The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
body. “As in the leaf of the Ashvattha tree (Ficus religiosa) there are minute fibres, so is the body permeated by Nādīs.”¹ Nādī is said in v. 2 to be derived from the root nad, or motion. For here the Prāna or Life Principle moves. The Bhūtashuddhi Tantra speaks of 72,000, the Prapanchasāra Tantra of 300,000, and the Shiva Sanghitā of 350,000; but of these, whatever be their total extent, only a limited number are of importance. Some are gross Nādīs, such as the physical nerves, veins, and arteries, known to medical science. But they are not all of this gross or physical and visible character. They exist, like all else, in subtle forms, and are known as Yoga Nādīs. The latter may be described as subtle channels (Vivara) of Prānik or vital energy. The Nādīs are, as stated, the conduits of Prāna. Through them its solar and lunar currents run. Could we see them, the body would present the appearance of those maps which delineate the various ocean currents. They are the paths along which Prānashakti goes. They therefore belong to the vital science as life-element, and not to the medical Shāstra (Vaidyashāstra). Hence the importance of the Sādhanā, which consists of the physical purification of the body and its Nādīs. Purity of body is necessary if purity of mind is to be gained in its extended Hindu sense. Purification of the Nādīs is perhaps the chief factor in the preliminary stages of this Yoga; for just as their impurity impedes the ascent of Kundalī Shakti, their purity facilitates it. This is the work of Prānāyāma (v. post).
Of these Nādīs, the principal are fourteen, and of these fourteen Idā, Pinggalā, and Sushumnā, are the chief. Of these three, again, Sushumnā is the greatest, and to it all others are subordinate; for by the power of Yoga (Yogabala) Prāna is made to go through it, and, passing the Chakras, leave the body through the Brahmarandhra. It is situate in the interior of the cerebro-spinal axis, the Merudanda, or spinal column, in the position assigned to its interior canal, and extends from the basic plexus, the Tāttvik centre called the Mūlādhāra, to the twelvepetalled lotus in the pericarp of the Sahsrāra Padma, or thousand-petalled lotus. Within the fiery red Tāmasik Sushumnā is the lustrous Rājasik Vajrā or Vajrinī Nādī, and within the latter the pale nectar-dropping Sāttvik Chitrā or Chitrinī. The interior of the latter is called the Brahma Nādī. The first is said to be fire-like (Vahnisvarūpā), the second sun-like (Sūryyasvarūpā), and the third moon-like (Chandrasvarūpā).¹ These are the threefold aspect of the Shabdabrahman. The opening at the end of the Chitrinī Nādī is called the door of Brahman (Brahmadvāra), for through it the Devī Kundalī enters to ascend.² It is along this last-mentioned Nādī, known as the Kula Mārga and the “Royal Road,” that the Shakti Kundalinī is led in the process hereafter described.
1 Shāndilya Up., Ch. I, where the Nādīs are given and their purification spoken of; Dhyānabindu Up.; and as to Sushumnā see Mandalabrāhmana Up., First Brāhmana.
Outside this nerve are the two Nādīs, the pale Idā or Shashī (Moon) and the red Pinggalā or Mihira (Sun), which are connected with the alternate breathing from the right to the left nostril and vice versa.³ The first, which is
1 Hence She is called in the Lalitā-sahasranāma (v. 106) Mūlādhā- rāmbujārūdhā. Fire, Sun, and Moon are aspects of the differentiated Parabindu or Kāmakalā (v. ante). See the Chapter on Sun, Moon and Fire in “Garland of Letters”.
2 The sun generally represents poison, and the moon nectar (Shāndilya Up., Ch. I). Both were obtained at the churning of the ocean, and represent the upbuilding and destructive forces of Nature.
