetings. In Bali, there are several greeting sentences used to say hi to others. Let's read the following review. Who knows, you can use these sentences to greet the people you meet in Bali.

Greetings in Balinese 

In everyday Balinese society, there are two sentences that are often used by people to say greetings. Namely om swastiastu and om shanti shanti shanti om. You can also use both sentences when meeting with people. Both at the inn and in tourist attractions. However, the two sentences have different meanings.

Om swastiastu comes from Sanskrit, namely the words Om, Su, Asti, and Astu. Om means Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa or God. Su means good. Asti means being and Astu means hopefully. So om swastiastu means "hopefully safe in the protection of Ida Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa". Om Swastiastu is a greeting that is used by Hindus when opening an event. Both in meetings, greetings, and so on. In addition, Om Swastiastu is also used by Hindus to greet each other when meeting family, parents, siblings, friends, and fellow believers. 

While om shanti shanti shanti om represents peace in body, speech, and mind. Om is pranawa Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa. Whereas Shanti means peace. But om shanti shanti shanti om is more used to close a prayer or activity in an event or to close a description or writing. From here you can see the difference. Om Swastiastu is a greeting spoken verbally, whereas om shanti shanti om is used for nonverbal greetings. 

So, you already know what's the difference between Om Swastiastu and Om Shanti Shanti Shanti Om? When you want to greet some of the people you meet directly, you can use Om Swastiastu. Well, if you want to send a written message to someone in Bali or start a conversation with a priest in the temple, use om shanti shanti shanti om. By saying a proper greeting, of course you can build a better relationship to other people.