7 secrets of Shiva: A review

7 secrets of Shiva: A review

This book encapsulates tremendous stories from the vast oceanic and rich texts in the Hindu pantheon. The author also very aptly explains to us the symbolic understanding within the stories. I would like to share with you one of the stories that has stuck with me. This story is in the last chapter of the book. Each chapter represents different manifestations of Shiva. The last one is about the secret of Nataraja - the dancing Shiva

In the story, a group of Mimansikas were performing yagna in a forest when Shiva walked past naked. Shiva is absolutely oblivious to them due to his bliss. Mimansikas however blame Shiva for the distractions. Mimamsa means introspection or inquiry. They saw Shiva as a threat. His immaculacies perplexed them. His self-containment puzzled them. He neither sought wealth, nor power. His nakedness made them feel insecure. And they felt their wives would leave their side and chase Shiva.

In fear, they saw him as a predator and decided to attack him. With their knowledge of yagnas, they invoked creatures from the fire and unleashed them against Shiva, First came the tiger, then a serpent, and finally a demon. Shiva showed no sign of fear. He simply caught the tiger by its jaw, skimmed it alive, and wrapped its hide, dripping with blood around the body. Shiva then picked up the snake and put it around his neck: there it sat, still with its upraised hood. Finally, Shiva jumped on the back of the demon, broke his back, and started to dance, the only music being provided by his rattle drum.

At first, the Mimansikas are terrified. However, they realized that this was no ordinary man. Fear turned into awe as the performance continued; it was mesmerizing! Shiva’s hands feet and body moved gracefully, in perfect coordination. His whole form seemed to expand. The ends of his hair rose up to touch the skies: the stars and the planets stopped to gaze. The tips of his fingers grazed the horizons where the gods assembled spellbound the thud of footsteps forced the demons and serpents to rise from their subterranean kingdoms. Such a performance had never been seen before. No nymph had danced like this. Shiva’s consort, Shakti smiled from afar as she fell in love once again.

The Rishi Bharata made a note of all that he saw: the change in expressions or abhinayas the twists of the body known as angikas, the hand gestures known as mudras, and the mood evoked known as bhavas. The feelings stirred are known as rasas. All this he put down in the Natya- Shastra, the treatise on performing arts.

The Mimansikas relayed this was no ordinary performance. Unlike a gentle seductive dance which is meant to enchant, knows a lasya, this was tandava, forceful, as if demanding attention and evoking thought. Shiva was communicating. This was not entertainment. This was enlightenment. This was the Ananda-Tandava, the dance of bliss.

Shiva struck a whole series of poses to stir the imagination. When he froze, the final pose held the entire wisdom of the Vedas. What the Mimansikas had not realized performing hundreds of rituals was realized by that one pose.

The author further goes on to explain the various symbols used in the story along with the last pose. For instance, the right palm that is upraised in the abhaya mudra, sensing the fear of the mimansikas communicates “Do not fear”. Similarly, he goes on to explain the entire pose seamlessly for which you will have to get the book.

The Mimansikas represent the mind in some way, always searching and creating to preserve but Shiva as the destroyer dances, and in his dance all the secrets blossom naturally. Shiva is the eternal witness, the deathless, and the destroyer. Bholenath is not so bhole after all, hah Prabhu? The Sanatani is not in search of meaning, we are the followers of Shiva, and we are in it for salvation, for moksha.

Om Namo Shivaya

Note from the writer of the blog: There are a few paragraphs in this review that I have taken exactly from the book because the author has written them with such finesse and poise that I could not do justice by writing about them myself.