Cosmic dance of Lord Shiva is also known as the Cosmic Dance of Lord Nataraja. Nata means Dance and Raja is the King or Lord and hence “Nataraja” means the King of Dance. When Shiva performs this dance, he is called Nataraja. Dance cannot exist without a Dancer, but a Dancer can exist without dancing. Therefore, Dancer is the cause & Dance is the effect! When the Cosmic dance stops, dissolution of the universe happens. This dissolution makes the way for further Creation or Rebirth.
The substratum of the entire world is the Brahman or Supreme Consciousness. (Click here)As per quantum physics, the world is nothing but vibrating energy and this vibration is this dance of Nataraja. But due to Maya (Click here), we mistake the world to be only in name (Nama) or form (Rupa).
All the Gods or Deities of Sanatana Dharma are always represented symbolically with each of them conveying a subtle & divine message. They are shown with multiple hands carrying different weapons & devices. Multiple hands are only symbolic, so that remarkable qualities of each of the Deities can be showcased.
The Cosmic Dance of Lord Nataraja represents the following:
- Damru or small drum in rear right hand: This represents the primal sound of Creation and Vibration. It also provides Rhythm to the creation of the universe.
- Fire in the rear left hand: A Symbol of Destruction! But Fire also provides light, illumination & energizes its surroundings.
- Face of Nataraja: The serene & smiling face of Nataraja or Shiva represents his calmness and detachment, in the midst of two opposing forces of Creation & Dissolution.
- Abhaya Mudra: Front Right hand indicates a blessing or Preservation. Shiva says “Have No fear, I am here for you”. Front Left hand directed at the raised left foot is to rise above evil.
- Crescent moon: Denotes Intellect and also the time cycle.
- Water: The basis of Life! (Human body is 75% water). Shiva holds the river Ganges with his matted locks. Each strand of hair in the matted locks indicate a desire. A man has numerous desires in his life time. Matted locks indicate that his negative desires are locked in and under control. The matted locks that are shown flying around are caused by Shiva’s blissful dance.
- Veil tied around the waist: This is said to remove Maya or Illusion
- Muyilagan or Apasmara: The demon dwarf below the right foot is Ego, which springs forth due to ignorance. Ego has an invincible or unconquerable quality as it cannot be totally removed, only subdued! Hence his right leg is bent delicately to press on this demon. In order to attain liberation or moksha, our ignorance has to be controlled as a first step. Left leg raised up indicates transcending the evil and also to maintain a perfect balance of body & mind.
9. Serpent or Cobra: Hissing of the serpent represents Air, a giver of life. Also represents death or fear.
10. Space: The entire statue is enclosed inside a circle also known as the ring of flames of the cosmos, indicating Space or Ether & Time. It is the wheel of time or Yugas when you divide this Circle of Flames into 4 quadrants for example; Satya/Krita, Treta, Dvapara & Kali Yuga – the endless cycle of Yugas. The space between two flames is the portion that denotes the manifest world.
11. Third eye: It is not a physical eye. It represents intuition, divine vision and one that looks inward.
12. Lotus Pedestal: This pedestal is shown under the Demon dwarf – Muyilagan or Apasmara. Lotus symbolizes purity, spirituality, enlightenment & rebirth and has a very prominent & profound meaning in Santana Dharma or Hinduism. The Lotus blooms into a very beautiful flower while growing in dirty muddy water! Secondly, it grows only in water and is different from other flowers that grow on earth. It is untouched by the dirty water surrounding it as it is a hydrophobic plant (repels water). This is a message to mankind not to be influenced by dirtiness or evil that is sometimes surrounds us. We need to live our life in detachment and understand that the ultimate goal of our existence is merging with the Supreme Brahman.
Conclusion:
Lastly, this Cosmic Dance is the dance of mass, energy, space & time, of continuous creation, preservation & destruction, of the five elements that constitute of our body, of birth & death, of Maya (<click here) which causes this illusionary, ever changing, transient world & an understanding of our inner self. There is perhaps no other Idol of a Deity in our entire world that showcases these principles so perfectly as the Cosmic Dance of Shiva!
THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE COSMIC DANCE:
The law of conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only be converted or transformed from one form to the other. The cycle of creation, existence & destruction in the cosmic world is only a transformation of energy which is symbolized as the Cosmic Dance of Shiva. In our terrestrial world there is a continuous process of birth, existence & death of beings. All forms around us are Maya or Illusion and is ever changing and which is constantly created & destroyed in an unending movement of Shiva’s dance.
Fritjof Capra author of the book “The Tao of Physics” (<Click here) says that Shiva’s dance is the dance of subatomic matter. Subatomic particle is a particle smaller that an atom. It can be composite particle which is composed of other particles (two or more elementary particles) or an elementary particle that is not composed of other particles. Subatomic particles are created in the universe with sufficient energy. It is also created by scientists at the Large Hadron collider at CERN, Switzerland. Inside the accelerator, two high-energy particle beams travel at close to the speed of light before they are made to collide, thus generating subatomic particles. Details of common subatomic particles are given below:
- Electrons: Elementary particles that are negatively charged and orbit the nucleus of atoms.
- Protons: Composite particles that are positively charged and together with neutrons form the nucleus of atoms.
- Neutrons: Composite particles that have no electric charge and together with protons form the nucleus of atoms.
- Quarks: Elementary particles that have fractional electric charges and are the building blocks of protons, neutrons, and other composite particles. Hadrons for example are composed of quarks. They are essential components of all visible matter in the universe.
- Leptons: Elementary particles that have no strong nuclear interaction and are either charged or neutral.
- Bosons: Elementary particles that have integer spins and act as the carriers of energy & forces in the universe. There are four types of bosons: photon, W and Z bosons, gluon, and Higgs boson (also called God Particle).
Proton, electron & photon (has no mass & represents light quantum or electromagnetic radiation) are stable particles. Free Neutrons (not the neutrons inside nucleus of atom) however, can decay & disintegrate.
All particles have an anti-particle as well, of equal mass but opposite charge. Photon has its own anti-particle, anti-particle of electron is called positron, similarly there are anti-proton, anti-neutron & anti neutrino. All matter is solid, liquid & gas, which are in turn made up of particles. So when there is matter, we have anti-matter also. When anti particle meets particle, they destroy each other and disappear in a burst of light. Likewise, when matter made up of particles, meet anti-matter, they destroy each other with a huge energy release.
Furthermore, there is a great “Mystery in Physics” (<Click here)– Our universe has a small surplus of matter than anti-matter! Scientists believe that soon after the Big Bang “something” would have caused the formation of more matter than anti-matter. This “something” could be dark matter, new dimensions or unknown forces etc. This is unclear right now and research is ongoing. Meanwhile, we humans are trying our best to decipher the “Paradoxical” (Click here) nature of our universe. But we, as three dimensional beings have certain limitations as wonderfully put forth below by Theoretical Physicist Michio Kaku:
Fritjof Capra quotes “Modern physics has thus revealed that every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation & destruction”. Thus, the Cosmic Dance of Shiva goes on – a rhythm of creation & destruction!
Meanwhile, please do watch an You Tube Video on “The Symbolic Meaning of the Dancing Shiva by Aldous Huxley” (<click here)