Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis c19.139

c19.139

In recent times efforts have been made to relate the physiology of the Haṭha Yoga to that of present-day science. Notably, Dr. Brajendranath Seal, in his *The Primitive Science of the Ancients*,³ has attempted, in the chapter on ‘Hindu Physiology and Biology,’ to identify the cakras with the plexuses of the human body. Previous to that¹ Major B. D. Basu, I.M.S., worked on the same problem. A recent, elaborate comparison of Haṭha Yoga physiology with modern anatomical science is found in the little book, *The Mysterious Kundalini*, by Dr. Vasant G. Rele.² This author, who is interested in explaining the effects or accomplishments of Yoga from the standpoint of modern physiology, identifies the prāṇas with the nervous energies, the five chief airs being the five important subsidiary nerve centres in the brain and spinal cord; the cakras with the plexuses, involving both spinal and cerebro-spinal automatic nervous systems; suṣumṇā, iḍā and piṅglā with the sympathetic system; the nectar from the moon (bindu) with the cerebro-spinal fluid; the śaktis of the various cakras with the fibres connecting them with the spinal nervous system; and brahmarandhra with the cavity in the skull. Particularly does he connect the plexuses with the cerebro-cranial automatic nervous system and the Kuṇḍalinī with the right vagus nerve.³ His position is that by means of the Yogic methods, prāṇāyāma, bandha and mudrā, the Yogī gains control of the automatic nervous system, especially that portion of it which controls the involuntary vital activities related to the plexuses. In this way does the author explain the voluntary control which the Yogī exercises over consciousness and his ability to produce trance and self-hybernation. Ecstatic experiences which occur, as plexus after plexus comes under control of the Yogī, are described by Dr. Rele as follows:⁴