Most people today must be aware of the ‘large Hadron Collider’ in Switzerland , unveiled with much fanfare this month . Its purpose is to recreate the primordial conditions of the universe, and create a small version of the so-called ‘big bang’, by smashing atoms at near-light speed.
However few people are aware that on June 18, 2004, an unusual landmark was unveiled at CERN, the European Centre for Research in Particle Physics in Geneva – a 2m tall statue of the Hindu deity ‘Nataraja’ who is none other than ‘Shiva’. The statue, symbolizing Shiva’s cosmic dance of creation and destruction, was given to CERN by the Indian Government to celebrate the research centre’s long association with India.
Nataraj, the dancing form of Lord Shiva, is a symbolic synthesis of the most important aspects of Hinduism, and the summary of the central tenets of this Vedic religion. The term ‘Nataraj’ means ‘King of Dancers’ (Sanskrit nata = dance; raja = king).
A special plaque next to the Shiva statue explains the significance of the metaphor of Shiva’s cosmic dance with several quotations from top physicist Fritjof Capra’s book – The Tao of Physics.
Here is a quotation from Fritjof Capra that has been put in that special plaque “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 and for the modern physicists, then, Shiva’s dance is the dance of subatomic matter. Hundreds of years ago, Indian artists created different forms of visual images of dancing Shiva 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.”
Jagadguru Swami Sathyananda Saraswathy describes Shiva thus:
The word Shiva means ‘prosperity’ which is achieved only when liberation is attained from all bondage. The experience of becoming liberated from all attachments is got from the Shiva concept :
“Ashtamyam Vrujatae Rudram
Pasoonam cha Patim Tadha “
(Nadabindu)
The mystic spell ‘OM’ has 12 measures or magnitudes. The ascetic who gives up the gross body during the eighth magnitude of ‘OM’ reaches the plane of ‘Rudra’ or the ‘Rudra World’. It is also called ‘Pasupati Loka’. The experiences of the ‘self’ from the time of creation pass through endless crores of births and ultimately reach the condition of salvation. When Shiva is perceived as an individual the principle relating to the self should not be forgotten.
Swamiji explains from the Shiva Purana as:
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