Cosmic Dance of Lord Shiva - Written and also Arranged from Various Manuscripts and Articles by Philippe L De Coster BTh DD (2012).pdf - Philippe L De Coster - morefaya2006

Gita Society of Belgium

Branch of International Gita Society (IGS/USA)

Cosmic Dance of Lord Shiva

Written and also arranged from various manuscripts and articles by

Philippe L. De Coster, B.Th., D.D .

Gita Satsang Ghent, Belgium

(Non commercial, for personal and satsang use only)

Cosmic Dance of Lord Shiva

Review along the author’s two E-books: Shiva Devotion and Meditation As

It Is; and, Shiva The Destroyer and the Restorer, A Study in

Psychosynthesis and Meditation, both published on Scribd and Internet

Archives.

In the twenty-first century, the image of Shiva Nataraja has become popularised

and repurposed across the globe. There is a natural tension when such a

powerful deity in Hindu belief is brought into new secular contexts. People

worldwide are seeing Nataraja through a multitude of lenses—commercial,

personal, scientific, and artistic—and finding deep but differing meanings.

One striking example has its roots in twentieth-century physics. After physicist

Fritjof Capra's book The Tao of Physics was published in 1975, Shiva Nataraja

became a symbol of the movement of matter in the pattern of creation and

destruction. A large sculpture of Nataraja stands outside the European Centre for

Research in Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, underlining the

link between cosmic forces and subatomic matter. In this context, Nataraja is

also a political symbol for India's contribution to the sciences .

Along with appearing as a popular image on merchandise, Nataraja has been

reinterpreted by artists to address issues in today's global society. Israeli artist

Izhar Patkin, for example, created a glass sculpture fusing the deity with

Brazilian entertainer Carmen Miranda and African-American performer

Josephine Baker. The work, titled “Where Each is Both”, explores the

confluences of these three figures as dancers and as boundary-crossers, creating

and destroying on cosmic and human scales.

Indian-American graphic designer Sanjay Patel has depicted Nataraja in his

unique illustration style, which is partly inspired by Japanese cartoons and

comics. His brightly colored, two-dimensional deities sport large heads, big

eyes, and stubby limbs. In his collection of illustrations and information on the

Hindu pantheon, The Little Book of Hindu Deities , Patel uses this style to bring a

deliberate playfulness to the exploration of Hindu gods and epics.

LORD SHIVA is the Father of all that is was and Shall be, he is Creator

Preserver and Destroyer, the Great Lord Of Immortality giver of Immortality,

Supreme Conciousness. Representing male divinity, He is Rudra Lord of the

sky. Lord Shiva's Holy day of the week is monday and Holy day of month

according to the lunar calendar is the fourteenth day of the dark half of the

month usually the eve of the new moon, known as Masa Shivaratri and ofcourse

Lord Shiva's great Festival Maha Shivaratri on the fourteenth day of the dark

half of the month in the Hindu Month of Phalguna usually febuary or march on

the western calendar. Lord shiva is Propritiated for Healing, Cleansing, for

stimulating the third eye, and for wisdom as he is the great teacher

Dakshinamurthi.

Shiva (or Siva ) is one of the chief deities of Hinduism. His name means

"Auspicious One." Devotees of Shiva are called " Saivites ." Shiva is known by

many other names, including Sambhu ("Benignant"), Samkara ("Beneficent"),

Pasupati ("Lord of Beasts"), Mahesa ("Great Lord") and Mahadeva ("Great

God").

Shiva is a paradoxical deity: "both the destroyer and the restorer, the great

ascetic and the symbol of sensuality, the benevolent herdsman of souls and the

wrathful avenger." In the most famous myth concerning Shiva, he saves

humanity by holding in his throat the poison that churned up in the waters and

threatened mankind. For this reason he is often depicted with a blue neck.

In the Vedas, shiva is an aspect of the god Rudra, not a separate god. However, a

joint form Rudra-Shiva appears in early household rites, making Shiva one of

the most ancient Hindu gods still worshipped today. By the 2nd century BCE,

Rudra's significance began to wane and Shiva rose in popularity as a separate

identity.

