Mystical systems
Granthi
Direct answer
Granthi: A granthi is a knot. Hatha yoga names three in the central channel, the knots of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra, which the rising energy is said to pierce one after another.
$0 today, then $19/month after 7 days. Cancel anytime.
At a glance
- Also called
- psychic knots
- Found in
- Mystical Systems
- Related
- Sushumna, Kundalini Awakening, Chakra, Subtle Body
A granthi is a knot. Hatha yoga names three in the central channel, the knots of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra, which the rising energy is said to pierce one after another.
A lineage map for books and systems; it avoids presenting symbolic traditions as literal fact.
Understand the chapter you are in.
Your life’s turning points, measured from your birth.
Walk through Alex’s whole example first
Prefer to explore first?
The Road of AgesThe turning points of your whole life, from your own chart
Walk my road
What are the three granthis?
Granthi is the ordinary Sanskrit word for a knot or a joint in a stalk of bamboo. In the subtle body it means a place where the central channel is tied shut, so that the awakened force cannot pass until the knot gives way. There are three, named for the gods of creation, preservation and dissolution.
Teachers read each as a kind of bondage. The knot of Brahma, placed low in the trunk, is attachment to the body, survival and the senses. The knot of Vishnu, at the heart, is attachment to people, feelings and one's own good deeds. The knot of Rudra, between the eyebrows, is attachment to powers, visions and the sense of being a separate knower.
On the tree of the hidden arts: Chakras and the breath.
What sets Granthi apart
A knot is the opposite of a centre. The chakras are described as flowers that open; the granthis are described as bonds that must be cut or pierced, and the texts speak of them with verbs of force. There are only three, against six or seven chakras, and each is named for a god of the Hindu triad, which ties the yogi's inner progress to the cycle of creation, maintenance and dissolution. The Pradipika marks each piercing by a change in the sound heard within.
- Meaning: Sanskrit for a knot, or a joint in a cane
- Brahma granthi: base of the spine or navel; bondage to body and senses
- Vishnu granthi: the heart; bondage to affection and merit
- Rudra granthi: between the eyebrows; bondage to powers and to 'I'
- Hatha source: Hatha Yoga Pradipika, chapter 4, on the stages of inner sound
- Older phrase: knots of the heart, in the Chandogya, Katha and Mundaka Upanishads
Often mistaken for something else: A chakra is a station on the central channel where energy rests and is contemplated; a granthi is a blockage on that channel, defined only by the fact that it bars the way.
The story behind Granthi
The early Upanishads already speak of the knots of the heart that are cut when the self is known, a phrase found in the Chandogya, Katha and Mundaka. The hatha texts made the image exact. The fourth chapter of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, of around the fifteenth century, describes four stages of inner sound, in the course of which the knots of Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra are pierced in turn. The sources differ on where the first knot lies, some placing it at the base of the spine and others at the navel.
Why Granthi matters
The knots explain why the texts treat awakening as gradual and obstructed: the channel is pictured as blocked at three points, each needing work.
How to read Granthi
Teachers use the three as a way of naming what holds a practitioner back at different depths: appetite, attachment and pride in attainment.
Granthi in practice: an example
A teacher might say that a student clinging to pleasant states in meditation is caught at the knot of Vishnu.
Where readings of Granthi go wrong
Granthi is a teaching image. Reading every ache or mood as a knot opening goes beyond anything the texts say.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Mystical Systems
- Aliases
- granthis, three granthis, granthi meaning, brahma granthi, rudra granthi, psychic knots
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
See Granthi in your personal almanac
A definition tells you what it is; your own birth chart tells you what it means for you. The Oracle casts your real chart and answers for your love, your work, and your year ahead, in conversation. It opens with the 7-day Oracle trial.
Speak with the OracleRelated terms
More in Mystical Systems
- Kumari Kandam
- Mystical Union
- Pythagoras
- Solar Myth
- The Star
- Acupuncture Meridians
- Benandanti
- Dodecahedron
From the reference page to your own chart
Every word here
is in your own chart.
- Your life’s turning points, measured from your birth
- A practical next step to consider
- It opens with 7 days free: the AI Oracle on thirty hidden arts, and your daily horoscope
$0 today, then $19/month after 7 days. Cancel anytime.
Common questions
What are the three granthis?
Brahma granthi, Vishnu granthi and Rudra granthi, named for the three great gods. They are knots in the central channel of the subtle body that the rising energy has to pass.
Where are the granthis located?
The usual placement is the base of the spine or the navel for the knot of Brahma, the heart for the knot of Vishnu and the point between the eyebrows for the knot of Rudra. The texts are not unanimous.
How is a granthi different from a chakra?
A chakra is a centre, pictured as a lotus, where energy gathers and can be contemplated. A granthi is an obstruction, a knot that bars the way. The three knots are placed at or near certain chakras but are a separate idea.
