Śivasaṃhitā 5.10

This verse lists four technical capacities that characterize the advanced practitioner: knowledge of the subtle channel system, mastery of sensory withdrawal, abdominal activation, and the internalization of awareness through the pathways of the senses. These are not isolated achievements but a progressive map of interior refinement, culminating in complete absorption of consciousness.

The compound nāḍīsañcāravijñāna merges nāḍī (subtle channel), sañcāra (circulation, movement) and vijñāna (discriminative, experiential knowledge). This is not theoretical understanding but direct perception. Pratyāhāra — the fifth of Patañjali’s eight aṅgas — denotes the withdrawal of the senses toward their source, here qualified as nirodhanam, active restraint or suppression.

The reference to kukṣisañcālana — movement or churning of the abdomen — evokes practices such as nauli or agnisāra, techniques of visceral manipulation that activate digestive fire and upward-moving energy. Its placement alongside pratyāhāra suggests the Śivasaṃhitā regards somatic purification and mental interiorization as inseparable, mutually reinforcing processes rather than sequential stages.