Published at PGurus on 5th March, 2019
The
dance of Shiva on the night of Maha Shivaratri is perhaps the best conceived
idea of the ancient Vedic wisdom of how the cosmos moves. Our existence just
being part of the smallest of the smallest fraction of the entire cosmos hypothesized
by modern science, the scientists know how difficult it is to acquire a bird’s
eye view of the entire cosmos. Interestingly that is what Vedic sages have
achieved and immortalized into the Dance of Shiva, popularly understood in the
form of Nataraja. They have even identified a day, rather a night for that
dance – that is the 14th night before a complete black out of the
Moon. That night is Shivaratri coming month after month but the one coming in
the month of Maagha is celebrated as Maha Shivaratri – a time marked for
universal dissolution.
Skeptics
may dismiss this as an untenable tenet of a religious myth thriving on fear
psychosis of hapless mortals, but what is hidden behind the posture of Nataraja
leaves much for contemplation, leading to self realization of why we are here
and when we will get relief and release from the imposing cosmos enveloping all
around us. The perfect setting for this is a night before complete black out –
that is perhaps why the 14th night before No-Moon is chosen. Among
the months, none other than Maagha is suitable as the new month starting after
No-Moon is Phalguna that heralds the start of spring with the return of Kaama
(Holi festival) and marriage of Gods.
Having
chosen a perfect day, our seers have laid out certain axioms that describe the
nature of cosmos. The oft repeated ones are
·
There are infinite number of worlds.
·
There is no beginning and end to the creation of worlds.
·
The three stages of creation, sustenance and destruction are going on
continuously in all the worlds.
·
All these are being borne by the Cosmic womb called Hiranya Garbha.
The crux
of all these is that the infinite number of worlds are all happening within the
‘womb’ of that Being whom one may call by any name but what is implicit is that
the Being Himself / Itself is unfathomable for the very fact we are talking only
about the womb that is home for the cosmos. The entire of body of the Being can
never be known.
A more
specific axiom comes from the 3rd and 4th verses of
Purusha Sukta giving an idea of proportion of created worlds. These verses say
that only one fourth of this Being is manifest as created worlds while three
fourths are always unmanifest.
Combining
all these together, we can conceive only a circular formation capable of
fulfilling all these axioms. This is also conceptualized as ‘Brahma Chakra’ in
Shvetasvatara Upanishad. Such a model will have infinite number of universes revolving
in different layers of in circular orbits,
stretching vertically one above the
other and laterally one beyond the other. Only in this kind of formation, the worlds can be truly
infinite and endless. No one can say where the beginning point of this lies or
where this will end.
Within
this chakra, life thrives and even gets trapped. It is in the event of a
realization that one is getting trapped in this chakra, Vedic wisdom comes to
our rescue to understand where we stand, what we are and what to do escape from
this chakra. This is what a person is expected to ponder on the occasion of
Shivaratri. Such pondering inevitably leads us to think of the Universe – the stage
where creation and dissolution are happening relentlessly. And the Dance of
Nataraja presents a wholesome idea of how the Universe exists.
The
Dance of Nataraja has captured the imagination of scientists too as a symbolism
of dance of sub atomic particles – the proof of it in the display of 2 meter
tall statue of Nataraja standing in front of CERN in Geneva
But Vedic concept views this dance at macro level,
not at sub-atomic level. This dance posture follows the combined force of Shiva
and Shakti as seen in Shiva- Shakti Yantra having two equilateral triangles
placed one on the other in opposite directions and inscribed inside a circle.
The contours of this formation decide the posture of
Nataraja. This is the basic structure guiding the sculptors and dancers who
wish to enact the posture of Nataraja. CERN Nataraja inscribed within this
formation is shown below.
The macro cosmic feature in Nataraja is seen in the
top two hands, the right hand beating the drum (Damaru), symbolizing the birth
of sounds giving rise to birth of worlds and the left hand holding Agni (fire).
Modern science postulates birth of worlds from Big bang, but Nataraja concept
indicates sound as the causative or an indication of creation.
The distance between the
hands fulfil the major axiom of Purusha sukta of 1:3 division of the cosmos. In
the picture below this distance covers one fourth of the circle concurrent with the axiom that only one fourth of the
Being is manifest.
From the point in the circle identified by the Drum
beating right hand, the visible Universe starts. In other words the particles get manifest at
this point of Brahma Chakra also known as Kala Nemi whereby time starts
ticking. Particles keep moving and give rise to the cosmos we see. When they
reach the point of Agni in the left hand – by then covering 90 degrees of the
circle (1/4th of the entire cosmos) – dissolution happens. Beyond
this they are unseen or un-manifest.
