Published on May 7, 2008

Nāḍī

"As the leafs of the Asvattha tree is permeated with minute fibers, so also, this body is permeated with thousands of Nadis."
Sandiliya Upanisad

Etymologically, nadi is derived from the root nad, which translated would mean to move, to circulate, to traverse, so the approximate sense of the term would be path of motion or route.

The Sanskrit term is always equated by reference to the motion of the Vital Force, prana, so in this context, the sense of the term would be one of path of motion of the Vital Force.

It must be stressed out that the definition of the term nadi is with reference to the paths of motion of the Vital Force and not with reference to an anatomic entity (nerves, veins, arteries, etc.)

The number of those nadi is usually metaphorically indicated, by comparison to the fibers of the trees, or using a very large number: 72000 in Bhutasuddhi Tantra, 300000 in Prapancasara Tantra, 350000 in Siva Samhita; in this case precision is superfluous, as only a limited number of those are important for the practitioner.

Nāḍī suddhi (nadi purification) is the main factor in the preliminary stages of the Yoga practice, their impurity hindering the spiritual progress of the devout, either reducing his efforts to zero, either giving him grave disorders.

Among the numerous nadi, forty are principal, and among those forty, the most important are three: ida, pingala and susumna; of those three, the most important is susumna.

Through this nāḍī, with the help of Yoga techniques, prana can be made to pass from cakra to cakra up to leaving the body through brahmarandhra during the process named death, or during the meditations that prepare (the practitioner) for this process.