Paatum Naane

அசையும் பொருளில் இசையும் நானே
ஆடும் கலையின் நாயகன் நானே

எதிலும் இயங்கும் இயக்கம் நானே
என்னிசை நின்றால் அடங்கும் உலகே

நான் அசைந்தால் அசையும் அகிலமெல்லாமே
அறிவாய் மனிதா உன் ஆணவம் பெரிதா ?

A stanza in the middle of a song from a old Tamil movie - Thiruvilayadal. In the movie, the song is sung by Lord Shiva. The stanza means,

'I am the music in all things that move
I am the king of dance.

I move anything that moves
As my movement halts, world comes to a standstill.

As I move, the world moves
Hey human, is ur arrogance worth something?'

Whoaaaa!! Just a few lines by Kannadasan but loaded with tonnes of meaning. If this were written a few centuries ago, it would have walked hands down into the Tamil mystical literature in Hinduism. This so beautifully captures the meaning of the Cosmic dance of shiva.


Ananda Coomaraswamy echos Kannadasans thought in his book, 'The dance of shiva'. He writes,

In the night of Brahman, Nature is inert, and cannot dance till Shiva wills it; He rises from his rapture, and dancing sends through inert matter pulsing waves of awakening sound, and lo! matter also dances appearing as a glory round about Him. Dancing, He sustains its manifold phenomena. In the fulness of time, still dancing, he destroys all forms and names by fire and gives new rest. This is poetry; but not less, science.


Yes, you read the last line right. It is poetry but nonetheless science. Fritjof Capra writes about this in 'The tao of physics',

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. According to quantum field theory, all interactions between the constituents of matter take place through the emission and absorption of virtual particles. More than that, the dance of creation and destruction is the basis of the very existence of matter, since all material particles ‘self-interact’ by emitting and reabsorbing virtual particles. Modern physics has thus revealed that every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction.


Amazing parallels. Guess if we dig into the mystical literature, we should be able to dig out a few more of such gems. Capras' book has many such parallels. If he (one who is not acquainted with such literature from birth) can point out so many, I am sure we can point out quite a few.


PS: And with that, core-dumped completes its century :)