Jīva as an Actor
Jīva as an Actor
This world-drama is Śiva's līlā. It is to be lived as a real experience and with a spirit of love. It is in the nature of the soul to be blissful. Due to māyā or the grand illusion, the curtain of ignorance veils our real nature as we play varied roles similar to an actor on stage. Like a person, who keeps his self in the background and performs the roles of many characters, the jīva too, keeping its real nature hidden plays a worldly role.
The 12th century Sanskrit treatise on music and drama, Saṅgīta Ratnākara, captures this basic philosophy of life. Its author, the Kashmir-born Śāraṅgadeva, traces the flow of prāṇa of a performer from the earth element to water element, then to fire, to wind and to space, and vice versa.
He associates the kinesics of staṁbha (stupefaction) with prāṇa based on earth; āśru (tears) with prāṇa based on water; vaivarṇya (change of colour) from that based on fire and pralaya (unconsciousness) from that based on ether.
When prāṇa is independent, it indicates romānca (horripilation), vepathu (trembling) and svarabheda (change of voice) respectively, depending on the strength of the force of prāṇa.
(Extract from an article by Dr. Padmaja Venkatesh , published in Tattvāloka of April 2019)
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