Shiva - Nataraja . - Page: 3

Nataraja is the Cosmic Dancer.

Siva Nataraja, the lord of the dance, consolidates into a single image many meanings of the Hindu tradition. The symbolism shown in an image of Nataraja uses many subtleties to help tie the tradition together, making it one of the most popular of all Hindu representations. Hindus use it to explain their existence and their future. This is perhaps Hinduism's richest and most elegant symbol.

God is the cosmic dancer. Siva is the primal soul, Parameshvara, as power, energy, and life of all that exists. This is Siva's intricate state of Being in Manifestation. Nataraja is the dance of the entire cosmos. It is the rhythmic movements in all. All that is, sentient and insentient, pulsates in his body.

Shiva is the third aspect of the Hindu Trinity, representing Godhead in its aspect of annihilator. He is incharge of 'constructive destruction' in the continuous process of creation, preservation, destruction and recreation.

He is the God of austerity and the embodiment and dispenser of supreme knowledge. His third eye is the eye of wisdom as well as the instrument of annihilation. The deer skin, holy ash, the matted hair - all these symbols signify supreme renunciation.

Natana means 'role playing' - that is the Cosmic role played by Him, for the manifestation and maintenance of the entire universe, and it is called Tandava Nrityam. [Tandava = Cosmic; Nrityam = dance] . Natana actually means 'to be doing something' that is not being static, but being dynamic. This dynamism is the manifestation of the entire universe. This is one among the twenty five types of iconographic representations of Lord Shiva. The dance personification is for eternal dynamism.

Nataraja, the King of Dance, has four arms.

The upper right hand holds the drum from which creation issues forth. As Nataraja he holds the entire domain of the universe, representing Nada (sound), signifying the evolution of the universe. From sound came all language, all music, all knowledge.

The upper left hand holds a flame, which is destruction, the dissolution of form. Creation and destruction are aspects of His own being.

The lower right hand is raised in blessing, betokening preservation.

The lower left hand gestures toward that holy foot in assurance that Siva's grace is the refuge for everyone, the way to liberation. It lies across the body, directing the gaze to the foot. This is 'Gaja Hastha' or elephant hand or trunk. The trunk is discriminating.

The right leg, representing obscuring grace, stands upon Apasmarapurusha, a soul temporarily earth-bound by its own sloth, confusion and forgetfulness. This dwarf is the embodiment of falsehood and ignorance. This is the Purusha within us. We have to crush out ignorance if we want to attain supreme joy.

The uplifted left leg is revealing grace, which releases the mature soul from bondage. This indicates that man can arise himself and attain salvation. The circle of fire around Nataraja represents the cosmos and especially consciousness. The all-devouring form looming above is Mahakala, "Great Time." This is the dance of nature, all initiated by the self in the center, all emanating from Him, and all dissolving within him. While Shiva dances His matted locks hold Ganga, the power and source of all movement in life. While He dances His face is calm and in repose.

The cobra around Nataraja's waist is kundalini shakti, the soul-impelling cosmic power resident within all. Nataraja's dance is not just a symbol. It is taking place within each of us, at the atomic level, this very moment.

The Agamas proclaim, "The birth of the world, its maintenance, its destruction, the soul's obscuration and liberation are the five acts of His dance."

The axe, the sword, fire and the eye of wisdom - all these show the Lord's power of destruction. He cuts and burns the fetters of the human mind in the fire of knowledge, and through the eye of wisdom.

Nataraja is art and spirituality in perfect oneness, chosen to depict the divine because in dance, that which is created is inseparable from its creator. Similarly, the universe and the soul cannot be separated from God.

This dance is arranged into five categories viz.

(1)ADBHUTA TANDAVA meaning that it is a wonderful dance (2)ANANDA TANDAVA meaning that it is blissful dance (3)ANAVARATA TANDAVA incessant dance (4)SAMHAARA TANDAVA destructive dance (5)PRALAYA TANDAVA Dissolution dance

The number FIVE is associated with Lord Shiva. His name is five lettered (panchakshari) The five syllables are Na,mah,si,va,ya and recited as 'Om NamahSsivaayah', and this is indicative of the five divine functions, (panchakriyashakti), namely, sristi - creation , sthithi - maintenance , samhaara - destruction, tirobhava - illusive and anugraha - blessing.

The five elements of creation are also denoted by this five lettered recitation, viz. solidity, liquidity, fire, ether, air, which are the essential elements for formation of any being, either living or material.

The historic dance of Siva is first mentioned in the Puranas as a tandava and a lila, a dance of destruction, and the dance of Siva respectively. The myth follows this progression: An orthodox Brahman school of Mimamasa had students who wished to destroy Siva. They created a ferocious tiger to attack him. The tiger was skinned alive by the pinkie fingernail of Siva. The next evil they sent was a serpent. At this, Siva merely looked and tamed with his eyes. The serpent coiled itself around him. Next an elephant was conjured, but Siva killed it with ease. Sometimes Siva is seen wearing the hides of the elephant or the tiger. Lastly, the sect sent a dwarf called the demon of forgetfulness, apasmara purusha. The dwarf was the embodiment of evil. To combat this, Siva began his cosmic dance, subduing the demon and liberating the world. Siva leaps on top of the dwarf crushing its back with one foot. This is the pose of Siva Nataraja that saivite theology has invested so much detail with meaning.

