The Geography

9. The Nadis: the network

नाडी nāḍī — from the root nad, “to flow, to resound” (related to “reed, tube”).

The nadis are the channels through which prāṇa moves. Their number varies scandalously depending on the text, and this itself is instructive:

• Śiva Saṃhitā: 350,000
• Gorakṣa Śataka / Haṭhayogapradīpikā: 72,000
• Prapañcasāra Tantra: 300,000

What this disagreement means: that the number is not a measurement. It is a way of saying “a great many, networked everywhere”. The 72,000 prevailed because it is the figure repeated in the most widely circulated manual.

What are they really? There is no anatomical structure that corresponds to them. The serious hypotheses are the same as for the Chinese meridians: fascial planes, neurovascular bundles, or simply an empirical map of referred sensations. The honest answer: we do not know, and the system works as a map of experience regardless.

A crucial difference from the Chinese system: the nadis do not have named and numbered points, do not correspond to organs, and do not have a closed circulating loop. They are far less densely mapped. The Indian system did not invest in detailed topography — it invested in the central axis.

10. Ida, Pingala, Sushumna: the three main ones

Of the thousands, three count. All three run along the spinal column, from the base to the head.

इडा Iḍā — “the cool one”

• Side: left
• Starts: left of the base, ends at the left nostril
• Quality: yin-like — cool, feminine, lunar (चन्द्र candra), receptive
• Mind: introversion, quiet, imagination, memory
• Excess: sluggishness, depression, withdrawal

पिङ्गला Piṅgalā — “the reddish one”

• Side: right
• Starts: right of the base, ends at the right nostril
• Quality: yang-like — warm, masculine, solar (सूर्य sūrya), active
• Mind: extroversion, action, logical analysis
• Excess: tension, exhaustion, aggression

सुषुम्णा Suṣumnā — “the most gracious”

• Position: the central axis, inside the spinal column
• Normally: closed, or nearly so
• Opens: when ida and pingala are balanced
• It is the only path the tradition is really interested in. Everything else is preparation for it.

The principle that holds the whole edifice

The sushumna does not open with effort. It opens with balance.

There is no technique called “open the sushumna”. There is only a technique called “balance ida and pingala” — and the sushumna opens as a consequence. This is the theoretical basis of nāḍī śodhana (alternate-nostril breathing) and the reason it is the most fundamental pranayama technique.

It is, you will notice, the same structure as “sculptor not builder” from chapter 2: you do not produce — you remove the obstacle.

The test you can do right now

Close one nostril, breathe. Then the other. They are not the same. One is more open.

This is a real, measurable phenomenon called the nasal cycle: the nostrils alternate dominance every ~90–240 minutes, through autonomic vasomotor regulation of the mucosa. It is documented in modern physiology and there is literature linking it to alternations in hemispheric activity and autonomic tone — with the usual methodological question marks.

The interesting thing is not that the tradition “was right about everything”. It is that it noticed a real phenomenon long before it was measured, named it, and built a technique on it. That deserves respect regardless of what you think about the rest.

The name “Haṭha” — and an honest correction

You will hear everywhere that हठ haṭha = ha (sun) + tha (moon), meaning “union of sun and moon”, meaning pingala + ida.

Historically, this is probably a later construction. The word haṭha in Sanskrit literally means “force, violence, insistence” — haṭha yoga = “the yoga of force”, in contrast to the gentler methods. The sun-and-moon interpretation appears in tantric commentaries and is esoteric reconstruction, not etymology.

Both meanings are useful. Just do not use the first in front of a philologist.

11. The Chakras — with all the caveats

Here the greatest care of the whole text is required, because here is the largest distance between what people think and what the texts say.

First, the historical truth

There is no “the” chakra system. Different Tantric texts give different numbers: 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 21. The Kaubjika-mata Tantra has one arrangement, the Nāth texts another, the Buddhist tantric traditions another (usually four or five).

The seven-chakra system everybody knows comes mainly from a single text of 1577, the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa (“description of the six circles” — six, with the sahasrāra outside the count). It was translated into English in 1919 by Arthur Avalon (John Woodroffe) in The Serpent Power and became “the tradition” for the West because it happened to be the first available translation.

The rainbow colours (red→violet) that always accompany the diagrams are a 20th-century addition — the classical texts give entirely different colours (the ājñā is white, the maṇipūra is often described as the colour of a rain cloud). The correspondence with endocrine glands is also modern, from early-20th-century Theosophical literature.

And then what they really are

चक्र cakra = “wheel, disc”. In the texts themselves, the chakras are described as objects of meditative visualisation along the central axis. They have a number of “petals”, a seed syllable (बीज bīja), a geometric shape, an element, a deity. They are structured images for concentration, not organs.

This does not demote them. A tool for focusing attention on a specific bodily region, with a stable semantic charge, is exactly what you need for attention to work somatically. Just — this is what it is, not anatomy.

The table

The structural logic — which is the really worthwhile part

Notice how the sequence is built. It is not arbitrary:

The elements follow exactly the sequence of condensation of chapter 4, in reverse: earth → water → fire → air → ether → beyond-the-elements. That is, as you ascend the axis, you rarefy.

And the themes follow the same logic: survival → desire → will → relationship → expression → discernment. From the individual toward the relational toward the transindividual. It is, essentially, a hierarchy of levels of organisation — and it is strikingly close to what a modern developmental psychologist or a systems theorist would say about levels of integration.

The practical formulation: “you have the lower three so they do not preoccupy you”. A system fighting for survival has no resources for discernment. This is not metaphysical — it is resource allocation.

