Shiva’s dance party
I woke up one night last month from an intense dream— a kind of vision in my sleep. And when I sat up in bed the experience continued. I felt that throughout all the world I could see an alive, vibrant radiance that was connected to— and really the source of everything. And I think for the first time in my life I got the feeling: I was seeing Shiva Dance. And this dance is what keeps existence alive and ever evolving— and is the impetus of our every movement, sound, thought, feeling and desire.
For a few days after this experience my consciousness seem altered in a wonderful way; I felt connected to a beautiful compassion and love that permeated everything and was the very source of everything. That experience has faded, but will probably, surely come back some day. That experience I feel was a great milepost all of us will know, and then hitchhike on from there the best we can even deeper into the Truth; or do a little backtracking for a while.
And in some ways, even after having lived in India for some six years, I was so naive about Shiva, I was not even sure, from a mythological standpoint, if Shiva was considered male or female, or both. I looked on Wikipedia which says:
"The two most common forms of Shiva's dance are the Lasya (the gentle form of dance), associated with the creation of the world. And the Ananda Tandava (dance of bliss, the vigorous form of dance), associated with the destruction of weary worldviews, perspectives, and lifestyles."
Wikipedia’s article on Nataraja is likewise informative. They include some fine things about what is considered (in some mythologies) the primary life force, to all life, Shiva.
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There is a line in one of my Hafiz poems-renderings that gets pretty close to this. I can’t recall the title of the poem, but pretty sure it is in The Gift and reads:
God tossed a pebble into the Ocean of being, that caused all. All.
And all is because of its wake.
The wake's dance, now throughout the infinite. The beloved kissed time and space; where we are all hanging ten— surfing whatever we know of life with all the talents and skill we can summon. All is a response to some extraordinary force of love, of divine gravity; a response to a wish from the heart of all hearts.
Every creature and form is the immaculate conception, and is in labor to give birth to Light. We are in holy labor: that is our every movement, sound and thought, feeling and desire, no matter how messed up one may sometimes feel, or how sad things may sometimes appear.
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Beautiful tear drops the sun and moon.
Not sure where those above words fit in. So you can have them, like a coin you found walking.
Midwives, the sun and moon, the mountains and a bird, and beauty. Beauty. That more fits in. They are helping with our delivery, our glorious arriving.
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Glad to make this blog probably my shortest so far. Well, it was for a while, but then started adding to it in proofreading what is here. And will also say this: once in a while I will ask someone their birthday and then read to them their birthday poem in A Year With Hafiz, or point that out to them if we are just in contact via email. And the birthday for a new friend is September 14, and loved the first two lines in that Hafiz poem that I think really speak to everyone:
You entered form to give a holy message.
An envoy from the Inconceivable is each
of us.
— Hafiz
An envoy from the Inconceivable is each of us. And yes: we are the immaculate conception, because our true worth can never be limited.
It's ... Shiva's Dance Party! And we are hanging ten in the ocean of God.
So as Hafiz says:
Have fun, my dear; my dear, have fun.
Our happiness is a gift to others.