Arudhra Darshan - 18-12-2013 - significance

Arudhra Darshan or Arudara Darshan is observed in the Tamil month of Margazhi (December – January). It is essentially a Shaivite festival and celebrates the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva, which is represented by the Nataraja form. Arudhra signifies the golden red flame and Shiva performs in the form this red-flamed light. In 2013, Arudhara Darshan is on December 18.

The cosmic dance of Lord Shiva represents five activities – Creation, Protection, Destruction, Embodiment and Release. In essence, it represents the continuous cycle of creation and destruction. This cosmic dance takes place in every particle and is the source of all energy. Arudra Darshan celebrates this ecstatic dance of Lord Shiva.

It takes place on the full moon night in the month of Margazhi and this is also the longest night in a year. The festival is mainly observed in the Tamil speaking world.

The most important Arudhra Darshan festival takes place at the Chidambaram Shiva Temple in Tamil Nadu. The cosmic dance of Lord Shiva is enacted on the day. Most of the temples around the world with Lord Nataraja as deity perform the Arudhra Darshan.

Arudra Darisanam is celebrated on Tiruvathirai nakshatram day in the tamil month of Margazhi. This festival is dedicated to God shiva and celebrated on his birth Nakshatram Tiruvathirai (ardra / Arudra). This star denotes the Golden red flame. During Arudra Darisanam God Shiva is worshipped in the form of Nataraja and cosmic dance is celebrated.
Shiva Tandava (Cosmic dance of God Shiva) represents the continuous cycle of creation and demolition. It indicates these five things.
Creation, Protection, Demolition, Incarnation and Release.

Margazi month falls in the month of December – January. Arudra Darisanam is observed on purnima day of the Margazi month. This night is longest night in a year. Arudra Darisanam festival is also called as Thiruvadirai or Thiruvathirai festival. Special Pujas are performed on this day at Lord Shiva temples. Milk, sandalwood paste, honey, water and other cooling liquids are offered to Lord Shiva on this day.
The world is seen as it truly is – sacred -- when we behold Siva's cosmic dance. Everything in the universe, all that we see, hear and imagine, is movement. Galaxies soar in movement; atoms swirl in movement. All movement is Siva's dance. When we fight this movement and think it should be other than it is, we are reluctantly dancing with Siva. We are stubbornly resisting, holding ourselves apart, criticizing the natural processes and movements around us.

It is by understanding the eternal truths that we bring all areas of our mind into the knowledge of how to accept what is and not wish it to be otherwise. Once this happens, we begin to consciously dance with Siva, to move with the sacred flow that surrounds us, to accept praise and blame, joy and sorrow, prosperity and adversity in equanimity, the fruit of understanding. We are then gracefully, in unrestrained surrender, dancing with Siva. The Vedas state, "The cosmic soul is truly the whole universe, the immortal source of all creation, all action, all meditation. Whoever discovers Him, hidden deep within, cuts through the bonds of ignorance even during his life on earth."