Road to Sivarathri — A blissful wave from Sivananda Lahari, Tao of Physics, CERN Europe
Nithyaya trigunatmane purajithe kathyayani sreyase
Sathyaadhi kudumbhine munimana pratyaksha chinmurthaye
Mayasrushta jagantrayaya sakalamnayantha sancharine
Sayam thandava sambramaya jatine seyam nathissambhave. 56
நித்யாய த்ரிகு³ணாத்மநே புரஜிதே காத்யாயநீஶ்ரேயஸே
ஸத்யாயாதி³குடும்பி³நே முநிமந: ப்ரத்யக்ஷசிந்மூர்தயே ।
மாயாஸ்ருʼஷ்டஜக³த்த்ரயாய ஸகலாம்நாயாந்தஸஞ்சாரிணே
ஸாயம் தாண்ட³வஸம்ப்⁴ரமாய ஜடிநே ஸேயம் நதி: ஶம்ப⁴வே ॥ 56॥Translation of Sw. Tapasyananda, Ramakrishna Order
My prostrations to Sambhu, the source of all happiness, who is eternal; whose form is compose of the 3 gunas of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas; who has conquered the three bodies — Gross (Sthoola), Subtle (Subtle/Astral) & Causal (Karana Sareera); who is mother Parvati’s beatitude; who is Satya ; who is the primal householder; who appears in the minds of sages as formed of the stuff off consciousness; who created the three worlds by power of Maya; who forms the theme of all Upanishads; and who whirls round in the performance of the Tandava Dance (Ananda Tandava) at the time of dusk
From Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra
As I sat on that beach my former experiences came to life; I ‘saw’ cascades of energy coming down from outer space, in which particles were created and destroyed in rhythmic pulses; I ‘saw’ the atoms of the elements and those of my body participating in this cosmic dance of energy; I felt its rhythm and I ‘heard’ its sound, and at that moment I knew that this was the Dance of Shiva, the Lord of Dancers worshipped by the Hindus.
Nataraja Statue at CERN, Europe
The statue is a gift from India, celebrating CERN’s long association with India which started in the 1960’s and continues strongly today. It was unveiled by the Director General, Dr Robert Aymar, His Excellency Mr K. M. Chandrasekhar, Ambassador (WTO-Geneva) and Dr Anil Kakodkar, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Dept of Atomic Energy, India.
In the Hindu religion, this form of the dancing Lord Shiva is known as the Nataraj and symbolises Shakti, or life force. As a plaque alongside the statue explains, the belief is that Lord Shiva danced the Universe into existence, motivates it, and will eventually extinguish it. Carl Sagan drew the metaphor between the cosmic dance of the Nataraj and the modern study of the ‘cosmic dance’ of subatomic particles
