Upanishads · Bhāvanā p13
॥
Devanāgarī
अलम्बुसा कुहूर्विश्वोदरी वरुणा हस्तिजिह्वा यशस्वत्यश्विनी गान्धारी पूषा शङ्खिनी सरस्वतीडा पिङ्गला सुषुम्ना चेति चतुर्दश नाड्यः
Transliteration (IAST)
alambusā kuhūrviśvodarī varuṇā hastijihvā yaśasvatyaśvinī gāndhārī pūṣā śaṅkhinī sarasvatīḍā piṅgalā suṣumnā ceti caturdaśa nāḍyaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अलम्बुसा कुहूः विश्वोदरीalambusā kuhūḥ viśvodarīAlambusā, Kuhū, Viśvodarī
वरुणा हस्ति-जिह्वा यशस्वतीvaruṇā hasti-jihvā yaśasvatīVaruṇā, Hastijihvā, Yaśasvatī
अश्विनी गान्धारी पूषा शङ्खिनीaśvinī gāndhārī pūṣā śaṅkhinīAśvinī, Gāndhārī, Pūṣā, Śaṅkhinī
सरस्वती इडा पिङ्गला सुषुम्नाsarasvatī iḍā piṅgalā suṣumnāSarasvatī, Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumnā
च इति चतुर्दश नाड्यःca iti caturdaśa nāḍyaḥand thus — fourteen channels
Translation
Alambusā, Kuhū, Viśvodarī, Varuṇā, Hastijihvā, Yaśasvatī, Aśvinī, Gāndhārī, Pūṣā, Śaṅkhinī, Sarasvatī, Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumnā — and thus, fourteen channels.
Version
39758941471a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Fourteen nāḍī, "channels," are named, and it is worth saying what these are, for the word is usually translated poorly. Nāḍī means "river, channel, tube"; in these books it names the paths along which breath and what is called the life-force travel. They are counted variously: sometimes fourteen, sometimes seventy-two thousand; the chief ones are always three — iḍā, piṅgalā, and suṣumnā, left, right, and central, discussed when reading the Kuṇḍikā (21).
Whether they correspond to anything in the body as present-day science describes it is a question more honestly answered no. Not one of these channels has been found or can be found: they are described as paths of sensation, not as vessels. This must be said directly, and it is no reproach to the ancients. They described what they felt, and described it in good faith; and what a person feels in his own body truly forms a certain order, which he has every right to diagram. The error begins where a diagram of sensations is passed off as a diagram of the innards.
The Vaiṣṇava side treats these mappings without hostility and without enthusiasm. One may make use of them, and there is no need to dispute them; but one cannot build a teaching about God on them, for they describe not Him, but our sensations — and these differ from person to person.