Within the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Suṣumṇā, Iḍā, and Piṅgalā are presented as the subtle architecture through which both bondage and liberation are worked out. Suṣumṇā is described as the central channel running along the spinal axis, passing through the principal cakras, and it is explicitly identified as the path to mokṣa. When prāṇa is drawn into this nadi, the mind becomes steady, deep meditation arises, and the conditions for samādhi are fulfilled. The text repeatedly suggests that as long as Suṣumṇā remains dormant or blocked, yogic efforts do not bear their highest fruit, whereas the activation of this channel allows kuṇḍalinī to ascend and reveals the true aim of Haṭha Yoga.

Iḍā and Piṅgalā, by contrast, are portrayed as the dual currents that sustain ordinary experience. Flanking Suṣumṇā like two serpents, they govern the alternating flow of breath through the left and right nostrils and are associated with lunar and solar qualities respectively. As long as prāṇa moves predominantly in these two nadis, the mind remains restless, outward-turned, and bound to fluctuation and duality. The Pradipika thus treats their usual dominance as the energetic basis of worldly consciousness, a state in which liberation cannot be attained.

From this perspective, the practices of Haṭha Yoga are not merely physical disciplines but deliberate methods for transforming the flow of prāṇa. Through purificatory techniques, āsana, prāṇāyāma, bandhas, and mudrās, the nadis are cleansed so that prāṇa can be withdrawn from Iḍā and Piṅgalā and guided into Suṣumṇā. Kuṇḍalinī, said to lie coiled at the base of this central channel, is awakened by these practices and then ascends through Suṣumṇā, piercing the inner knots and centers. When this ascent occurs, the divided play of the side channels is transcended, the mind becomes one-pointed, and the state known as Rāja Yoga—deep, transformative absorption—manifests as the culmination of the path.