The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
ratnākara, and for functions of Ājnā-vahā Nādī and Manovahā Nādī to Shangkara Mishra’s Upaskāra.
Chakra (motor tract at the base of the brain), messages which are thence carried farther down, along efferent nerves, to various parts of the periphery. I may add that the special sensory nerves, together with the Manovahā Nādī, are sometimes generally termed Jnānavahā Nādī— lit., channel of presentative knowledge. There is no difficulty so far. The Manovahā Nādī and the Ājnāvahā Nādī connect the sensori-motor tract at the base of the brain (Manas Chakra and Ājnā Chakra) with the highest (and special) seat of the soul (Jīva) in the upper cerebrum (Sahasrāra), the one being the channel for carrying up the sensory, and the other for bringing down the motor messages. But efforts of the will (Ājnā, Prayatna) are conscious presentations, and the Manovahā Nādī must therefore co-operate with the Ājnāvahā in producing the consciousness of effort. Indeed, attention, the characteristic function of Manas, by which it raises sense-presentations to the level of discriminative consciousness, implies effort (Prayatna) on the part of the soul (Ātmā, Jīva), an effort of which we are conscious through the channel of the Manovahā Nādī. But how to explain the presentation of effort in the motor nerves? Shangkara Mishra, the author of the Upaskāra on Kanāda’s Sūtras, argues that the Nādīs (even the volitional or motor nerves) are themselves sensitive, and their affections are conveyed to the sensorium by means of the nerves of the (inner) sense of touch (which are interspersed in minute fibrillæ among them). The consciousness of effort, then, in any motor nerve, whether Ājnāvahā (volitional motor) or Prānavahā (automatic motor), depends on the tactile nerves (or nerves of organic sensation) mixed up with it. Thus the assimilation of food and drink by the automatic activity of the Prānas implies an (automatic) effort (Prayatna) accompanied by a vague organic consciousness, which is due to the fact that minute fibres of the inner touch-sense are interspersed with the machinery of the automatic nerves (the Prānavahā Nādīs).”
To a certain extent the localisations here made must be tentative. It must, for instance, be a matter of opinion whether the throat centre corresponds with the carotid, laryngeal, or pharyngeal, or all three; whether the navel centre corresponds with the epigastric, solar, or lumbar, the Ājnā with the cavernous plexus, pineal gland, pituitary body, cerebellum, and so forth. For all that is known to the contrary each centre may have more than one of such correspondences. All that can be said with any degree of certainty is that the four centres, above the Mūlādhāra, which is the seat of the presiding energy, have relation to the genito-excretory, digestive, cardiac, and respiratory functions, and that the two upper centres (Ājnā and Sahasrāra) denote various forms of cerebral activity, ending in the repose of pure Consciousness. The uncertainty which prevails as regards some of those matters is indicated in the Text itself, which shows that on various of the subjects here debated differing opinions have been expressed as individual constructions of statements to be found in the Tantras and other Shāstras.
ratnākara, and for functions of Ājnā-vahā Nādī and Manovahā Nādī to Shangkara Mishra’s Upaskāra.
Chakra (motor tract at the base of the brain), messages which are thence carried farther down, along efferent nerves, to various parts of the periphery. I may add that the special sensory nerves, together with the Manovahā Nādī, are sometimes generally termed Jnānavahā Nādī— lit., channel of presentative knowledge. There is no difficulty so far. The Manovahā Nādī and the Ājnāvahā Nādī connect the sensori-motor tract at the base of the brain (Manas Chakra and Ājnā Chakra) with the highest (and special) seat of the soul (Jīva) in the upper cerebrum (Sahasrāra), the one being the channel for carrying up the sensory, and the other for bringing down the motor messages. But efforts of the will (Ājnā, Prayatna) are conscious presentations, and the Manovahā Nādī must therefore co-operate with the Ājnāvahā in producing the consciousness of effort. Indeed, attention, the characteristic function of Manas, by which it raises sense-presentations to the level of discriminative consciousness, implies effort (Prayatna) on the part of the soul (Ātmā, Jīva), an effort of which we are conscious through the channel of the Manovahā Nādī. But how to explain the presentation of effort in the motor nerves? Shangkara Mishra, the author of the Upaskāra on Kanāda’s Sūtras, argues that the Nādīs (even the volitional or motor nerves) are themselves sensitive, and their affections are conveyed to the sensorium by means of the nerves of the (inner) sense of touch (which are interspersed in minute fibrillæ among them). The consciousness of effort, then, in any motor nerve, whether Ājnāvahā (volitional motor) or Prānavahā (automatic motor), depends on the tactile nerves (or nerves of organic sensation) mixed up with it. Thus the assimilation of food and drink by the automatic activity of the Prānas implies an (automatic) effort (Prayatna) accompanied by a vague organic consciousness, which is due to the fact that minute fibres of the inner touch-sense are interspersed with the machinery of the automatic nerves (the Prānavahā Nādīs).”
To a certain extent the localisations here made must be tentative. It must, for instance, be a matter of opinion whether the throat centre corresponds with the carotid, laryngeal, or pharyngeal, or all three; whether the navel centre corresponds with the epigastric, solar, or lumbar, the Ājnā with the cavernous plexus, pineal gland, pituitary body, cerebellum, and so forth. For all that is known to the contrary each centre may have more than one of such correspondences. All that can be said with any degree of certainty is that the four centres, above the Mūlādhāra, which is the seat of the presiding energy, have relation to the genito-excretory, digestive, cardiac, and respiratory functions, and that the two upper centres (Ājnā and Sahasrāra) denote various forms of cerebral activity, ending in the repose of pure Consciousness. The uncertainty which prevails as regards some of those matters is indicated in the Text itself, which shows that on various of the subjects here debated differing opinions have been expressed as individual constructions of statements to be found in the Tantras and other Shāstras.
No commentary for this page.