The warning

The classical instruction is explicit and is repeated in every serious text: you work from below upward. Premature and intensive concentration on the upper centres (ājñā, sahasrāra) is traditionally linked to over-stimulation, insomnia, headache, depersonalisation and mental instability.

This is not superstition. The modern literature on adverse effects of intensive meditation (studies on retreats, phenomena of depersonalisation/derealisation, the so-called “meditation-related adverse events”) describes almost the same symptoms. It is the exact equivalent of the Chinese 走火入魔 — see the Tibetan srog rlung essay for the parallel diagnostic category.

The instruction in one line: when in doubt, go lower.

12. The three Granthis: the knots

ग्रन्थि granthi = “knot”. Three points along the sushumna where the flow typically sticks.

This is the direct equivalent of the Chinese 三關 (three gates) — and, as there, they are located at points where the structure changes.

1. ब्रह्मग्रन्थि Brahma-granthi — the knot of the Creator

• Location: base, mūlādhāra region
• What it holds: attachment to survival, security, material identity. Inertia (tamas)
• In the body: tight pelvic floor, closed hips, inability to let weight down into the ground
• The passage: grounding without gripping — leaning without holding on

2. विष्णुग्रन्थि Viṣṇu-granthi — the knot of the Preserver

• Location: heart / solar plexus
• What it holds: attachment to relationships, roles, emotional identity, will. Rajas
• In the body: tight diaphragm, shoulders forward, “closed” chest, held exhale
• The passage: opening the thorax without projecting it — the difference between “opening” and “throwing out in front”

3. रुद्रग्रन्थि Rudra-granthi — the knot of the Destroyer

• Location: between the brows / ājñā
• What it holds: attachment to experiences, powers, spiritual identity. The subtlest ego: “I am someone who does practice”
• In the body: tension around the eyes and the neck, chin forward
• The passage: the hardest, because the very tool has become the bond

How to think of them together

They are three successive identifications: with the body, with the role, with the experience. And as in the Chinese system, the “untying” does not happen by force. You do not break a knot by pulling the rope.

13. The three Bandhas: the locks

बन्ध bandha = “binding, locking, restraint”. Here the system becomes extremely concrete and bodily — it is the most immediately applicable chapter of the text.

मूलबन्ध Mūla Bandha — the root lock

• Where: pelvic floor, perineum area
• How: a fine lift of the pelvic floor. Not glute squeeze. Not forcefully holding urine. The classical description talks about contraction, but reliable modern teaching stresses that it is tone, not contraction
• Function: retains the apāna so it does not escape downward; turns it upward
• The mistake: continuous strong clenching. Produces a hypertonic pelvic floor — a recognised clinical condition with real symptoms (pain, dysfunction). This is not a theoretical risk.

उड्डीयान बन्ध Uḍḍīyāna Bandha — “the one that flies upward”

• Where: lower belly, under the ribs
• How: only on full exhale, with empty lungs. The belly is drawn in and up — by the underpressure, not by muscular pull
• Function: massages the viscera, “lifts” the diaphragm, brings the apāna toward the centre
• Absolute contraindications: pregnancy, menstruation, hypertension, glaucoma, cardiac problems, recent surgery, full stomach

जालन्धर बन्ध Jālandhara Bandha — the net lock

• Where: throat
• How: the chin descends toward the sternum while the neck lengthens — it is not flexion, it is elongation with tilt
• Function: regulates the flow in the throat, protects from sudden rise of pressure in the head during retentions

महाबन्ध Mahā Bandha — all three together

The classical synthesis, in breath retention.

Why they work, without metaphysics

All three are pressure regulators. The body from the diaphragm to the pelvic floor is a closed container of variable pressure. Mūla bandha controls the bottom, uḍḍīyāna the middle, jālandhara the top.

Control of intra-abdominal pressure is the foundation of torso stability, lumbar protection, and efficient force transfer. The traditional language says “I retain the apāna”. Biomechanics says “I regulate intra-abdominal pressure”. They describe the same act.

The essential warning

The classical sequence is āsana → pranayama → bandha, with emphasis on supervision. This is not prudishness: bandhas with breath retention actually change intrathoracic pressure, venous return and cerebral perfusion. Without preparation, yes, they can do damage.

14. Kundalini: what the tradition does and does not say

कुण्डलिनी kuṇḍalinī — from kuṇḍala, “coil, earring”. “The coiled one”.

The classical image

A sleeping power, coiled three and a half times at the base of the spine. When it awakens, it rises through the sushumna, pierces the chakras and the granthis, and unites with consciousness at the sahasrāra. The union of Shakti (power) with Shiva (consciousness).

What you need to know

1. It is relatively late. Kundalini as such does not appear in the early Upaniṣads or in Patañjali. It is a tantric development, mainly from the 8th–12th century onward.

2. The tradition itself is extremely cautious. The texts that describe it are the ones that insist most on long preparation, a teacher, purification, ethical foundation, gradualness. There is no classical text that says “do it on your own, quickly”.

3. The “kundalini crisis” phenomenon is documented. The modern clinical literature contains descriptions of syndromes following intensive practice: uncontrollable muscular contractions, thermal sensations, insomnia, depersonalisation, acute anxiety. The term “spiritual emergency” was even entered in DSM-IV as a V-code (religious or spiritual problem).

The honest position: here is the point where the tradition makes the largest claims and has the least support. At the same time, it is the point where it issues the most serious warnings — and these deserve to be taken literally, whatever you think about the theory.

The practical stance the system itself proposes: do not aim at it. Do the work (ethical foundation, body, breath, attention). If the system is ready, what is to happen will happen; if it is not, pushing is the one thing that can spoil it.