Hinduism - What Is Sushumna?

 

 

 In ancient concepts of the subtle body, one of the vertical channels (nadi).

The subtle body is a physiological system that is thought to exist on a separate level than coarse matter yet has certain similarities with it.

It's shown as a series of six psychic centers (chakras) that run nearly parallel to the spine and are joined by three parallel vertical channels.

The corporeal abodes of the two divine principles, Shiva (consciousness) and Shakti (power)—the latter as the latent spiritual force known as kundalini—are envisioned in the shape of a coiled serpent above and below these centers.

The ultimate goal of yoga that focuses on the subtle body is to awaken the kundalini and move it up via the chakras to Shiva's home.

The combination of Shiva and Shakti in the aspirant's body reflects the movement of these divine energies in the macrocosm, and it is through this union that the aspirant achieves happiness and complete soul freedom (moksha).

The sushumna is the most essential of the three vertical channels in the subtle body—the other two are the ida nadi and the pingala nadi—and it is the center of the three.

During the aspirant's spiritual exercises, the rising kundalini wakes and straightens, penetrating through the chakras on its route.

The sushumna is usually blocked where it joins the chakras, which prevents energy from flowing freely through it.

The route for the kundalini to climb to Shiva's dwelling and effect the union of Shakti and Shiva that would bring ultimate enlightenment has been opened when the chakras have been pierced and opened by the rising kundalini.

See Arthur Avalon's (Sir John Woodroffe's) Shakti and Shakta, 1978; Philip S. Rawson's The Art of Tantra, 1973; Swami Agehananda Bharati's The Tantric Tradition, 1975; and Douglas Renfrew Brooks' The Secret of the Three Cities, 1990 for further details.


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