How Lord Nataraja’s Divine Inspiration Helped Me Embrace Dance and Transform My Entire Life
By Savita Tiwari, Mauritius
Many forms of siva are loved and revered by His devotees. The Sivalingam is perhaps the most celebrated and ancient form; others include Ardhanarishvara, Bhairava, Pashupati and Dakshinamurti. Nataraja—Siva as the cosmic dancer—is naturally the form most worshiped by performing artists.
Nataraja created the universe with His dance. He is like a cloud filled with water waiting to unleash the thunderstorm, or the firm light of a lamp in a place with no air movement. In this form, Siva is the center of the world. Just as an atom dances in its orbit, the universe is dancing in the cosmic orbit of Nataraja. In Nataraja form, Siva is the master of all dance enthusiasts, with the universe as His stage, performing His life-giving dance for the world.
The word Nataraja translates as “the king of acts” or “king of dance.” Devi Sarasvati is the Goddess of creativity, knowledge, music and wisdom. Writers, singers and anyone from the creative fields who follow Hinduism pray to Goddess Sarasvati for blessings and success. But for dancers, especially Indian classical dancers, Nataraja is God. One will find Nataraja’s image in the logo of many dance academies and displayed on classical dance competition posters. His divine statue graces the altar of myriad performers. After reading about Nataraja in a few books and blogs, I turned to the primary source of knowledge, our scriptures. A shloka in Ashtadhyayi by Sage Panini: “At the end of His cosmic dance, Nataraja, the Lord of Dance, with a view to bless the sages Sanaka and others, played His damaru (drum of creation) 14 times (first nine times and then five times), from which emerged the 14 sutras, popularly known as the Siva Sutras or Maheshvara Sutras.” Based on these 14 sutras, Mahapandit Panini recorded his grammar of Sanskrit—Ashtadhyayi—and thus the mother of all languages was encapsulated.
READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE AT: https://www.hinduismtoday.com/magazine/jul-aug-sept-2023/sivas-cosmic-choreography/