Tantra the Science & Natya the Art- The Two Faceted Reality

by Dr. Padmaja Suresh

The occult and clairvoyant practices have unequivocally attracted man from time immemorial. Having to maneuver out of the vortex of the mundane, man seeks a plausible panacea. This quest is not an outlandish palliative; it is in the familiar domain of the beatific. The timeless character of liturgy, scenically evoked through the medium of art form suggests the glorification of the divine and involuntarily kindles our conduits towards the primordial silence. Inventive and intuitive personae and prophetic auguries under the auspices of oracles become the cornerstone of certain traditions, ratified by providence.

There is no better formula than run the gamut as a practitioner. A Tantra Sastra paradigm (Natya can also be called as one such paradigm) exemplifies conception of the supreme personality of God, the dual aspect when the God himself becomes the Universe beyond Purusha and Prakriti - the complete, whole, an undivided 'one'. With the force of dancing comes the discovery of the 'I' and I re-unites with 'I'....Brahman....I am! What is that element, that essence or that principle that connects one to the dance, connects dance to life, connects one with audiences, crossing all barriers? Is it the body owning a spirit, that is wanting to express something or is it the spirit that has manifested in this form in order to express? What is 'That' which is known by the mystic? An artiste who is privy to the intricate and integral nuances of the art form, can recapture the true experience of the heart, after a recital. Nevertheless, it cannot exactly be an equal feeling, as very often the artiste would land on a writer's block, posed with an inexplicable experience The endeavour in this book, has been to establish a co-relation between Natya and Tantra.