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253 NOTES ON HATA YOGA.*

The Sushumna is connected with the tube that runs through the centre of the spine. It is a sort of vein of magnetic electricity, and the energy passing through the Sushumna is a stream of vital electricity. The tube above-mentioned is connected with the ventricles of the brain.

The Sushumna begins with the Muladharam and ends in Sahasraram. The former Chakram is at the base of the spine where it forms a triangle.

The Brahmarandhra is put in different places in different books, it should be taken to be the top of the head.

You may know the action of Sushumna by feeling an accession of fire to the brain—as if a hot current of air were being blown through the tube from the bottom to the top.

Hata Yogis say that Ida and Pingala act alternately, but if you stop both of these the hot current is forced through the Sushumna. Also without having anything to do with Ida and Pingala—by practising Kumbaka alone—the Sushumna comes into play; but a Raj Yogi, without using either of these methods, has a way of rousing the Kundalini. The means the Raj Yogi employs belong to the mysteries of initiation.

The reason why Sushumna is reckoned to be the chief of the Nadis is, because it is only through it that the Monad goes out in the case of a Yogi; and in the case of an adept, at the time of his death, his soul goes out through the Sushumna. Moreover it is the seat of circulation of the soul or Karana-sarira.

The Karana sarira is said to be in a state of sleep, but this is no ordinary sleep, it is Yoga sleep. It is the calm after the tempest spoken of in "Light on the Path" (Rule 21).

Samadhi includes the realization of Yoga Anandam, but it is a generic term used to denote several conditions.