The pose symbolizes the divine activities of God.

Siva's dance is composed of the ever-flowing combination of his five scared activities, pancha-krtya. Srishti, the power to create, is represented by His upper right hand and the damaru (drum), upon which he beats Paranada, the primal sound from which issue forth the rhythms and cycles of creation. Sthiti, the power to maintain, is represented in the lower right hand in a gesture of blessing or have-no-fear, abhaya mudra. Samhara, the power to destroy, is shown by the fire held in His upper left hand, posed in ardhachamdra mudra, the half moon gesture. This crescent moon can also be seen in his hair. Tirobhava, the power to conceal or obscuring grace, is the power that hides the truth thereby permitting growth and eventual fulfillment of destiny, shown by the right foot standing on the prostate aspasmara purusa. Anugraha,the power to reveal or grant grace, grants knowledge and severs the souls bonds. This is shown by the raised left foot and lowered left hand held in gajahasta mudra (elephant trunk) inviting sign. The left leg shows too the immobile balance. These five sacred activities are sometimes personalized in respective order: Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra, Mahesvara, and Sadasiva; or as Sadyojata (creation), Vamadora (preservation), Aghora (reabsorbtion), Tatpurusha (obscuration), and Isana (granting grace).

The ring of fire, prabhamandala, in which Siva dances is the hall of consciousness, chitsabha . Known also as the ight-filled heart of man, it is the central chamber of the manifest cosmos. Nataraja dances the universe into and out of existence, revealing Ultimate Reality for most, concealing it for the pious who draw near and recognize Parasiva in themselves.

In his hair he may wear a mermaid, skull, cobra, and/or a crescent moon. The garland of skulls he wears identifies him as time, and guarantees the death of all beings.The single skull around his chest is Brahma, the creator - Siva is the only eternal being. Kundalini Sakti, the cobra or serpent, is the impending cosmic power living in all.The huge, consuming form towering above is MahaKala, Great Time. The three eyes symbolize the sun, moon, and fire, or the three powers creation, preservation, and destruction (trimurti).Two eyes show the world of duality while the middle eye shows the vision of non-duality. His smile indicates a nonchalant transcendence.

Siva also symbolizes here stillness and motion wrought together. The stillness tells of the peace and poise lying within all, at the center. The intense motion, sometimes depicted by his hair flying wildly in every direction, exhibits the fury and violent vigor that fills the universe. The implication is that God allows them both. The dance and dancer are one. This elegant symbol embodies the unity of all.

The symbolism of Siva Nataraja is religion, art, and science merged into one. Gods endless dance of creation, preservation, destruction, and paired graces holds a hidden, deep understanding of our universe. Carved in stone or cast of bronze from the Chola age, his ananda tandava, fierce ballet of bliss, dances the cosmos. AUM Namah Sivaya.

The mantra AUM represents the divine. The Upanisads explain it as standing for the whole world and its parts including the past, present, and future. It is the primal vibration that all manifestation issues forth. Its three letters represent the three worlds and the powers of creation, preservation, and destruction. Correlated with the divine triad, trimurti, represented by Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Though Siva is part of the trimurti, he is greater than the whole as well. He is the only eternal being, as we see by the skull.

Nowhere else in the human world is there a clearer symbol of what a god is and does.

He dances the dance of creation, the dance of destruction, the dance of solace and liberation. Beneath his left foot ignorance is crushed; from his head springs the life-giving waters. His are the flames, the moon, the drum, and the lotus. His mount is the white bull, and the tiger has given its skin to gird his loins. Serpents coil about his limbs, and from his right hand flows the promise of release.

This dance is not just a symbol. It takes place within each of us at the atomic level at every moment. The birth of the world, its maintenance, its destruction, the covering of the soul and its revelation...these are the five acts of this dance. All that has been made will be unmade, and all that has been destroyed will be resurrected.

Shiva has a thousand names, and a thousand faces. Shiva is the essence of the Vedas, and he source of the Word. He is inextricably woven into all that the eye can see. He is the first among the gods of this world, who made the world so that others could make the things in it. Energy is his name, and he moves through all things, never static. All that is made, every generation of life, all the wondrous forms that fill our world, all flow from his dancing loins.

He is not male, nor female. He is neither human nor inhuman. He has four arms, and he has none. Shiva's nature at once transcends and includes all the polarities of the living world. What things we are we do not know. We wander all of our lives secluded, burdened by our minds. It is when the Word, the first born of truth, comes to us, we come into the presence of Shiva mind.

Life is that which is worth doing. This world is our stage, so let us dance in honor of Shiva, and in honor of ourselves.

******************************************