Shiva Purana — Vayaviya Samhita, Shloka 50
शिवतत्त्वे परापरभावविचारः
Inquiry into Śiva’s Principle and the Parā–Aparā Paradox
अलोकविदितैस्तैस्तैर्वृत्तैरानन्दसुन्दरैः । अंगहारस्वसेनेदमसकृच्चालितं जगत्
alokaviditaistaistairvṛttairānandasundaraiḥ | aṃgahārasvasenedamasakṛccālitaṃ jagat
Par ces nombreux mouvements exquis—ignorés des mondes ordinaires et pourtant beaux de béatitude—cet univers fut maintes fois mis en branle par la propre troupe du Seigneur, les aṅgahāras de Sa danse cosmique.
Suta Goswami (narrating the Vāyavīya discourse to the sages of Naimiṣāraṇya)
Tattva Level: pati
Shiva Form: Naṭarāja
Jyotirlinga: Rāmeśvara
Sthala Purana: Rāmeśvara is famed for liṅga-pratiṣṭhā and oceanic crossings; while this verse is about cosmic dance, South Indian Śaiva reception often pairs Naṭarāja’s tāṇḍava with coastal/liminal sacred geographies where the ‘moving universe’ theme is ritually enacted through utsava and nāṭya.
Significance: Pilgrims seek purification through tīrtha-snānams and Śiva-darśana; the cosmic-dance theology supports the idea that all motion and order are Śiva’s līlā, leading to inner stillness (śānta) through devotion.
Type: stotra
Shakti Form: Pārvatī
Role: creative
Offering: pushpa
Cosmic Event: Cosmic motion as līlā: universe ‘repeatedly set into motion’ by aṅgahāras (dance-sequences)
FAQs
It presents Shiva as Pati—the supreme conscious Lord—whose blissful, transcendent power (expressed as divine dance-movements) activates and regulates the cosmos; the jagat moves because His śakti moves it.
The aṅgahāras describe Saguna Shiva’s manifest, knowable expression—His cosmic activity—while Linga-worship points to the same Lord as the timeless source (nirguṇa in essence, saguna in function) who causes the universe to arise, endure, and dissolve.
Contemplate Shiva as Naṭarāja in dhyāna while repeating the Panchākṣarī (Om Namaḥ Śivāya), aligning breath and attention with the sense that all movement and life are upheld by Shiva’s blissful power.