Lord Nataraj is one of the forms of Shiva. He is known as the Lord of the Dance.
He generally has 4 arms and is surrounded by a ring of fire, as you can see in the image. This Nataraj statue is at Sri Sakthi Amma’s ashram in Vellore, South India. The lady in white is my daughter Gayatri, offering flowers at the Divine’s feet.
We have been to temples where there are hundreds of different images of this one God, in an incredible variety of dancing poses, including hand stands and all kinds of gymnastic moves.The purpose of the imagery is to remind us that reality involves change. We have to move with it.
The circle around the outside is Divine fire. This represents change, fire that is consuming the past and liberating us for the next sacred moment to begin.
There is usually also a drum associated with this image, upon which the Lord of the Dance sets the Cosmic beat with his drumbeat.
The imagery has been developed over thousands of years to help us understand something of Divine consciousness.
It is also helping us to understand that each and every thought, word or action, by anyone in the world, including you right now reading this, will change things in the Cosmos. And then, a re-balancing has to occur. The whole balance of creation is in a dance, and the Divine consciousness that is within that dance is what we refer to as Nataraj. It is the very same consciousness that holds the solar system together, the seasons turning and the rhythms of the natural world in their correct order.
When one connects with Lord Nataraj, there is help in letting go of how things were in the past and becoming present with how life is unfolding now. Continual adjustment is called for all of us to make the most of our lives.
There is an old, standard Kirtan song that we have enjoyed for many years and singing it is bound to put us all into a state of bliss. Sometimes the song goes for a very long time because we are so engrossed in the blessings, we forget to stop! People will be up dancing, smiling, heads attuned to the downpouring of light and feet moving to the beat of the Cosmic drum. You can probably find many versions of this on music streaming platforms. One of my favourites is by Jai Uttal on his Kirtan! Album and another good Shiva song is the Dance of Shiva on Alchemy Between Us by Jyotishakti and Vidya. Here are the words:
Nataraj, Nataraja
Jaia Shiva Shankara
Nataraja
Om Namah Shivaya
The words mean, “victory to Lord Nataraj, Lord of the Dance, bringer of all that is auspicious!”
For me, the Dance of Nataraj is a great reminder that we need to keep reinventing ourselves, and this is also the evolutionary pulse of the universe we happen to call home.
