Rudra and the Tandava

Lord Shiva has this knack of inspiring awe in most people and thats what He does to me every time I think of Him. He with his matted locks, blazing third eye and fierce temper reminds me that good too has power.In Indian mythology,Lord Shiva is considered as the supreme lord of dance. This divine art form is performed by Lord Shiva & his wife Goddess Parvathi. The Dance performd by Lord Shiva is known as Tandava, which depicts his violent nature as the distructor of the universe. The tandava performed with joy is called Ananda Tandava and performed in violent mood is called Rudra Tandava. There are 7 types of Tandava. Namely Ananda Tandava, Tripura Tandava, Sandhya Tandava, Samara Tandava, Kaali tandava, Uma Tandava and Gauri Tandava. There are few people who believa that there are 16 types of Tandava. Tandava has vigourous, brisk movements.The dance performed by Goddess Parvathi is known as Lasya, in which the movements are gentle, graceful and sometimes erotic also. Some scholars call Lasya as the feminine version of Tandava. Lasya has 2 kinds. Jarita Lasya and Yauvaka Lasya.

My main focus this time is on the Rudra Tandava. To me, the Rudra Tandava is the absolute embodiment of love. The dance is performed by Rudra carrying in his arms his lifeless wife Sati. The Rudra Tandava is the dance of destruction. It was performed then by the dread Lord, in my opinion, as a statement as if to say that a world not having his wife in it does not deserve to exist. That is love. To be precise, that is the channeling of anger into love. This, I must confess, is my ultimate goal in life - to infuse anger into everyday emotion and, at the same time, control it. It might sound weird to most people, but to those who understand what I'm trying to say, you should be feeling a warm glow inside you right about now.

Shiva is Kala, 'The Black One' 'Time'; but he is also Maha Kala, 'Great Time', 'Eternity'. As Nataraja, King of Dancers, his gestures, wild and full of grace, precipitate the cosmic illusion; his flying arms and legs and the swaying of his torso produce – indeed, they are – the continuous creation-destruction of the universe, death exactly balancing birth, annihilation the end of every coming-forth. The choreography is the whirligig of time. History and its ruins, the explosion of suns, are flashes from the tireless swinging sequence of the gestures. In the medieval bronze figurines, not merely a single phase or movement, but cyclic rhythm, flowing on and non in the unstayable, irreversible round of the Mahayugas, or Great Eons, is marked by the beating and stamping of the Master's heel. But the face remains, meanwhile, in sovereign calm. Shiva is the personification of the Absolute, particularly in its dissolution of the universe. He is the embodiment of Super-Death. He is called Yamantaka – 'The Ender of the Tamer' , He who conquers and exterminates Yama the God of Death, the Tamer. Shiva is Maha-Kala, Great Time, Eternity, the swallower of Time, swallower of Ages and cycles of ages. Shiva is apparently, thus, two opposite things, archetypal ascetic, and archetypal dancer. On one hand , he is Total Tranquility – inward calm absorbed in itself, absorbed in the void of the Absolute, where all distintions merge and dissolve, and all tensions are at rest. But on the other hand, he is Total Activity – life's energy, frantic, aimless, and playful and sometimes, ANGRY as hell.

I've always been fascinated by the enigma that is Shiva. Though He is a God, He is probably the most human god of them all. He is the outcast one, the black sheep, sometimes called the God of Marijuana. Ridiculed by others for the majority of His existence, the Supreme Yogi takes it in His stride and continues His dance - the dance of creation; the dance of destruction - for creation and destruction are inseperable entities. And during the course of His dance He also helps those who come to Him requesting for help. Case in point is the story behind His name Neelakantha. Anyone who has ever been hurt by anyone else can identify with the Cosmic Dancer. His dance is testimony to his spirit - unyielding, resilient, arrogant, yet benevolent. I would like to end this with a simple incantation praising the name of He Who Walks Amongst Ashes. Om Namah Shivayah. May His spirit be with you.

