Saraswati / Plane of neutrality

Psychic energy in the human organism flows through the central nerve canal of the spinal cord, Saraswati. According to yoga physiology, this energy flow begins in the first chakra and vibrates successively higher as the player advances from row to row. The ultimate goal of yoga is the raising of this energy to the seventh chakra, the crown of the head.

There are three basic types of energy in the human body: electrical, magnetic, and neutral. Electrical energy is sun energy and dominates the right-hand half of the body. Magnetic energy is moon energy and dominates the left. In normal states either electrical or magnetic energy (positive or negative, sun or moon) predominates. The neutral or psychic energy results when sun and moon are balanced in the body, when it begins to flow up the spinal column. Below the sixth chakra, control of this energy was not possible. Brief surges could be produced during meditation, but at seemingly random times and beyond conscious control. In the sixth chakra the negative and positive fade away; only neutrality remains.

When the player lands in Saraswati he comes into the realm of the goddess for whom it was named. He is surrounded by pure music and lives in a state of vidya, knowledge. The deity of learning and beauty graces him with the ability to stabilize himself beyond the influences of the electromagnetic field of existence. He has become a witness to the game.

Three nerves, which meet in the brain in the region of the third eye (between and slightly above the eyebrows), are responsible for the flow of the three types of energy. These are pingala nadi, ida nadi, and sushumna nadi; sun, moon and neutral; magnetic, electrical, and neutral. This juncture of nerves is called prayag, a name often given the third eye. Sushumna remains invisible, while ida and pingala can be seen as the two eyes. In Indian mythology, one of the most important holy sites is Prayag-Raj, the juncture of the country’s three holiest rivers — the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the Saraswati. The Ganges and the Yamuna are ida and pingala. Both are visible, as are the two eyes. The river Saraswati is said to be invisible, flowing up to the prayag from the depths of the earth. This same symbolism is to be found in Greco-Roman mythology, in the form of the staff of Aesculapius, the divinity of healing. Two serpents twine around the central winged staff. The snakes are ida and pingala, the staff sushumna.