3 The Hindus have long known that breathing is done through one nostril for a period of time and then through the other. In Prānāyāma to make the breathing change one nostril is closed. But the skilled Yogī can shift the breathing at his will without closing a nostril with
body. “As in the leaf of the Ashvattha tree (Ficus religiosa) there are minute fibres, so is the body permeated by Nādīs.”¹ Nādī is said in v. 2 to be derived from the root nad, or motion. For here the Prāna or Life Principle moves. The Bhūtashuddhi Tantra speaks of 72,000, the Prapanchasāra Tantra of 300,000, and the Shiva Sanghitā of 350,000; but of these, whatever be their total extent, only a limited number are of importance. Some are gross Nādīs, such as the physical nerves, veins, and arteries, known to medical science. But they are not all of this gross or physical and visible character. They exist, like all else, in subtle forms, and are known as Yoga Nādīs. The latter may be described as subtle channels (Vivara) of Prānik or vital energy. The Nādīs are, as stated, the conduits of Prāna. Through them its solar and lunar currents run. Could we see them, the body would present the appearance of those maps which delineate the various ocean currents. They are the paths along which Prānashakti goes. They therefore belong to the vital science as life-element, and not to the medical Shāstra (Vaidyashāstra). Hence the importance of the Sādhanā, which consists of the physical purification of the body and its Nādīs. Purity of body is necessary if purity of mind is to be gained in its extended Hindu sense. Purification of the Nādīs is perhaps the chief factor in the preliminary stages of this Yoga; for just as their impurity impedes the ascent of Kundalī Shakti, their purity facilitates it. This is the work of Prānāyāma (v. post).
Of these Nādīs, the principal are fourteen, and of these fourteen Idā, Pinggalā, and Sushumnā, are the chief. Of these three, again, Sushumnā is the greatest, and to it all others are subordinate; for by the power of Yoga (Yogabala) Prāna is made to go through it, and, passing the Chakras, leave the body through the Brahmarandhra. It is situate in the interior of the cerebro-spinal axis, the Merudanda, or spinal column, in the position assigned to its interior canal, and extends from the basic plexus, the Tāttvik centre called the Mūlādhāra, to the twelvepetalled lotus in the pericarp of the Sahsrāra Padma, or thousand-petalled lotus. Within the fiery red Tāmasik Sushumnā is the lustrous Rājasik Vajrā or Vajrinī Nādī, and within the latter the pale nectar-dropping Sāttvik Chitrā or Chitrinī. The interior of the latter is called the Brahma Nādī. The first is said to be fire-like (Vahnisvarūpā), the second sun-like (Sūryyasvarūpā), and the third moon-like (Chandrasvarūpā).¹ These are the threefold aspect of the Shabdabrahman. The opening at the end of the Chitrinī Nādī is called the door of Brahman (Brahmadvāra), for through it the Devī Kundalī enters to ascend.² It is along this last-mentioned Nādī, known as the Kula Mārga and the “Royal Road,” that the Shakti Kundalinī is led in the process hereafter described.
1 Shāndilya Up., Ch. I, where the Nādīs are given and their purification spoken of; Dhyānabindu Up.; and as to Sushumnā see Mandalabrāhmana Up., First Brāhmana.
Outside this nerve are the two Nādīs, the pale Idā or Shashī (Moon) and the red Pinggalā or Mihira (Sun), which are connected with the alternate breathing from the right to the left nostril and vice versa.³ The first, which is
1 Hence She is called in the Lalitā-sahasranāma (v. 106) Mūlādhā- rāmbujārūdhā. Fire, Sun, and Moon are aspects of the differentiated Parabindu or Kāmakalā (v. ante). See the Chapter on Sun, Moon and Fire in “Garland of Letters”.
2 The sun generally represents poison, and the moon nectar (Shāndilya Up., Ch. I). Both were obtained at the churning of the ocean, and represent the upbuilding and destructive forces of Nature.
3 The Hindus have long known that breathing is done through one nostril for a period of time and then through the other. In Prānāyāma to make the breathing change one nostril is closed. But the skilled Yogī can shift the breathing at his will without closing a nostril with
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