Dr. Fritjof Capra, PhD (Austrian-born American physicist) was born on February 1, 1939 in Vienna, Austria. He earned a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Vienna in 1966. He has done research on particle physics and systems theory and has written popular books, including the famous book The Tao of Physics.

The book was initially published in 1975 by a small publisher; the book became an underground word-of-mouth bestseller before it was picked up by a major American publisher. It has been published in 43 editions in 23 languages ​​so far. Millions have read the book.

He has explained about Shiva Nataraja thus:

“In contrast to the mechanistic view of classical Western science, the Eastern view could be called the organic, holistic, or ecological view.

“For Eastern mystics, objects have a fluid and constantly changing character. Change and transformation, flow and movement, play an essential role in their vision of the world. The cosmos is seen as an inseparable reality, always in movement. It is alive, organic, spiritual and material at the same time. A very similar view is now emerging in modern physics.”

You have to read Capra’s book to understand Shiva Nataraja’s cosmic dance that reveals the mysteries of the Universe.

He explains Shiva Nataraja’s dance: “Modern physics represents matter, not as passive and inert, but as continuously dancing and vibrating. This is very similar to the description of the world of the Eastern mystics. Both emphasize that the universe has to be grasped dynamically.Structures are not static, rigid, but must be seen in terms of dynamic equilibrium.

“Physicists talk about the continuous dance of subatomic matter that occurs all the time. In fact, they have used the words ‘dance of creation and destruction’ or ‘dance of energy.’ This naturally comes to mind when you see some of the pictures of particles taken by physicists in their bubble chambers.

“Of course, physicists are not the only ones who talk about this cosmic dance. Perhaps the most beautiful example of this metaphor exists in Hinduism: the idea of ​​the dancing Lord Siva. Siva is the personification of the cosmic dance. According to Indian tradition, all life is a rhythmic interplay of death and birth, of creation and destruction.

“Indian artists have created beautiful paintings and statues of Lord Siva dancing. These statues are visual images of the cosmic dance, just like the bubble chamber tracks photographed by modern physicists. They are a modern version of Siva’s dance obtained by using the most modern and advanced of our Western technological instruments. To me, the effect is as beautiful and as profound as the magnificent Hindu statues. In both cases, we are imagining an eternal dance of creation and destruction, which is the basis of all natural phenomena, the basis of all existence. Therefore, I have put the two together – here you have the ‘Dance of Siva’ fusing the 12th and 20th century versions. You can see that this image of the dance Cosmica unifies, in a very beautiful way, ancient mythology, religious art, mystical vision and modern science”.

Above are some excerpts from his keynote speech in Los Angels

Physics and Metaphysics Symposium on October 29, 1977.

The figure shown by Dr. Capra is amazing. The Nataraja dance and the dance of the atomic particles are identical. One has to see it to believe it.

Not just Carl Sagan and Dr. Fritjof Capra, there are other eminent scholars who admire Shiva Nataraja. We will see his views in our next article.