The Cosmic Dance
Shiva Performing the Dance of Bliss while Vishnu and Brahma Provide Musical Accompaniment, ca. 1730, Andhra Pradesh (India), LACMA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
In Hinduism, there is a beautiful mythological story which explains nature of things. It says that there is a constant struggle between evil and good forces. Both of these forces discovered that if they made a certain search in the ocean, they could discover nectar. The one who drank the nectar would become immortal. So, they tried to find it.
But as life balances everywhere, they found the nectar. With that, they also found a poison which was hiding underneath the nectar. Nobody was ready to try the poison. One of them thought that the first hippie in the world might be willing to try it, he was Lord Shiva. They asked Shiva, ‘You try this poison’. Shiva agreed. Shiva drank all the poison. He kept it just in his neck which is the fifth centre of the body. The fifth centre is the creative centre, which was destroyed and Shiva became the god of destruction.
In Hinduism, there is a trinity of Hindu gods -
- Brahma, the Creator
- Vishnu, the Preserver
- Mahesh or Shiva, the Destroyer
Brahma is said to have created the universe. Vishnu sustains and maintains the universe. Mahesh is said to destroy the universe.
The very nature of things in the world is hidden in these 3 gods.
Be it a life, an emotion or an experience; each of these follow the pattern of creation, maintenance and destruction. The duration, impact and scale of each of these maybe different, but at an abstract level they all follow the same cycle of creation, preservation and destruction. These create harmony within the natural cycle which sustains life in this world.
If we closely understand this, we can understand why certain thing happens to certain people at certain times.
Let’s take an example:
A superpower is born, this very creation takes some time span, and the growth is upward. After a certain point the growth is almost flat but in upward direction. This is sustained for a while. Then comes the time when the country dissolves or get destroyed by a war, world dynamics, etc. It can take 100 years or 500 years. But whatever gets created has to get destroyed at some point to make space for new creation. Over the history, we have seen nations born and die.
This pattern can be seen in a human life starting from child to middle age to old age to death. It is a cosmic dance beautifully orchestrated by nature. We are the dancers on this stage created by these 3 energies of nature.
Shiva’s power of destruction is a necessary action in order to make room for new opportunities and maintain the energy required to pursue new ideas. We see the benefits of destruction when certain wildfires create space for new seedlings to take root and develop into the next generation of growth in the forests. Our ability for growth is often hindered by our inflated sense of unlimited capacity; growth can only be achieved when we are able to let go to make room for the new. Destruction is also the ability to embrace impermanence of certain aspects of life in order to let go and move on from them.
Vishnu is the preserver thereby maintaining the order of things. Be it meditation or a morning cup of tea with a newspaper or devotion to our daily rituals helps us maintain our mind, body and spirit.
Brahma is the creator. It’s good to maintain but it is also equally important to let go of our comfortable life and spring into action when needed thereby igniting the Brahma energy to enact change and progress.
All these 3 aspects of nature when practised individually helps activate a certain energy. All energies are required for flow of life. Each living thing has one of the dominant forces at a particular point in time while other living being has another dominant force. In a way all beings balance each other to create flow of life on earth and in the universe.
Spiritual Evolution is governed by the Law of Cycles where each cycle goes through creation, sustainable and dissolution. It is also cyclical in nature but on an upward trend.
It is a cosmic dance beautifully orchestrated by nature. We are the dancers on this stage each attuned to these 3 energies of nature at different intensity at different point in time.
Remember even if you got destroyed, this energy has created a ground for something new that will spring up with time. It has to, there is no other way, whether we like it or not. That is the nature of things.
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