The Healing

He stood riveted, shocked and still
With the wind whipping behind him.
The biting stench of regret and hate
The only company beside him.

Regret looked at him laughingly
While hate stood contra benign.
And they both mocked and prodded him
In a cruel pantomime.

His eyes were faint, he began to ebb;
His strength was failing him.
His heart could not bear the pain
His company was causing him.

Then out of nowhere he saw
From the corner of his eye,
She was walking slowly toward him
And he heaved a relieved sigh.

She had come! She had come at last,
To heal and set him free.
She was the one who could pull him away
From all the cosmic debris.

They fused and became as one,
And his company was her alone.
All the pain and hate and regret
Became as good as unknown.

He loved her and she loved him back;
To each other alone they cleaved.
From now on and forever more
He was completely healed.

Rambling while following the Alchemist

I read The Alchemist today - for probably the 100th time. its a brilliant book. while reading that book, i found myself. most people i know who've read the book say that its too dry for their liking. well, different strokes for different folks. Paulo Coelho came up with a winner - a magical fable about following your dream - and i am here to encourage people to do exactly that.

to have a dream is a great thing. dreams are the very stuff we are made of. the dreams we have reflect our deepest longings and desires. they create in us the will to succeed. the trick is to not let your dream turn into a nighmare. for that to happen, well, we have to use our minds.

everyday life is evidence of the power of the human mind. human beings, by virtue of being human beings, are endowed with a powerful thing called the mind. most people mistake displays of this power for coincidence. when you think of someone and the person calls, its not just by chance that he/she called. its because we are all connected at a very subconscious level. to quote john travolta in phenomenon, "we're all made of the same stuff - energy". and its from that energy that our minds derive their power.

everything we want in life happens twice, or atleast it should. the first time is in our minds, when we actually visualise what the actual result of our wants would be, and the second time is in reality. the difference between wanting something and actually achieving that want is purely desire. you just have to want it so damn bad that it consumes your very being. it could be anything - from a new bike, to admission at IIM-A, to whatever else. but there lies the problem.


with the dream comes the fear of failure. fear of people laughing at us when we fail. the problem is with the fact that most people are too scared to dream and when they cross that hurdle, their demon becomes doubt. faith is among the many things that binds us. it gives us reason to be. most people dream, and then say, "thats never gonna happen". its that kind of thought pattern that causes failure. when you do anything, you must believe in what it is that you are doing. the entire world might be against you, but if YOU believe, then its absolutely fine.

we live in a cynical, hypocritical world. that is a sad, but true fact of life. and try as you might, you can never please the masses. the best we can do is to please ourselves, and the select few who we know will stand by us. so dream, follow your dream, and have a ball achieving your dream. May the force be with you all........

Startup

Hello all... this is my first blog entry ever, so kindly forgive anything which could be deemed unfit.... Since i fancy myself as a bit of a poet, i would like to begin my blogging journey with a poem i wrote a long time ago, for a friend of mine.....so here goes nothing....

Her Dilemma

All her fears slowly came
Creeping up behind her.
She was scared that they would all
Rush up on her and find her.

She lived in the comfortable
Warmth of her abstract.
She did not want him to invade
Her heart's forbidden tract.

Her dilemma was not at all
About what she had to do.
Her dilemma was all about
What she was not to do.

She denied her true feelings
Thinking them to be untrue.
Her mind and her emotions
Swirled like some strange brew.

Her silence he accepted,
But it was what he could not bear.
He thought she felt the same way,
His heart her stillness did tear.

What could have been was not
And what should not have been was.
The result of her dilemma was that
She knew what she had lost.

so there... that was Her Dilemma. its a bit juvenile, but hey...its my first time...and it was written a long time ago...Now, some credit is to be given where it is due....

Meghna, thanks for everything....u know what u did... for those who dont know meghna, pay no attention...its better u don't...