fortune telling

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Message: 1

Sat, 16 Oct 1999 00:36:42 +0100

" Vivekananda Centre " <vivekananda

Nadi - meanings .......

 

From Barry Pittard

bpittard

 

Dear Scholarly Friends at Vivekananda Centre,

 

Have you got anything on the etymology of 'nadi' -

electronically or

otherwise? There is, of course, a Tantric meaning. Who knows,

there

may

be something cognate.

 

Naturally, I'm after Sanscrit and Old Tamil origins, but it

probably good

to

see what comes up in any of the Indic languages in general.

 

It was tempting to consider naaDi as meaning 'river.' The

Sanskrit word

nadii (ii = long i usually transcribed with a macron over i) means

'river.'

But the words nadii (river) and naa.di (tube) are different things

altogether. Naa.di looks as though it might be a Dravidian loan,

but

it

isn't in Burrow and Emeneau's DEDR 1. I don't have access to DEDR

2.

 

I guess the naa.di (tube) becomes the subtle nerve of yoga

physiology

- as

in susushumna nADi etc. Is this definitely correct?

 

Monier-Williams gives the basic meaning of naa.dii as 'a hollow

stalk ...

any tubular organ (as a vein or artery of the body).' I wonder:

could

this have evolved into 'pulse,' which is certainly a meaning for

nadi

in

Tamil.

 

M-W traces the etymology to the Rigvedic word naa.da = naala,

which

likewise means 'hollow stalk'. He also mentions a feminine form

(though

ending in long a, rather than i), which is the 'name of a

particular verse'

according to the Vaitanasutra. A clue?

 

I wonder if, somehow, the meaning relates to the nadi leaf AND the

nadi

reader being a sort of conduit. One down which is piped - or

flows

-

the voice of the Rishi or god or goddess in whom a nadi is named.

Too

fanciful? If we take the meaning that relates to a vein or

artery in

the

body, all the messages from rishi, god, goddess could be view -

is it

likely? - as a series of flows, extending across time, one

" river " of

information flowing to one querant, another flowing to another, and

so

on.

How would we ever know?

 

M-W traces the etymology to the Rigvedic word naa.da = naala,

which

likewise means 'hollow stalk'. He also mentions a feminine form

(though

ending in long a, rather than i), which is the 'name of a

particular verse'

according to the Vaitanasutra. Might this be a clue worth

following up?

 

Barry

 

__________

 

Dear Barry,

 

I am not scholarly, however I have read quite a bit of

Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda & related writings.

 

Over the past months, I have read with interest, your

postings on Palm-leaf writings, which are intended to

forcast the individual's future, by means of thumbprint

and other means.

 

Here is an appropriate quote from Swami Vivekananda

concerning the subject of 'fortune telling' :

 

" There are endless series of manifestations,

like " merry-go-rounds, " in which the souls ride,

so to speak. The series are eternal; individual

souls get out, but the events repeat themselves

eternally AND THAT IS HOW ONE'S PAST AND FUTURE

CAN BE READ, because all is really present.

 

When the soul is in a certain chain, it has to go

through the experiences of that chain. From one series

souls go to other series; from some series they escape for

ever by realising that they are Brahman.

 

BY GETTING HOLD OF ONE PROMINENT EVENT IN A CHAIN AND

HOLDING ON TO IT, THE WHOLE CHAIN CAN BE DRAGGED IN AND READ.

 

This power is easily acquired, but it is of no real value

and to practice it takes just so much away from our

spiritual forces.

 

GO NOT AFTER THESE THINGS, WORSHIP GOD. "

 

Vivekananda

 

[inspired talks, August 1st, 1895]

 

 

____

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