Art is an excellent aid when someone is trying to understand complex ideas from another culture.
The Nataraj, Lord Shiva and Lord of the Dance, offers a visual summary of several of the most important ideas in Hinduism. Learning to identify the various aspects of the image can help student understand several of the central tenets of Hinduism. It is such a brilliant iconographic invention that it comes as close to being a summation of the genius of the Indian people as any single icon can. Ultimately, in Hinduism, there is only one reality, often identified as Brahman. Brahman encompasses all there is in the universe, and everything that isn't, as well.