The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
“feminine” (Shaktirūpā) and the embodiment of nectar (Amritavigrahā), is on the left; and the second, which is “masculine,” as being in the nature of Rudra (Raudrātmikā), is on the right. They both indicate Time or Kāla, and Sushumnā devours Kāla. For on that path entry is made into timelessness. The three are also known as Gangā (Idā), Yamunā (Pinggalā), and Sarasvatī (Sushumnā), after the names of the three sacred rivers of India. The Mūlādhāra is the meeting-place of the three “rivers,” and hence is called Yuktatrivenī. Proceeding from the Ādhāra lotus, they alternate from right to left and left to right, thus going round the lotuses. According to another account, their position is that of two bows on either side of the spinal cord. An Indian medical friend tells me that these are not discrepant accounts, but represent different positions according as Idā and Pinggalā exist inside or outside the spinal cord. When they reach the space between the eyebrows known as the Ājnā Chakra, they enter the Sushumnā, making a plaited knot of three called Muktatrivenī. The three “Rivers,” which are again united at this point, flow separately therefrom, and for this reason the Ājnā Chakra is called Muktatrivenī. After separation, the Nādī which proceeded from the right testicle goes to the left nostril, and that from the left testicle to the right nostril. It has been said that the distinction made between the heating “Sun” and cooling “Moon” is that which exists between the positive and negative phases of the same subject-matter, positive and negative forces being present in every form of activity. Pinggalā is thus, according to this view, the conduit of the positive solar current, and Idā of the negative lunar current. There are also, as we have seen, interior solar and lunar Nādīs in the fiery Sushumnā his fingers. At the moment of death breathing is through both nostrils at one and the same time.
where the two currents meet.¹ These are all but microcosmic instances of the vaster system of cosmic matter, every portion of which is composed of the three Gunas (Trigunātmaka) and the threefold Bindus, which are Sun, Moon, and Fire.
As regards nerve cords and fibres, cranial and spinal nerves, and the connected sympathetic nerves, Dr. Brojendranath Seal says: “With the writers on the Yoga, all the Shirās, and such of the Dhamanīs as are not vehicles of vital current, metabolic fluid, lymph, chyle, or blood, are cranial nerves, and proceed from the heart through the spinal cord to the cranium. These cranial nerves include pairs for the larynx and the tongue, for the understanding and use of speech, for the raising and lowering of the eyelids, for weeping, for the sensations of the special senses, etc., a confused and unintelligent reproduction of Sushruta’s classification. But the enumeration of the spinal nerves with the connected sympathetic chain and ganglia is a distinct improvement on the old anatomists.”²
He then continues: “The Sushumnā is the central cord in the vertebral column (Brahmadanda or Meru). The two chains of sympathetic ganglia on the left and right are named Idā and Pinggalā respectively. The sympathetic nerves have their main connection with Sushumnā at the solar plexus (Nābhi chakra). Of the seven hundred nerve cords of the sympathetic spinal system
1 Similarly, there are three Nādīs which in Latāsādhanā are worshipped in the Madanāgāra—viz., Chāndrī, Saurī, Āgneyī, representing the sun, moon, and fire.
2 P. 340, Appendix to Professor Sarkar’s “Positive Background of Hindu Sociology,” subsequently published in his “Positive Sciences of the Hindus”. The author annexes a plan which attempts to give a rough idea of the relative position of the principal nerves of the sympathetic spinal system.
(see Sangītaratnākara), the fourteen most important are:¹
“1. Sushumnā, in the central channel of the spinal cord. 2. Idā, the left sympathetic chain, stretching from under the left nostril to below the left kidney in the form of a bent bow. 3. Pinggalā, the corresponding chain on the right. 4. Kuhū, the pudic nerve of the sacral plexus, to the left of the spinal cord. 5. Gāndhārī, to the back of the left sympathetic chain, supposed to stretch from below the corner of the left eye to the left leg. It was evidently supposed that some nerves of the cervical plexus came down through the spinal cord and joined on to the great sciatic nerve of the sacral plexus. 6. Hastijihvā, to the front of the left sympathetic chain, stretching from below the corner of the left eye to the great toe of the left foot, on the same supposition as before. Pathological facts were believed to point to a special nerve connection between the eyes and the toes. 7. Sarasvatī, to the right of Sushumnā, stretching up to the tongue (the hypoglossal nerves of the cervical plexus). 8. Pūshā, to the back of the right sympathetic chain, stretching from below the corner of the right eye to the abdomen (a connected chain of cervical and lumbar nerves). 9. Payasvinī, between Pūshā and Sarasvatī, auricular branch of the cervical plexus on the left. 10. Sankhinī, between Gāndhārī and Sarasvatī, auricular branch of the cervical plexus on the left. 11. Yashasvinī, to the front of the right sympathetic chain, stretching from the right thumb to the left leg (the radial nerve of the brachial plexus continued on to certain branches of the great sciatic). 12. Vārunā, the nerves of the sacral plexus, between Kuhū and Yashasvinī, ramifying over the lower trunk and limbs. 13. Vishvodarā, the nerves of the lumbar plexus, between Kuhū and Hastijihvā;