In the Ramayana, Shiva is a mighty and personal god, and in the Mahabharata

he is the equal of Vishnu and worshipped by other gods. Shiva became

associated with generation and destruction; sometimes fulfilling the role of

Destroyer along with Vishnu (the Preserver) and Brahma (the Creator) and

sometimes embodying all three roles within himself.

In the Mahadeva image in the Elephanta caves (on an island off of Bombay),

which dates to between the 5th and 7th centuries CE, Shiva is shown in his

threefold form. This triple aspect of Shiva, which has become a dominant form,

is rich with symbolism:

Shiva's female consort is variously manifested as Uma, Sati, Parvati, Durga,

Kali, and sometimes Shakti. Their sons are Skanda, the god of war, and the

beloved elephant-headed Ganesh, remover of obstacles.

Shiva is especially associated with the Ganges River, which flows through his

hair in images, and Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas.

Shiva's symbols are the bull and the linga . The latter symbol is historically

associated with the phallus, but is not generally perceived as such by worshipers.

Other depictions of Shiva have his hair in matted locks and piled atop his head

like an ascetic and adorned with the crescent moon and the Ganges River

(according to legend, he broke the Ganga's fall to earth by allowing her to trickle

through his hair).

The Shiva Lingam is normally a naturally occurring stone formation or a man-

made stone sculpture, usually on a square or circular mounting, that is treated as

a powerful symbolic object in the Hindu faith. The structure is cylindrical with

either a flat or rounded top and is a common feature in Hindu temples, where it

is worshiped for its association with the deity Shiva. Hindus believe that the

Shiva Lingam possesses metaphysical powers -- qualities inherent to the object

but not traceable to its physical substance.

Male Energy

The form of the stone itself -- strongly phallic in shape -- is meant to suggest an

inherent, if undetectable, masculine energy. It is believed that the hot-tempered

nature associated with the god Shiva is manifested in the volatile energy of the

stone itself. Large Shiva Lingam structures are therefore often bathed in water

and sandalwood paste to calm this energy prior to worship.

Female Energy

The base of the Shiva Lingam is shaped like a yoni, a symbol suggestive of both

the female reproductive organ and the female divinity that is the origin of life.

Carvings and markings on the stone are also said to contain divine female

energy. The fact that this feminine symbol underlies the strongly masculine

stone results in the metaphysical ability of the stone to be a force of balance,

unifying opposing energies.

Healing Properties

Another property attributed to Shiva Lingam is a healing force that derives from

a cosmic or universal source. As a result, some believers in alternative healing

methods, related to the ancient concept of chakras or subtle energy centers,

purchase and wear small Shiva Lingam amulets and pendants as jewelry. In

particular, polished stones gathered from the Narmada River in India are

believed to be potent with metaphysical healing powers.

Shiva the Hindu god of destruction is also known as Nataraja , the Lord of

Dancers (In Sanskrit, Nata means dance and raja means Lord). The visual image

of Nataraja achieved canonical form in the bronzes cast under the Chola dynasty

in the 10th century AD, and then continued to be reproduced in metal, stone and

other substances right up to the present times. The Chola Nataraja is often said

to be the supreme statement of Hindu art.

The Sanskrit word " Shiva " is an adjective meaning kind, friendly, gracious, or

auspicious. As a proper name it means "The Auspicious One", used as a

euphemistic name for Rudra. In simple English transliteration it is written either

as Shiva or Siva. In English it is pronounced as - ɕivə (IPA). The adjective Shiva

meaning "auspicious" is used as an attributive epithet not particularly of Rudra,

but of several other Vedic deities. In the Rig Veda, Indra uses this word to

describe himself several times. (2:20:3, 6:45:17, 8:93:3)

The Sanskrit word saiva means "relating to the god Shiva", and this term is the

Sanskrit name both for one of the principal sects of Hinduism, and for a member

of one of those sects. It is used as as adjective to characterize certain beliefs and

practices, such as Shaivism.

There is an interesting legend behind the conception of Shiva as Nataraja. In a

dense forest in South India, there dwelt multitudes of heretical sages. Thither

Cosmic Dance of Lord Shiva - Written and also Arranged from Various Manuscripts and Articles by Philippe L De Coster BTh DD (2012).pdf

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