Mano Laya With Lord Shiva (Shiva Tandavas)

Faith Mysticism

oi-Staff

By Super Admin

Friday, July 22, 2011, 11:13

The nature of classical music brings out the emotions within, in a controlled self-contained way where the energy within is channelized into rhythm with slow delivery. The mind can lose itself into the notes as they spill forth, and appreciation and enjoyment of the forthcoming notes brings out the emotion in the highest form. It's witnessed in the difference between Ananda Tandava and Rudra Tandava in Bharata Shastra. Every emotion is a display of what the human being is capable of, and if surrendered, even the heaviest emotion can be enjoyable.

Ananda Tandava

Ananda Tandava is slow, a hand holding beat that dictates the next move. The body flows slowly, the emotions finding their way through mudra. It's like speech with the Lord Himself. The Lord dances, His eyes expressing the grace and essence of the dance as he performs in the stage of life.

As the note rises He leads, moving gracefully from one emotion to the other. The back moves, swaying with the note, the echoing rhythm around the pillared hall, the chalangai(ghunguru) being the only connect to this realm. All feet locked within the notes, the rhythm rolls on.

As the flames rise around His moving body, there is vigor in the air, even when he stands still. There is energy that is charged all around him even when he is in complete dhyana, there is purity in the space as his steps cut through the air. This is Nataraja, in true form dancing around a ring of flames waking the worlds of the dead and living to witness his beauty within oneself. It's a strange experience when the emotions find ways to explode through silent moves, so self contained that their potency needs to be experienced and not understood.

A quiet world, where the eyes express the profound meaning of creation, the feet move together and the fingers bloom into mudra, each abhinaya as words in silence falling out. Such is the potency of classical music and dance, understood by few, experienced in silence, each experience a concentrate within the self brought out, felt, cherished, remembered.

Rudra Tandava

Rudra Tandava, is a little wilder and faster in excitement adds more flavor to the moves. The excitement within is a completely different emotion jumping forth uncontrolled. The flow of the emotion much faster this time, needs to be directed with more care for the emotions move faster than the body itself. It is an intense display of agitation, one that brings alive the pain and anger in Lord Shiva when Sati burnt herself at the sacrifice of King Daksha.

Rudra Tandava is a walk through the minefield of sprouting emotions each in a different direction as he expresses himself in different abhinaya to dance through in rhythm. The result is a vibrant move of the body, a sway so strong, that the world stops to look at this display of high emotion. The eyes speak in intensity so strong, the expression reflecting on the face, as the charge spreads across this fiery stage. The feet rise and fly into the air as the chalangai(ghunguru) clap to the wild swing.

It's just a world of pure emotion, a vibration in the mind, ripples cutting through the air as He rhythmically move, in the light of the dancing crescent moon among the jatas that form silent black waves enveloping Him into complete mano laya.

Complete emotion experienced!