Chidambaram Rahasyam – Where Shiva resides as Lord Nataraja

This blog is in reference to my visit to Chidambaram temple dated Jan 31st 2024

Who hasn’t, as a child, imagined the vast universe and tried to visualize the extremities of space, only to be dumbfounded by the realization that there cannot be any extremities because, if there were, what would lie beyond them? As a child, I spent several nights trying to understand if there could be any end to this vast universal space and was always dumbfounded. Yes, this manifestation dumbfounds all of us until we grow up and try to explain things with logic, but honestly, this manifestation defies logic. The Shiva Sutra says "Vismaya Yoga Bhumika," which means one of the first steps in the unfolding of the spiritual process, or yoga, is looking at this manifestation with extreme astonishment. This universe is definitely worthy of astonishment!

The space aspect of manifestation is considered the primordial aspect as the scriptures declare it to be the first "tatva" to be manifested, followed by the other elements. In my experience, it is impossible to imagine manifestation without space. But to me, space is closely linked to consciousness (chit) due to their limitless nature. Upon trying, we fail to determine the extremities of both space and consciousness. Hence, I was very excited to visit the Chidambaram temple that worships Lord Shiva as space. But to me, this temple symbolized Chidakasha (sky of consciousness).

In the Chidambaram temple, Lord Shiva is worshipped in 3 forms – the gross form as the Nataraja, the subtle form as Shiva Linga, and the formless. As a spiritual seeker, also, when we go within, we experience these three forms – the gross form (physical body), the subtle form (thoughts & sensations), and the formless reality (consciousness or knowing element) within us.

There are other interpretations also that are possible for these 3 forms:

This could represent our material body (sthula), subtle body (sukshma), and causal body (karana) respectively.

This could also represent our waking state, dream state, and deep sleep state.

This could even represent the material universe, the prana (energy behind the material universe), and formless sat (pure existence).

Upon visiting the Chidambaram temple, I discovered that the main temple is depicted as a human body, with the five walls depicting the five koshas (sheaths), 26,000 tiles depicting the number of breaths per day, the 72,000 nails depicting the number of nadis, nine kalasas depicting the nine shaktis, and many more such depictions that could be very interesting to a yogi. The main sanctum that houses the Lord is depicted in its three forms, as mentioned above. This proclaims to me that Shiva resides in each human being, and that it is possible to delve within ourselves to experience our own reality that our scriptures declare as being Shiva.

The Shiv Sutras declare “Chaitanya (Consciousness) = Atman = Shiva + Shakti.” Upon entering the main temple, the most important ritual is the darshan of Shiva as Lord Nataraja (the cosmic dancer). The Nataraja, as the gross form, represents the five divine acts of creation, protection, destruction, binding & releasing. The first three are very commonly known; however, the last two depict the following:

The binder, portrayed by the right leg holding the demon down, symbolizes the mortals that are bound to the material world and undergo cycles of birth and death.

The releaser, portrayed by the raised leg, symbolizes the role where Shiva as Dakshinamoorthy bestows wisdom or knowledge to the jiva and grants them moksha and freedom from samsara.

However, my favorite interpretation of Nataraja was given by one of my spiritual teachers, who mentioned that it symbolized the awakened consciousness recognizing its true nature, dancing upon the senses, and keeping them under its feet.

Another aspect about the darshan of the Nataraja that I would like to mention is the sheer beauty of the idol, which is completely transcendental. It’s no wonder that it is believed that Lord Shiva himself performed Ananda Tandava (cosmic dance) at the Chidambaram temple, which might have inspired the sculpting of the Nataraja statue.

It is impossible to decipher the Chidambaram Rahasyam as there could be several dimensions to this divine temple that, as a human form, we may never know or understand. However, the representation of Shiva as space has had a deep resonance with me. Although consciousness is not an object, it is sometimes attempted to reveal the nature of consciousness using the example of space. The following example comes to mind that attempts to reveal the nature of consciousness with the metaphor of space:

Suppose there are several pots made of mud and imagine the space inside the pot to be a conscious space. Since the space is always surrounded by the pot, it will always believe to have the limitation of the “pot form” until the pots get broken, and the space inside understands that it is, in fact, not limited by the “pot form” and that all surrounding pots have the same space. The space understands its true nature. This is similar to consciousness identifying with the body form. This particular metaphor is very close to my heart as it gave me a deeper insight into my own true nature.

I would also like to address the sheer beauty of the Chidambaram temple – this beauty is unparalleled to anything that I have seen before. It is as if you are transposed to a different era, and it seemed like you have traveled back in time. The divine beauty of the different deities that are worshipped here has to be seen to be believed. My personal favorite was the Vishnu deity sleeping on the Sheesh Naga and the Ganpati deity with its human head form as a child. The dedication of the Podhu Dikshitars (the priests who have been performing the rituals for ages) is beyond comparison, and we were fortunate to have the blessings of the head priest there. Despite going through several hardships in protecting the temple for centuries, I found them extremely humble and filled with divine love towards Shiva and its devotees. It was truly a blessing of Lord Shiva who made this visit possible for me, along with my wife, several friends, and my spiritual guide.

Om Namah Shivaya