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THE ANATOMY OF THE TANTRAS
or they do only exist in the imagination of the "Tantrists ? Though we are unable to satisfactorily identify them we nevertheless believe that the Tantrists obtained their knowledge about them by dissection. These terms have been indefinitely used to designate two different nervous structures viz. -nervous plexuses and ganglia. But it may be questioned, how are we authorized to identify the Tantric Padma and Chakras with either the ganglia or plexuses of the modern anatomists? Our reasons for doing so are the following.
1st. The position of some of these Padmas and Chakras corresponds with that of the plexus or ganglion of the modern anatomists.
2nd. These Chakras are said to be composed of petals designated by certain letters, which clearly point to either the nerves that go to form a ganglion or plexus, or the nerves distributed from such ganglion or plexus.
3rd. Certain forces are said to be concentrated in these Chakras, thus identifying them with the plexuses or ganglia which the modern physiologists have proved to be "separate and independent nervous centres." (See Gray's Anatomy, 10th edition.)
This Nadi Sushumna has six Padmas (Shiva Sanhita, Ch. II, v. 27, p. 12 evidently signifying the six nervous plexuses formed by the spinal cord.
We proceed next to the identification of the famous six Chakras of the Tantras →→
:
I. Muldhar Chakra, (Siva Sanhita, p. 44) is the sacral plexus.
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