Page 1 - April 2026

When Devotion Dances

e have all seen how people singing or listening to bhajans
Wbegin by tapping their fingers and feet, then suddenly rise
to swaying, rhythmic movement – standing, spinning, and dancing!

Across cultures, dance has been a natural expression of
devotion. In Bali, every mudrä and subtle expression of the
classical Legong dancer is refined towards perfection – an offering
to the Perfect One. In many African churches, congregational
dancing arises spontaneously during prayer and song; the whole
community participates, body and voice united. The Mevlevi
Sema ritual in Türkiye is an ancient Sufi meditative ceremony in
which dervishes, followers of the poet-mystic Jalaluddin Rumi,
whirl in counter-clockwise movements to transcend the ego,
symbolizing the soul’s (jéva’s) journey towards the Lord. The
raised right hand receives God’s grace, while the downward left
hand shares it with humanity. In India, our classical dances
were conceived primarily as communion with the Divine, in
which movement, music, and expression were all offerings to the
temple deity.

The image of Krishna at the center of the räsa lélä, with the
gopés dancing around Him in ecstasy, conveys a secret also
reflected by science: subatomic particles move in ceaseless
dynamism around a stable nucleus. Thus, the Supreme is the still
axis – around which all existence twirls in symphonic motion.
A joyous mind steeped in devotion simply aligns itself with this
universal cadence.
When love overflows, it finds expression in movement. The
dancer seeks neither display nor applause, but attunement and
inner absorption. Through poetic motion, the audience’s awareness
is lifted to recognize the all-pervading, unmoving stillness
of space. In that motionless center, one finds peace;
1
in that stillness lies fullness; and in that fullness,
there is bliss.
Editorial
1 ‘Beyond the Dance and the Dancer’, Swami Swaroopananda,
Tapovan Prasad, May 2018.

Tapovan Prasad 7 April 2026