NASA and CERN about the Tandava Dance of Lord Shiva

First of all whenever we come to discuss about the most attractive dance across the Universe, the first dance which comes to our mind is the Tandav Dance of the Nataraj form of Mahadev.

Now the question arises that what is the Tandav Dance and why is it named so?

Tandava (also spelled as Tandavam) also known as Tandava Natyam, is a divine dance performed by the Hindu gods. According to Jain traditions, Indra is said to have performed the Tandava in honour of Rishabha (Jain Tirthankara) on the latter’s birth.

The dance performed by Lord Shiva is known as Tandava. His dance indicates the destruction of the Universe. Tandava is a powerful dance that is the source of the cycle of Creation, Preservation and Dissolution. In other words it can be concluded that this Divine Dance was performed by Lord Shiva when the Universe or a part of it has reached its extreme and harming the rest and it have no other way but to destroy and reconstruct it.

Basically, Lord Shiva has been symbolized as an embodiment of energy. His powerful dance is an example for the immense energy and power he possessed. If you think this is a simple dance, think again, because there is a lot of physics behind Shiva’s cosmic dance.

CERN, which is a European Organisation for Nuclear Research, has recently unveiled a huge Nataraja statue- a symbolic representation of Lord Shiva performing his powerful cosmic dance. Well, you might be wondering how a Hindu God got a place in the prestigious science centre. It is quite surprising, isn’t it? Atheists may be in total disagreement with the idea of grounding religious symbols in a place which is full of people with practical intellect. But, scientists are now digging deeper into ancient archives for their discoveries. They are turning towards the wisdom of India and are in continuous search for hidden science.

CERN’s physicists observed and analysed the cosmic dance of Shiva as the dance of a subatomic particle. Indian government then acknowledged the profound significance of Lord Shiva’s cosmic dance. CERN which is located in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 18, 2004, unveiled a 2m tall statue of Indian deity Shiva in his dance posture as a new landmark. Shiva’s Tandava and the famous Nataraja idol are a symbol of creation and destruction. It was gifted by the Indian Government as symbol of research centre’s long association with India.

Unveiled on June 18, 2004, the two-metre-tall statue was a gift from the Government of India.

The statue captures Shiva performing the Tandava, a dance believed to be the source of the cycle of creation, preservation and destruction.The dance exists in five forms which shows the cosmic cycle from creation to destruction:

· ‘Srishti’ — creation, evolution

· ‘Sthiti’ — preservation, support

· ‘Samhara’ — destruction, evolution

· ‘Tirobhava’ — illusion

· ‘Anugraha’ — release, emancipation, grace

A plaque next to the statue, with a quote by Fritj of Capra, explains its significance: “Hundreds of years ago, Indian artists created visual images of dancing Shiva’s in a beautiful series of bronzes. In our time, physicists have used the most advanced technology to portray the patterns of the cosmic dance. The metaphor of the cosmic dance thus unifies ancient mythology, religious art and modern physics.”

Physicist Fritj of Capra further explained in The Tao of Physics: “The Dance of Shiva symbolises the basis of all existence. At the same time, Shiva reminds us that the manifold forms in the world are not fundamental, but illusory and ever-changing. Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and in the birth and death of all living creatures, but is also the very essence of inorganic matter. According to quantum field theory, the dance of creation and destruction is the basis of the very existence of matter. Modern physics has thus revealed that every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction. For the modern physicists then, Shiva’s dance is the dance of subatomic matter, the basis of all existence and of all natural phenomena.”

Basically they started a project named as “The Shiva Project” where they get dancers across the World to perform the “Tandavam” and try to destroy atomic or sub-atomic particles by the same vibration as produced by the dancers while performing the dance. If they could track the vibration produced by the full Tandav Dance of Mahadev, they would try to find a way to avoid such vibrations to strike Earth or the generation of the same from the Earth. Fritz of Capra, a famous scientist, educator and an author wrote about Lord Shiva in his article “The Dance Of Shiva: The Hindu View of Matter in the Light of Modern Physics”. In another book called “The Tao Of Physics”, he beautifully correlates Shiva’s cosmic dance to modern physics. According to modern physics, Shiva’s dance has been described as dance of subatomic matter. It is a depiction of birth and death of matter, which is the continuous cycle of life between creation and destruction.

Discoveries in modern science has already been known for centuries. Our culture, heritage and traditions are just not blind beliefs, but there’s definitely some scientific logic behind everything. And the Lord Shiva’s cosmic dance is a solid proof as well.