The above figure shows the region between the two
hands as the existing and manifest Universe. Beyond this, particles become
invisible. They keep moving continuously in this formation, but will be
undetectable. It is like resting time or sleep time of Brahma in that
particular segment.
For the next half of duration, there is no movement in
Nataraja. This symbolizes complete non-active phase or non-manifestation but
where the cosmos anyway keeps moving.
Once the last quarter is reached activation is
indicated by the lifted leg and the two hands in Adhomukha (downward) and
Urdhwamukha (upward) mudras indicating a struggle between opposite forces. Once
that quarter is crossed, it is streaming in of particles in manifest form
triggered by the sound of drum. This concept is depicted in the diagram below.
This formation fulfils all the creation axioms of
Vedic Thought. Only one fourth is manifest. The Navel of Nataraja signifying
the pivotal axis, all the worlds move in circles one above the other vertically
and one beyond the other laterally without any limit.
In this formation infinite number of parallel
Universes can exist without upsetting or overlapping with any other. There is
perfect order in this system with each universe moving with its own set of laws
of physics governing it. This formation thus fulfils modern scientist’s idea of
parallel universes but without a time warp.
In this formation, manifestation identified with
creation is governed by the Four-faced Brahma. Throughout the segment above and
below and beyond, numerous Brahmas are always born as guardians of creation.
The middle segment is the region governed by Vishnu, the Sustenance-giver. Once
the worlds reach the end of the quarter, the fire in Nataraja’s left hand
exists infinitely and eternally above and below and throughout at that
juncture. No one can see the top of bottom of the Fire wall here – a feature
that is woven into a legend of Brahma and Vishnu not being able to see the
crown and feet of Shiva – the core legend of Maha Shivaratri!
In the above figure the manifest zone is the visible
Universe. Every strand in this zone in the figure represents a Universe. We are
moving along with our Universe and will someday reach the wall of Fire of Shiva
from where there is no scope for manifestation as worlds and life, until we
cross the remaining three fourths of the path.
We keep born again and again, bound by the deeds we
do. Imagine the birth cycle is yet to continue but the Universe had gone into
switched-off mode for 3/4th duration; then what would be our status?
We would also be travelling along the Universe in mute form until we reach the
creation zone. It is for this reason Maha Shivaratri is remembered that we shed
our karmic bond as quickly and as early as possible.
The only good news is that we have just crossed the
half mark of the creation zone. If people can recall the Sankalpa mantra, our
location in space and time is identified as ‘Dwiteeya Parardha’ –meaning
‘second half of Para’
Para is the time of the Manifest zone (one fourth duration).
Half the time is gone means we are right on top of the crown of Nataraja as in
the figure below.
Vedic Thought has calculated the duration of this Para
in terms of age of Four faced Brahma. It is 100 years for which the basic unit is
solar year. 864,00,00,000 solar years make one day of Brahma. Reckoned from the
date of Big Bang this means only one day of Brahma has gone so far and we are now
in the 2nd day. But according to Vedic Thought we are in the first
day of the 51st year of Brahma!
This cannot be dismissed as fantasy or figment of
imagination for there are huge numbers mentioned in our texts including Tamil
Sangam texts. Tolkāppiyam, the ancient grammar book of Sangam age has a sutra
on how to identify huge numbers by means of end letters such as ‘ai’, ‘am’ and
‘pal’ (1-393). Six such numbers find mention in Paripaadal, a Sangam age text
to refer to the duration of birth of universe and different stages of
dissolution. (verse 2: lines 13 &14).
In Sanskrit the current age of our universe is given
in Half life of Brahma – much like how modern science identifies the age of
radioactive substances in half life! The current age is Parardha – half of Para
(age of Brahma). This is much like the use of Parsecs for huge distances, but
Vedic Thought gives in Time Units!
Parardha is equal to 10^17 years. We are in the 1st
day of the 2nd Parardha. The manifest zone had 2 Parardhas while the
entire circle has 8 Parardhas. It is here Vedic wisdom gives a hint to work out
the entire duration of the cycle of our Universe as 8 X 10^17 years.
Maha Shivaratri was designed by Vedic rishis to remind
ourselves whether we should allow ourselves to get trapped within the circle of
Universe for 6 full Parardhas or work our way out within the remaining Parardha
of creation zone, which by itself is segmented into cyclical repetition of
sleep and activity every 4.32 billion years.