1 Some of these are referred to in the present work; see v. 1.
p. 2
“feminine” (Shaktirūpā) and the embodiment of nectar (Amritavigrahā), is on the left; and the second, which is “masculine,” as being in the nature of Rudra (Raudrātmikā), is on the right. They both indicate Time or Kāla, and Sushumnā devours Kāla. For on that path entry is made into timelessness. The three are also known as Gangā (Idā), Yamunā (Pinggalā), and Sarasvatī (Sushumnā), after the names of the three sacred rivers of India. The Mūlādhāra is the meeting-place of the three “rivers,” and hence is called Yuktatrivenī. Proceeding from the Ādhāra lotus, they alternate from right to left and left to right, thus going round the lotuses. According to another account, their position is that of two bows on either side of the spinal cord. An Indian medical friend tells me that these are not discrepant accounts, but represent different positions according as Idā and Pinggalā exist inside or outside the spinal cord. When they reach the space between the eyebrows known as the Ājnā Chakra, they enter the Sushumnā, making a plaited knot of three called Muktatrivenī. The three “Rivers,” which are again united at this point, flow separately therefrom, and for this reason the Ājnā Chakra is called Muktatrivenī. After separation, the Nādī which proceeded from the right testicle goes to the left nostril, and that from the left testicle to the right nostril. It has been said that the distinction made between the heating “Sun” and cooling “Moon” is that which exists between the positive and negative phases of the same subject-matter, positive and negative forces being present in every form of activity. Pinggalā is thus, according to this view, the conduit of the positive solar current, and Idā of the negative lunar current. There are also, as we have seen, interior solar and lunar Nādīs in the fiery Sushumnā his fingers. At the moment of death breathing is through both nostrils at one and the same time.
where the two currents meet.¹ These are all but microcosmic instances of the vaster system of cosmic matter, every portion of which is composed of the three Gunas (Trigunātmaka) and the threefold Bindus, which are Sun, Moon, and Fire.
As regards nerve cords and fibres, cranial and spinal nerves, and the connected sympathetic nerves, Dr. Brojendranath Seal says: “With the writers on the Yoga, all the Shirās, and such of the Dhamanīs as are not vehicles of vital current, metabolic fluid, lymph, chyle, or blood, are cranial nerves, and proceed from the heart through the spinal cord to the cranium. These cranial nerves include pairs for the larynx and the tongue, for the understanding and use of speech, for the raising and lowering of the eyelids, for weeping, for the sensations of the special senses, etc., a confused and unintelligent reproduction of Sushruta’s classification. But the enumeration of the spinal nerves with the connected sympathetic chain and ganglia is a distinct improvement on the old anatomists.”²
He then continues: “The Sushumnā is the central cord in the vertebral column (Brahmadanda or Meru). The two chains of sympathetic ganglia on the left and right are named Idā and Pinggalā respectively. The sympathetic nerves have their main connection with Sushumnā at the solar plexus (Nābhi chakra). Of the seven hundred nerve cords of the sympathetic spinal system
1 Similarly, there are three Nādīs which in Latāsādhanā are worshipped in the Madanāgāra—viz., Chāndrī, Saurī, Āgneyī, representing the sun, moon, and fire.
2 P. 340, Appendix to Professor Sarkar’s “Positive Background of Hindu Sociology,” subsequently published in his “Positive Sciences of the Hindus”. The author annexes a plan which attempts to give a rough idea of the relative position of the principal nerves of the sympathetic spinal system.
(see Sangītaratnākara), the fourteen most important are:¹
“1. Sushumnā, in the central channel of the spinal cord. 2. Idā, the left sympathetic chain, stretching from under the left nostril to below the left kidney in the form of a bent bow. 3. Pinggalā, the corresponding chain on the right. 4. Kuhū, the pudic nerve of the sacral plexus, to the left of the spinal cord. 5. Gāndhārī, to the back of the left sympathetic chain, supposed to stretch from below the corner of the left eye to the left leg. It was evidently supposed that some nerves of the cervical plexus came down through the spinal cord and joined on to the great sciatic nerve of the sacral plexus. 6. Hastijihvā, to the front of the left sympathetic chain, stretching from below the corner of the left eye to the great toe of the left foot, on the same supposition as before. Pathological facts were believed to point to a special nerve connection between the eyes and the toes. 7. Sarasvatī, to the right of Sushumnā, stretching up to the tongue (the hypoglossal nerves of the cervical plexus). 8. Pūshā, to the back of the right sympathetic chain, stretching from below the corner of the right eye to the abdomen (a connected chain of cervical and lumbar nerves). 9. Payasvinī, between Pūshā and Sarasvatī, auricular branch of the cervical plexus on the left. 10. Sankhinī, between Gāndhārī and Sarasvatī, auricular branch of the cervical plexus on the left. 11. Yashasvinī, to the front of the right sympathetic chain, stretching from the right thumb to the left leg (the radial nerve of the brachial plexus continued on to certain branches of the great sciatic). 12. Vārunā, the nerves of the sacral plexus, between Kuhū and Yashasvinī, ramifying over the lower trunk and limbs. 13. Vishvodarā, the nerves of the lumbar plexus, between Kuhū and Hastijihvā;
1 Some of these are referred to in the present work; see v. 1.
p. 2
No commentary for this page.