NĀDI

It is said that there are 3½ crores of nāḍis in the human body, of which some are gross and some are subtle. Nāḍi means a nerve or artery in the ordinary sense; but all the nāḍis of which the books on Yoga speak are not of this physical character, but are subtle channels of energy. Of these nāḍis, the principal are fourteen; and of these fourteen, iḍa, pingalā and suṣumnā are the chief; and again, of these three, suṣumnā is the greatest, and to it all others are subordinate. Suṣumnā is in the hollow of the meru in the cerebro-spinal axis. It extends from the Mūladhara lotus, the Tattvik earth centre,

to the cerebral region. Suṣumnā is in the form of Fire (vahni-svarūpa), and has within it the vajrininādi in the form of the sun (sūrya-svarūpā). Within the latter is the pale nectar-dropping citrā or citrinī nāḍī, which is also called Brahma-nāḍī, in the form of the moon (candra-svarūpā). Suṣumnā is thus triguṇ ā. The various lotuses in the different Cakras of the body (vide post) are all suspended from the citra-nāḍī, the cakras being described as knots in the nāḍī, which is as thin as the thousandth part of a hair. Outside the meru and on each side of suṣ umnā are the nāḍīs iḍā and pingalā. Iḍ ā is on the left side, and coiling round suṣumnā, has its exit in the left nostril. Pingalā is on the right, and similarly coiling, enters the right nostril. The suṣumnā, interlacing iḍā and pingalā and the ājnā-cakra round which they pass, thus form a representation of the caduceus of Mercury. Iḍā is of a pale colour, is moonlike (candra-svarūpā), and contains nectar. Pingalā is red, and is sun-like (sūrya-svarūpā), containing “venom,” the fluid of mortality. These three “rivers,” which are united at the ājnā-cakra, flow separately from that point, and for this reason the ājnā-cakra is called mukta triveni. The mūlādhāra is called Yuktā (united) triveni, since it is the meeting-place of the three nāḍīs which are also called Ganga (Iḍā), Yamunā (Pingalā), and Sarasvati (suṣumnā), after the three sacred rivers of India. The opening at the end of the suṣ umna in the mūlādhāra is called brahma-dvāra, which is closed by the coils of the sleeping Devī Kuṇḍalinī.