Sadhguru: Five lingams[1] were created in South India for the five elements in nature. Patanjali consecrated the one for akash or space, which is Chidambaram[2]. The temple complex is a huge and fantastic piece of work that is carved from stone and spans over 40 acres. When Patanjali consecrated the temple, he prepared a group of people who have to maintain a certain level of sadhana and discipline, and a certain method of daily rituals in the temple. Those families multiplied and have continued to keep the temple alive.
Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras and is known as the father of modern Yoga. He had the kind of intellect that would make the greatest scientists of the world look like kindergarten children in front of him. Not just as a Yogi but even as a man, the level of capabilities and mastery he had over so many things is absolutely incredible. But that is how he lived. An important aspect of this temple is that there is a Nataraja, a dancing Shiva.
[1] Consecrated energy form
[2] Temple town in Tamil Nadu
Why Are Indian Gods Expected to Dance?
Shiva is Nataraja – the king of dancers. India is the only place where our gods must dance. If they cannot dance, they cannot be gods. This is because the closest analogy you can give to the phenomenon of creation is that it is like a dance. Today, modern physicists are saying that things seem to be in a dance. It means that there seems to be no logical coherence to it, but if you observe it closely enough, there is a very deep system to the whole process.
Unless viewers achieve that coherence within themselves, they cannot truly enjoy the dance.
It takes years of training and practice to get to a place where you can throw your hands and legs around in absolute coherence to everything that you want to depict. Unless viewers achieve that coherence within themselves, they cannot truly enjoy the dance. If you see a classical dance performance, you may not know or understand the story, but just the geometric aesthetic of it will touch you in a certain way. The same goes for music, in a different dimension.
This is an observation that physicists have come to. Initially, they said, “Everything is random and accidental.” But now, with closer observation, they see that everything which seems random and accidental is actually synchronized in some way. There is some kind of coherence to everything, which we are still not able to figure out.
What Yoga and Dance Have in Common
Yoga is possible only because there is coherence between the individual life and the larger manifestation of creation. If there was no coherence, you could not become one. If there is no coherence, there is no possibility of Yoga. Since creation is a dance, we said, “The Divine is a dancer. Otherwise, how could the Divine make this dance happen?” When we say Shiva is a cosmic dancer, we are not talking about an individual dancing across the cosmos – we are talking about the cosmos dancing. That is why there is a circle around Nataraja.
The Real Meaning Behind the Symbolism of Shiva as the Cosmic Dancer
A circle is always a symbol of the cosmos because it is the most natural form that occurs in existence when something moves. The Earth, the Moon, the Sun, everything is a circle. Maybe slightly distorted into an ellipsoid when it is in a certain phase, but generally, anything that moves is naturally a circle because a circle is a shape of least resistance. That is why the circle around Nataraja symbolizes the cosmos. He is always described as a cosmic dancer.
The cosmos is in a dance, and the dance is guided by a certain intelligence.
The cosmos is in a dance, and the dance is guided by a certain intelligence. We want to individualize it because we are individuals, and we understand everything as separate life forms, from our own perception. But do not believe that there is one man dancing up there across the cosmos.
The Ultimate Honor for a Dancer
The whole cosmos is in a dance. There is enough proof to see that. When we say that the Divine is the source of this cosmos, naturally it must be a dancer. Shiva is Nataraja, the ultimate dancer, and the Chidambaram temple is his home. They say Shiva himself came and danced there. Because of that, it is the ultimate honor for any dancer to dance in the Chidambaram temple.
