Alex Stanley wrote: > ...but what about all that esoteric > ooga-booga, like nadi granthis in the > sushumna blocking kundalini in the third > chakra? > The notion of 'chakras' came long after the age of Patanjali; that's why he doesn't talk much about the 'nadis' - that's a hatha yoga notion first expounded by Matsyendranath in the age of the siddha mystics, in the 'Hatha Yoga Pradapika', which came later during the Gupta Age in India. Patanjali doesn't have much to say about nada yoga - I doubt that it even existed in his day, except in some minor esoteric sect in the Upper Kashi. > What's the connection between that stuff > and Realization? > There's no connection between 'ooga-booga' and Realization. The historical Buddha, the founder of yoga practice in India, didn't mention any 'nadis' or 'granthis', so I guess it's not very important.
But you might relate to the 'nadi' theory when you consider that the practice of TM helps the body secrete seratonin, which gives the individual a sense of well-being. Like that, the subtle psychic channels in the esoteric body can cause change at will. According to the Marshy, the practice of TM can form 'soma' in the gut. Dr. Pete would probably be knowing more about the bio-chemical substances, such as feminine fluids, kundalini and their relation to mental equipoise, but it's a fact that some cell salts are very beneficial to humans. According to Swami Shivananda Radha, every hatha yoga pose has a corresponding physio- logical and mental correlate; a system worked out by yogi alchemists. Read more: 'The Alchemical Body' Siddha traditions in medieval India by David Gordon White University Of Chicago Press, 1998 Other titles of interst: 'Hatha Yoga' by Swami Sivananda Radha Timeless Books, 2006 'Hatha Yoga' by Theos Bernard, Ph.D. Weiser, 1968 'An Introduction to Hinduism' by Gavin D. Flood, Ph.D. Cambridge University Press, 1996
