One of the problems with understanding the Yoga Nadi Energy Channels is the fact that — depending on what or from whom you read about it — you will get different information with regard to the pathways of the Nadis through the body.
The reason to this is that the variety of classical Indian Yoga sources and texts more often than not give us different descriptions of Nadi trajectories and locations in the body, resulting in a different understanding and subsequently different charts or maps.
Moreover, usually only the starting, intermediary, and/or termination points of Nadis are given in the texts, and not the actual pathways through the body that connect them, which again gives rise to a range of assumptions and interpretations.
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Another thing is that the classical sources on Yoga span a substantial stretch of time, at least 2,000 years, and without doubt textual transmissions must sometimes have been erroneously copied or translated, or differently interpreted, or even changed on purpose because of new insights that came about.
Additionally, in the past, transmission of knowledge was primarily done through direct verbal instruction from Guru to student, and written texts may sometimes have only been produced as helpful indications or summaries.
Of course, the Yoga Nadis are said to be invisible to the eyes or to measuring equipment, and it’s often claimed that the Nadi locations in the body have been “seen,” “visualized,” or “felt” by advanced Yoga Gurus in deep meditation sessions. Surely, this also has its own problems.
Another thought here is that the differences in Nadi trajectories and charts may also have been the result of emphasis on different therapeutic aspects or functions. To give you an example of what this could mean: a map of a certain city may focus on rivers and streets, or alternatively only on restaurants and hotels. As such, depending on the goal of the map or chart the resulting trajectories i.e. locations will be different.
The contradictions of intermediary and/or ending points for the same Nadis may also be the result of certain classical texts mentioning specific points of major branches and/or extensions of a specific Nadi, and others omitting those.
And finally, there’s also a belief that Yoga Gurus in the past may — at times — deliberately have given false information (the true information would only be given verbally one-on-one) in order not to “throw pearls before swine,” and reserve their sacred knowledge only for those who really deserved it.
