The Meaning of the Naṭarāja / Shiva Statue

We rocked up to the shala in Paros and there was a Shiva Naṭarāja statue at the top (image below ↓).

Not uncommon, it's seen everywhere, in almost every yoga studio in the world. I've often asked people what they think that image represents or means, and often the answer is that it is Shiva. Lord of destruction. And we leave it at that.

That answer isn't wrong, but it isn't right either 😵‍💫🫣. The image in Hindu tradition represents Shiva as the Dancer. Naṭarāja meaning Lord of the Dance. It represents Shiva as the cosmic dancer, and everything and anything in existence exists within that image and exists in Shiva's dance. This connects directly to leela, the ancient Indian idea of existence as divine play.

Yoga and Hinduism do meet but are different at the same time (as baffling as that can sound 🤷🏾‍♂️🫣). In yogic culture, that image is still Shiva but represents the universe in motion. Shiva is indeed the dancer, and this dance represents the cycle of being. The dance of existence.

I was thinking of this, sat down yesterday at the beachside. I was sat alone just tossing stones into the water 🌊 when I thought of the water and how we see nature. This very same nature that we find so serene and peaceful can also cause destruction unimaginable. Such is the mystery and nature of.. nature.

The same is true of Shiva's dance. Shiva is depicted as a destroyer, but it means more. Like nature, there is a peaceful and meditative quality to the dance. And there is also the destruction it can cause with little to no warning.

The image of the cosmic dance represents to me at least, the fragility of reality. It isn't supposed to make intellectual sense. It's one of Yoga's and indeed life's biggest mysteries 🤷🏾‍♂️.

And that image is Shiva, but extends beyond Shiva as a person and towards Shi-va as the underlying reality of existence. It represents existence in human form. I hope that makes some sense 😵‍💫.

It can look overly religious, and it can be for some. But yogically, you are meant to look beyond the dancer (Shiva) and see the dance. The cosmic dance that is always intricately balanced around us.

Confused? Sure. But as I always say in teacher training when waxing philosophical, you don't have to understand it to understand it 😵‍💫. As Neil deGrasse Tyson says, “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.”

Further thoughts..... ↓

Continuing on, I said that the image of Shiva as Naṭarāja (above) is, of course, a sacred religious image to many, but yogically and philosophically it can also be looked upon as an image that represents the fragile nature of reality and life. A way, almost, of appreciating what a blessing it is simply to be here when we know from history how volatile the nature of life can be.

Countless lives have come and gone before us and, in the context of reality, we are here for the most fleeting of moments. We exist for a while and then, like everything else in Shiva’s dance, we are gone.

So in many ways, this image can be seen as a call to prayer. Or awareness. Not necessarily a religious call, but a symbol that reminds us of life and the appreciation we should have for simply experiencing it while we are here.

In the context of a yoga class, I think it can represent something else too ↓

The next time you come to class and I play music from the Indian subcontinent 🪈🪘, or when you come to my yin class, close your eyes at the end. Sitting or lying down, it doesn’t matter. No mudras, no postures. You just listen 👂🏽.

At first, you listen to the sounds and allow them to take your mind wherever it wants to go. You don’t fight it. Then, after some time, you are no longer consciously listening. You simply feel. You feel yourself being carried away until it is almost as if the sound is no longer coming from somewhere outside of you, but from within you. The separation between you and the music begins to disappear. You are both the person hearing the sound and the sound itself ✨.

I was thinking about all of this whilst our friend and student Fraser was driving us through the streets of Paros 🇬🇷. At times, it felt a little like Herbie Goes Bananas 🚘🍌, but somewhere between the questionable driving (😝) and our insightful conversations, I started thinking again about this statue of Shiva.

Most people look at Naṭarāja and only see Shiva. They see the dancer, but do they ever really consider the dance? Know what I mean? 🧐

We do the same with people. We see the person standing in front of us, but we rarely see the dance that brought them there. Their history, their struggles, their losses, their fears and all the circumstances moving beneath the surface that we know nothing about.

As I once read:

“Are you proud of yourself tonight that you have insulted a total stranger whose circumstances you know nothing about?”

We often judge the dancer without knowing anything about the dance.

For me, Yoga begins when we stop separating the two and recognise that none of us exists independently of everything that has shaped us, moved us and carried us to this moment.

We are not simply the dancer. We are the dance too ✨

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Namaskar - Eternal Seeker

Zahir Akram

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