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(ida), yamuna (pingala) and saraswati (sushumna) after the three most important rivers in India, the last being an underground flow. The junction where these three rivers join is called Prayag, located outside of Allahabad in north India. In the pranic body, they converge at ajna chakra. Pingala is also known as the surya, or solar nadi, and ida as the chandra, or lunar nadi. Ida and pingala indicate time, while sushumna is the devourer of time, since it leads to timelessness or eternity.
Location of the nadis
The system of kundalini yoga describes mooladhara chakra as the main plexus of the pranic body from which the nadis emanate. Ida, pingala and sushumna originate here and then ida and pingala flow alternately, coiling around the spinal passage from left to right, while sushumna flows straight up through the middle. Ida emerges from the left of mooladhara, pingala from the right, and sushumna flows straight up through the centre.
From mooladhara chakra, pingala curves to the right and crosses swadhisthana, goes to the left to manipura, then to the right to anahata, to the left to vishuddhi, to the right to ajna at the top of the spine and then straight to sahasrara. Ida follows a similar path, but on the opposite side. As pingala crosses to the right, ida crosses to the left and so on (see diagram). As ida and pingala cross over at each chakra, their energy currents branch off via the network of nadis to all the respective organs and parts of the body. In this way the matrix of nadis carries these two opposite forces to every cell, organ and part of the body.
Ida
Ajna
BSYO
Pingala
Mooladhara
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