The Liberating Dance of Bharata

Dr. Padmaja Suresh, in an inspiring presentation, demonstrated the practice of dance as an ideal path to salvation

That spiritual evolution is an inevitable consequence of nāṭyopāsanā was the highlight of Dr. Padmaja Suresh’s Tattvāloka ‘Onward March to Rāma Rājya’ distinguished lecture on October 21, 2018. Dr. Suresh, an acclaimed Bharatanāṭyaṁ practitioner and research scholar, through her presentation, ‘Rousing the Ātmārāma through Dance’, persuasively established Indian classical dance as a path to self-realisation.

The basic element, which invokes emotions in the performer and also that which links the audience with the performer, is one and the same. “The magical web called rasa connects us all together,” she declared.

Following a brief introduction, the speaker invoked the blessings of the primordial Lord, Ganeśa, with a dance based on the Tamil hymn, Prabho Gaṇapate. The short performance brought out the tattva (philosophical essence) of Ganeśa being the mūlādhāra adhipatī (presiding lord of the base yogic cakra). Prayers are offered to him, the one with the large elephant head of wisdom, so that we are able to overcome the limitations which bind us to the world, the mūla. The dance invocation included a graphic portrayal of the rising of the kuṇḍalinī from the mūlādhāra cakra.

Dr. Suresh explained that in nāṭya there is always an invocatory worship offered to the devatas who are present in each and every part the body. There are also deities invoked in the theatre as guardians of specific areas. In the śṛṅgāra kakṣa or the make-up chamber, the deity of death, Yama, is invoked. It is symbolic of the death of the actor’s individual ego as he assumes the role of his character. On the other side of the chamber is the deity of destiny who absolves the actor of all the sins of destiny!

Nāṭya Śāstra is considered to be the fifth Veda. Bharata munī composed it after assimilating knowledge from all the four Vedas. Apsarās (celestial dancers) like Rambhā and Urvaśī were the first students of dance. “It was their holy mission to teach how natya reflects the cosmic drama through the stage,” said the speaker.

The Philosophy of Dance

The jīva is on a quest for the absolute, Śiva, through the sublimation of Śakti by a series of reduction in identity with objective reality. Saint Tiṛumūlar, of the Śaiva Siddhānta tradition and who influenced music and dance immensely, gives the insight in his Tiṛumandiraṁ, “the goal is to ultimately have the vision and immersion in that Dance which scales the heights of nāda and attains perfection or nādānta.”

Nādānta, the climax, is the removal of all ignorance. Nāṭya has inbuilt goals of nāda and nādānta which are the highest goals for every sādhaka, whether he is a performer or a spectator.

Just like the Vedantic seeker pierces through the paṅca koṣas or the five sheaths, a dancer progresses from the physical to the emotional to the psychical and finally to the metaphysical sheaths. He then sees that his dance on the stage is the same as the vibration of the tiniest particle of matter and also as the cosmic dance of Śiva. This is the ānanda of nādānta realised within by the practitioner of nāṭya.

Sādhanā of dance ensures that the polar extremes in the personality are completely removed. It is important to note that the sādhanā emphasises on development of the left and right sides of the body equally. The left symbolises matter and the right, the Consciousness. The beautiful integration of the right and left serves to purge all undesirable traits and, as a catharsis, liberates from all shackles.

When one plays the role of a character with negative attributes, detrimental impressions of the character tend to remain in the mind of the performer. Practice of nāṭya automatically eliminates even these impressions which when left lingering in the mind may bind and inhibit the achievement of one’s true potential.

Rasa Theory

Rasa is the goal of the dance enterprise. At the gross level, it refers to the ephemeral changing moods of everyday life; Bharata lists eight of them. But rasa is also the supreme beatitude that remains after one overcomes the limitations of the gross rasas.

Although inherent in human beings, we are unable to experience the bliss in this world of frenzy. The celebrated philosopher and commentator of Nāṭya Śāstra, Abhinavagupta, says that rasa is single and identical to Braḥman asvāda, the taste of the Braḥman. A nāṭyopasākā forever delights in his own, essential, beatitude, the Ātmārāma.

Rasa has great importance on the stage where the entire world spectacle is brought to life. For example, one may relate with the characters in a performance and may even shed tears empathising with the staged circumstances. However, at the end of the performance, one goes back home feeling happy to have cried! This is the subtle reason why Abhinavagupta says rasa is single. What truly remains is the sweet nectar of rasa that is very much inherent in us.

The dramatic spectacle takes one to the single ahaṁ-idaṁ centre and grants the experience of the artist, the musician, the composer, the poet and the audience, being in the one common sphere of rasa.

Rasa is also experienced in nṛtta where the rhythm immediately grants one the same rasa of ahaṁ-idaṁ. Eventually, that experience too dissolves and, one arrives at that single point of absolute vibrant silence, the anāhata dhvanī, which connects us to Ātmārāma.

Highest form of Worship

In the real tantric practice of dance, nothing is taboo. There is nothing which is ugly or grotesque. It is for the same reason why the art romanticises the motif of Śiva dancing in the cremation ground, with all his hair let loose and with serpents crawling all over.

The dancer’s instrument is the body. Energy is conserved not dissipated in nāṭya. The great ṛṣīs devised karaṅas and dance structures in such a manner that there is sacred geometry at play.

Dance opens up the divine pathway through the integration of the physical, emotional, psychical and metaphysical dimensions of the practitioner who in turn leads the spectator to rasabraḥman.

“It is time, therefore, we reflect on the real role of nāṭya in society,” said Dr. Suresh.

“Moral lessons are ingrained in the theme of our dances. Such lessons can help to show the path of dharma. The art is suffused with reality of life that anyone can relate to. Even a child can see the spectacle and enjoy. Moreover, every step in nāṭya connects with the Supreme Consciousness,” so saying, the speaker emphatically affirmed nāṭya as the antidote to anarchy in our contemporary world.

Dr. Padmaja Suresh aptly supported the ideas put forward with dance-demonstrations. Her dance based on the verse, ‘Śive Śṛṅgārārdra,’ from Ādi Śaṅkara’s Saundaryalaharī captured the depth of rasa. She depicted the glorious harmony of the left and the right through a dance on the Ardhanārīśvara Stotra before concluding the programme with a maṅgala dance offering to Ātmārāma.

***