WESAK 2008 - New Age Festival of Spiritual Unity and Blessings
Lectures, Teaching & Meditation
On 17th,18th May 2008,9:30 am to 5:30 pm
 venue: The auditoriam of the Indian Society of International Law,
opposite the supreme Court 9, Bhagwan Dass Road, New Delhi.
Moon Light Meditation
19th May 2008, 6:30pm to 9:30pm Venue:97-A Eastern Avenue, Sainik Farm,New Delhi. For Reg:Poonam Sharma: 919313034752,Snigdha Nanda: 919818291375. More Detail>>
Subscribe NOW**   Print Edition  Digital Edition
When we pursue happiness, it eludes you. However, when you recognise that happiness is the natural state of the soul, all you need is to eliminate all that comes between your happiness and you.
 
Home Events Products Practitioners Body Mind Spirit Wallpapers Writers Greetings Archives About us
Google
Access over 5,000 pages of information on alternative health, holistic living, spirituality, positive thinking and inspiring people.

Web
The Site

CHIDAMBARAM: THE COSMIC STAGE

By Anupama Bhattacharya
Photographs: Gireesh G.V.

IndologyI saw cascades of energy coming down from outer space, in which particles were destroyed and created in rhythmic pulses; I saw the atoms of the elements and those of my body participating in this cosmic dance of energy; I felt its rhythm and I heard its sound, and at that moment I knew that this was the Dance of Shiva, the Lord of Dancers.
—Fritjof Capra,
Tao of Physics

Chidambaram
, the heart of the universe (chit-heart, ambaram-universe), is where Shiva, manifesting as Nataraja, one of the trinity of Hindu deities, performs the cosmic dance. It is also the heart of a world that is a manifestation of purusha, the eternal, cosmic man.

As you approach the Nataraja temple in this quaint town of Tamil Nadu, 250 km south of Chennai in southern India, you are taken aback by four gigantic towers (135 ft) with seven storeys that guard it on four sides. The architecture inside is no less fascinating. Rows after rows of pillars with intricate carvings, surrounded by 10 sacred pools, seem to create an ambiance of space—vast, limitless. You are drawn in, deeper and deeper, until you stand at the center of the universe, facing Nataraja, the creator, the destroyer, the keeper.

The shrine is spread over an area of 51 acres and houses a rare crystal lingam. There is also a Ratnasabhapati Nataraja made of gems, rubies, emerald and stone. The main shrine or the Chitrambalam (also known as Chit Sabha) is the place where Nataraja dances the tandava of creation, destruction, grace, dissolution and blessing.

IndologyAccording to mythology, Shiva first performed Ananda Tandava (the dance of bliss), to enlighten some sages who had been so immersed in their scholasticism that they had forgotten the existence of God. This Ananda Tandava was later revealed at the Jnana Sabha, one of the shrines of Chidambaram. Myth has it that, at a particular time every year, Shiva still performs the dance here.

IndologyAt first glance, the statue of Nataraja is like any other classic piece of art—graceful and eye-catching. The beauty begins to unfold, layer by layer, as the magnificence of creation and the wonder of destruction are understood.

Nataraja symbolizes the ultimate reality that is eternally molding this world of maya or illusion, creating myriad nebulae with the beat of a drum and destroying a mega-universe with a graceful turn of the finger. The dance of Shiva is the dancing universe, the ceaseless flow of energy that mingles and meanders into the infinite cosmic soul. It is the dance of sub-atomic particles—the building blocks of creation. Here, the Ardhanarishwar Shiva, symbolized by a male earring in the left and a female earring in the right ear, blends the yin and the yang and transcends them.

IndologyThis transcendence is mirrored in the ultimate balance of Nataraja. As the upper right hand, holding a drum, strikes the primal sound, nebulae after nebulae shoot out from the dancing form, stars are born and shaped, and the first seeds of life germinate in the cosmic cradle, waiting to bloom. The right lower hand showers blessings on the blossoming creation, asking it to arise and understand its purpose. With knowledge comes truth and Nataraja crushes Mulayaka, ignorance manifest, with his right foot—his left lower hand pointing at his raised left foot, defying the law of gravity, symbolic of liberation, moksha.

IndologyWith life, death can't be far behind. The awakening is now symbolized by a deluge of fire leaping out from his left upper hand, devouring the trembling cosmos with licking tongues of flame. One by one stars die, burning suns extinguish their lights. In the eternal darkness, Shiva unties his matted hair and dances the tandava, trampling upon the entire universe—a raging, raving force demolishing existence. Destruction was never so beautiful.

In the final silence, when there is neither existence nor non-existence, enlightenment dawns. Free at last from the fetters of delusion, Nataraja dances the Ananda Tandava, the ultimate dance of joy. The primal sound of the drum echoes again, a tiny spark bursts into a star. Another universe is born. The cycle repeats itself. And Nataraja, blissful in the ecstasy of existence, dances to eternity.


Life Positive, November 1998
MEMBER AREA
Username:
Password:
Remember my password on this computer

Forgot Password?
New to the site? Register here.
 
INTERACTIVE FEATURES
 
©Copyright 2000-2008 Life Positive Foundation
  HOME | SUBSCRIBE | WALLPAPERS | ADVERTISING | POLICY | PRACTITIONERS | WRITERS | PEOPLE | ABOUT | CONTACT