The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
shoulder-joint, remains bent like a bow by the heart, and having reached the left shoulder-joint passes on to the nose. Similarly, She that comes from the right scrotum passes on to the left nostril.”
These two Nādīs which come from the left and right scrotum, when they reach the space between the eyebrows, make with the Sushumnā a plaited knot of three (Trivenī) and proceed to the nostrils.
They are also thus described: “In the Idā is the Devī Yamunā, and in Pinggalā is Sarasvatī, and in Sushumnā dwells Gangā.¹ They form a threefold plait² united at the root of the Dhvaja,³ they separate at the eyebrows, and hence it is called Trivenī-yoga, and bathing there⁴ yields abundant fruit.”
“Whose substance is the threefold Gunas” (Tritaya-gunamayī).—The compound word here used is capable of different interpretations. Reading Guna to mean “a string,” it would mean “made up of three strings”—viz., Sushumnā, Vajrā and Chitrinī.⁵ These three form one, but considered separately they are distinct. If Guna be read to mean “quality,” then it would mean “possessed of the qualities Sattva, Rajas and Tamas”. Now, the substance of Chitrinī is Sattva (Sattvagunamayī), of Vajrā, Rajas, and of Sushumnā, Tamas.
“Is in the middle” (Madhye)—i.e., in the middle or inside the Meru.
“She who is inside the Meru from the Mūla to the region of the Brahma-randhra,”⁶ etc.
1 Sammohana Tantra, Ch. II, 13, thus: “In the Idā is the Devī Jāhnavī, and Yamunā is in Pinggala, and Sarasvatī is in Sushumnā” —all names of Indian sacred rivers.
2 This is also interpreted to mean that the three Nādīs conjoin at the three Granthis—Brahma-granthi, Vishnu-granthi and Rudra-granthi.
3 The penis.
4 By “bathing there,” etc., in the “rivers” is meant., when the mind is suffused with a full knowledge of this Chakra great benefit is thereby attained.
5 Sushumnā is the outermost sheath, and Chitrinī the innermost, and within Chitrinī is Brahmanādi, the channel along which Kundalī goes.
6 Sammohana Tantra, II, 7; also occurs in Ch. XXVII, v. 52, of Rudrayāmala.
shoulder-joint, remains bent like a bow by the heart, and having reached the left shoulder-joint passes on to the nose. Similarly, She that comes from the right scrotum passes on to the left nostril.”
These two Nādīs which come from the left and right scrotum, when they reach the space between the eyebrows, make with the Sushumnā a plaited knot of three (Trivenī) and proceed to the nostrils.
They are also thus described: “In the Idā is the Devī Yamunā, and in Pinggalā is Sarasvatī, and in Sushumnā dwells Gangā.¹ They form a threefold plait² united at the root of the Dhvaja,³ they separate at the eyebrows, and hence it is called Trivenī-yoga, and bathing there⁴ yields abundant fruit.”
“Whose substance is the threefold Gunas” (Tritaya-gunamayī).—The compound word here used is capable of different interpretations. Reading Guna to mean “a string,” it would mean “made up of three strings”—viz., Sushumnā, Vajrā and Chitrinī.⁵ These three form one, but considered separately they are distinct. If Guna be read to mean “quality,” then it would mean “possessed of the qualities Sattva, Rajas and Tamas”. Now, the substance of Chitrinī is Sattva (Sattvagunamayī), of Vajrā, Rajas, and of Sushumnā, Tamas.
“Is in the middle” (Madhye)—i.e., in the middle or inside the Meru.
“She who is inside the Meru from the Mūla to the region of the Brahma-randhra,”⁶ etc.
1 Sammohana Tantra, Ch. II, 13, thus: “In the Idā is the Devī Jāhnavī, and Yamunā is in Pinggala, and Sarasvatī is in Sushumnā” —all names of Indian sacred rivers.
2 This is also interpreted to mean that the three Nādīs conjoin at the three Granthis—Brahma-granthi, Vishnu-granthi and Rudra-granthi.
3 The penis.
4 By “bathing there,” etc., in the “rivers” is meant., when the mind is suffused with a full knowledge of this Chakra great benefit is thereby attained.
5 Sushumnā is the outermost sheath, and Chitrinī the innermost, and within Chitrinī is Brahmanādi, the channel along which Kundalī goes.
6 Sammohana Tantra, II, 7; also occurs in Ch. XXVII, v. 52, of Rudrayāmala.
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