Naadis and Chakras

• The world nadi is derived from nad, meaning a hollow stalk, sound, vibration and resonance. Nadis are tubes, ducts or channels which carry air, water, blood, nutrients and other substances throughout the body. They are our arteries, veins, capillaries, bronchioles and so on. In our so – called subtle and spiritual bodies, which cannot be weighed or measured, they are channels for cosmic, vital, seminal and other energies as well as for sensations, consciousness and spiritual aura. They are called by different names in accordance with their functions. Nadikas are small nadis chakras are ganglia or plexuses in all three bodies – the gross, subtle and causal. The subtle or causal bodies are not yet recognised by scientists or the medical profession.

• It is said in the varahapanisad that the nadis penetrate the body from the soles of the feet to the crown of the head. In them is prana, the breath of life and in that lrtife abides atma, which is the abode of sakti, creatrix of the animated and inanimate worlds.

• All nadis originate from one of two centres, the kandasthana – a little below the navel – and the heart. Through yoga texts agree about their starting points, they vary about where some of them end.

NADIS STARTING FROM BELOW THE NAVEL

• Twelve digits above the anus and the genital organs and just below the navel, there is an egg – shaped dulb called the kanda. From it 72000 nadis are said to spread throughout the body, each branching into another 72,000. They move in every direction and have countless outlets and functions.

• The siva samhita mentions 3,50,000 nadis, of which fourteen are stated to be important. These and a few others are listed with their functions in the table given opposite. The three that are most vital are the susumna, ida and pingala.

• The susumna, which runs through the centre of the spine, is split at the root and terminates at the crown of the head in the thousand – petalled lotus(fahasrara), which is the seat of fire (agni). The varahopanisad describes it as blazing and shining and as being sound incarnate. It is also called the ' supporter of the universe', the brahmanadi and the aperture of brahma. It is illumination. It gives delight to the sadhaka when prana enters it and swallows time.

NADIS STARTING FROM THE HEART

• According to the kathopanisad and prasnopanisad, the atma, which is said to be the size of a thumb, dwells within the heart, from which a hundred and one nadis radiate. In the chandogyopanisad it is said that as the outer cover of man is his physical body, his inner core is the heart, where in abides the atma. It is also called the antaratma ( soul, heart or mind), antahkaraan (source of thought, feeling and consciousness) and chidatma (faculty of reasoning and (consciousness).

• Here the heart stands for both the physical and the spiritual one. All the vital breaths or winds are established there amd do not go beyond it. It is here that the prana stimulates actions and activates intelligence. The intelligence becomes the source of thinking, imagination and will. When the mind is controlled and the intellect and heart are united, the self is revealed.

• From each of these 101 nadis emanate one hundred subtler nadis, each of which branches off into another 72,000. If there is harmony between the five winds (vayu) (namely, prana, apana, udana, vyana and samana) and these nadis, then the body becomes a heaven on earth; but if there is disharmony, it becomes a battle ground of diseases.

• Of the 101 nadis, only the chitra splits into two parts at the root of the susumna. One part of the chitra moves within it, extending upwards to the aperture (randhra) of brahma at the crown of the head above the sahasrara chakra. This is the gateway to the supereme spirit. The other part of chitra moves downwards towards the generative organ for discharge of semen. It is said that at the time of death, yogis and saints consciously leave through the brahmarandra. Since the aperture is in the spiritual or causal body, it cannot be seen or measured. When prana rises upwards, via the chitra through the chakras, it takes with it the radiance, a creative energy latent in semen. The chitra is transformed into the brhama nadi or para nadi. Then the sadhaka becomes one who has sublimated his sexual appetite and is free from all desire.

DHAMANI AND SIRA

• Nadis, dhamanis and siras are tubular organs or ducts within the physical and subtle bodies conveying energy in different forms. The word 'dhamani' is derived from 'dhamana', meaning a pair of bellows. The nearest analogy is an orange. Its rind represents the gross, the membranes represents the subtle, and the segments, containing the juicy buds, the casual bodies respectively. The nadis carry air, the dhamani carry blood, and the siras distribute the vital seminal energy throughout the subtle body.

• Ayurveda is the science of life and longevity. According to its texts, which deal with ancient Indian medicine, siras start from the heart. They carry blood and seminal vitality from and to the heart. Siras are thicker at the heart and become thinner as they beanch out like the veins of a leaf. Seven hundred of them are considered important. They are divided evenly into four categories, each of which caters for one of the humours; wind for proper functioning of the body, bile for harmonising the organs, phlegm for free movement in the joints, and blood, which circulates oxygen and its own form of vital energy.

NADIS ANS CIRCULATION

• The siva samhita states that when food is digested, the nadis carry the best part to nourish the subtle body, the middle part to the gross body, and discharge the inferior part in the form of faces, urine and sweat.

• The food that is consumed is turned into chyle, which is carried through certain ducts known in ayurvedic texts as sortas – a synonym for nadis. Their functions are wide, for they also carry the vital energy orbreath known as prana, water, blood and other material to various tissues, marrow and ligaments, as well as discharge semen, urine, faeces and sweat.

• In breathing, nadis, dhamanis and siras perform the dual function of absorbing vital energy from the in – coming air and throwing off the resultant toxins. The in-breath moves through the windpipe to the lungs, on into takes up the energy from the oxygen and percolates it into the dhamanis with the help of prana in the nadis. The percolation transforms the seminal fluid into vital seminal energy and discharges it into the siras, which distribute it to revitalise the body and the brain. The siras then discharge used – up energy and gathered toxins such as carbon dioxide into the dhamanis and through them into the windpipe, to be breathed out .

• The varahopanisad calls the body a 'jewel' filled with essential ingredients. In pranayama the essential ingredients. In pranayama the essential ingredient, called blood, is enriched and refined like a jewel as it absorbs the various energies. The nadis, dhamanis and siras also convey smells, flavours, forms, sounds and intelligence. Yoga helps them to function properly by keeping all these channels pure, the body immune from diseases and the intelligence keen, so that the sadhaka can get to know his body, mind and soul.

• Some nadis, dhamanis and siras may correspond to arteries, veins and capillaries of the respiratory and circulatory system. They may also be nerves, channels and ducts of the nervous, lymphatic, glandular, digestive and gentio – urinary systems of the physical and physiological body. Others carry vital energy to the mental body, intellectual energy to the intellectual body, and spiritual energy to the casual or spiritual body. The terminating point of each nadi is to be found in follivle, cell or hair. They function as inlets and outlets of various energies. In all, 5.9 billion of them flow in the gross, subtle and casual bodies. No wonder it is said that the body is full of nadis.

References

The above mentioned information is added from the book called LIGHT ON PRANAYAMA by B.K.S. IYENGAR.