bridgetlyonsyoga

Chidambaram is a small city in Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India, unremarkable except for the presence of a temple of incredible significance.  Shiva is honored in the Chidambaram temple, and it is in the inner sanctum here that the famous bronze Nataraja – the “Dancing Shiva” – resides.

Two or three times a year, Douglas Brooks, Professor of Religion at the University of Rochester and a philosophy teacher with whom I study, leads trips to this part of the world where he lived and studied for over a decade.  I recently returned from one of those trips.  Our group spent three days in Chidambaram exploring its reknowned spiritual monument.  Douglas, his school (Rajanaka Yoga) and his students (us) have had a long relationship with the Dikshatars (priests) of this temple, and the mutual respect that flavors this relationship made it possible for us to not only…

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