Śivasaṃhitā 2.30

The figure of 350,000 nāḍīs should not be read as a verifiable anatomical count but as a statement of totality: the subtle body permeates absolutely every corner of the physical form, leaving no region without prāṇic nourishment. This kind of sacred numerology is characteristic of Tāntric literature, where large numbers express completeness and infinitude rather than precise enumerable quantities.

The process described — fourteen principal nāḍīs branching into hundreds of thousands of sub-channels — reflects the concept of vistāra (expansion, unfolding), fundamental to Tāntric cosmology. Reality, both macrocosmic and microcosmic, unfolds from a single point into infinite multiplicity. The human body recapitulates this process: from the central suṣumṇā, all other subtle structures emerge in cascading elaboration.

Textual comparison is instructive: the Haṭhapradīpikā cites 72,000 nāḍīs, while other sources privilege 101 or just 14 principal channels. This variation does not indicate contradiction but rather different pedagogical emphasis. Some texts focus on the total system; others highlight only the channels operationally relevant to practice. The Śivasaṃhitā chooses the most expansive vision, underscoring the inexhaustible complexity of the bodily microcosm.