Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 232: Shri Mahesvara mahakalpa mahatandava saksini (OM maheshvaramahAkalpamahA tANDavasAkShiNyai namaH)

In Namams 199 to 248, the Divine Mother’s  Saguna or infiniteness power and glory are described. 

The Divine Mother is the witness of the great Tandava dance by Mahesvara (Shiva) at the end of great creation cycle. 

Maha pralaya (the great dissolution) is the destruction of the universe. Puranas states that, Lord Shiva the great destroyer, after absorbing the universe within Him, does the Tandava dance in great bliss. 

The Divine Mother is beyond everything; She is the sole witness of the pralaya and the Tandava dance by the Lord Shiva. Mahakalpa is the form of the Divine Mother being the sole witness to the Tandava dance by the Lord Shiva. 

Brahma has two states; one, being awake to do the creation and two, the sleeping state during the pralaya (great destruction of the universe).At the second state, everything in this universe goes back to starting point. That state is called kalpam. 

Mahesvara is awake during pralaya. The Divine Mother and Lord Shiva are unison at that point of time as Arthanarisvara; Lord Shiva then absorbs the universe within Him; the Divine Mother stands aside as the only witness to the pralaya Dance or Tandava. The Divine mother causes such great bliss in Lord Shiva. 

After the pralya, Universe gets back to its original state; only to emerge with life through re-creation. The universe at the starting point is called kalpam. Kalpam means creation. The bottom of the sea always has its own self. Likewise the Supreme Self is in its own self eternally. 

Upanishads state that even a spider spreads its web using the yarn from its own body and when needed pulls the whole web back into itself. The universe is created by the Lord Shiva together with the Divine Mother. During pralaya, then Lord Shiva absorbs back the whole universe within Him. 

Pra means great; layam is disappearing and pralayam therefore, implies great universe disappearance. A small thing losing its form but taking the larger object form disappears required a large object. 

Smaller universe is disappearing in much bigger Lord Shiva. It is called Mahapralaya. As this destruction is done properly by the Lord Shiva, it is termed as Mahakalpa. Nobody other than the Lord Shiva (Isvara) can do this massive destruction. After absorbing the whole universe, He is totally happy, which comes out in the form of dance called Tandavam. During pralaya only the Divine Mother and Lord Shiva stay alive eternally to control and witness the whole process. This is called “Tirodhana Kari”, the meaning of that is “total disappearance of all things”. We will discuss this concept in detail in future Namam 270 soon. 

Acarya Baskararaya shows evidence from Pancadasistava on the Divine Mother’s state during the pralaya: “Victory to your form, bearing the noose, goad, sugar-cane bow and the arrow of flowers, who is the only witness of the Tandava dance of the axe-bearing Parabhairava, at the time of His drawing the universe into Himself.” 

The Devi Bhagavata describes the Divine Mother at the time of Mahapralaya (the dissolution of the universe) as sporting, after absorbing of all beings into Herself and drawing in the entire universe. 

This is the beauty of the Arthanarisvara (half – female and half – male God) concept. Mahadevi (the Divine Mother) is the only witness to Mahadevas’s cosmic dance as They both are indeed ONE joined together as word and meaning; they are the parents of the whole universal creatures.  

Lord Shiva is dancing 

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 12 September 2020.

 

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San Ramon, California, USA, with Commentary by T. V Narayana Menon

2.       Shri Lalitha Sahasranama Stostram published in Tamil by N. Ramaswami Iyer charities’ societies, Trichirapalli, India, with Commentary by C. V. Radhakrishna Sastry.

3. The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sithbavandar.