The Cosmic Dancer & Origin Of the Universe

Dear One,

He is known as Nataraja - The King Of Dancers. It is one of the epithets of Lord Shiva, the Destroyer of the Hindu pantheon. Lord Shiva is a cosmic enigma. He represents the merging of opposites. He wields the power to destroy death and helps usher in newness and birth.

For most of us, Shiva or any of the other half a billion hindu gods and goddesses are divinities residing in their starry abodes in a faraway galaxy. Willing to humbly differ, I feel they are the representations of a deeper cosmological subtleties.

Shiva, for example, is a representation of the primordial principle that existed when nothing else existed. He is represented by the primordial sound OM. It began as a frenzied dance, and the Universe emerged out of the resulting chaos. Thus began the process of creation.

To quote from the Rig veda -

In the beginning there was neither existence nor non- existence; there was no atmosphere, no sky, and no realm beyond the sky. What power was there? Where was that power? Who was that power? Was it finite or infinite?

There was neither death nor immortality. There was nothing to distinguish night from day. There was no wind or breath. God alone breathed by his own energy. Other than God there was nothing.

In the beginning darkness was swathed in darkness. All was liquid and formless. God was clothed in emptiness. Then fire arose within God; and in the fire arose love. This was the seed of the soul. Sages have found this seed within their hearts; they have discovered that it is the bond between existence and non-existence.

- Rig Veda 10:129.1-7

The above verses from the oldest living text - The Rig Veda, has paved way for modern day postulates of Cosmology and Quantum Physics. Big Bang theory stipulates that at the beginning the entire universe was concentrated at one point. Whether it was mass or energy all was inside one point At that point about 14 billion years ago a big explosion took place and the galaxies started forming and started running away from the center.

The Rig Veda is more explicit in its account of creation. The whole universe was at first concentrated at one point or dot (Bindu). It is the Primordial Seed of creation. After a period of germination it undergoes an explosion (Sphota) resulting in the sound (Nada) of creation (OM). (Sound is used in the scriptures for all kinds of vibrations.) All creation (Kala) proceeds from this sound. Thus the doctrine of Nada, Bindu, and Kala is but an implied reference to the Big Bang theory of creation.

We have a storehouse of encrypted scientific knowledge in our ancient scriptures waiting to be deciphered by modern minds. All it requires is an open mind and a willingness to explore without any religious or scientific prejudices. Those who unlock it, shall come face to face with the very secrets of Creation itself.

The truth is out there.