Nagas are serpent like beings who generally live in oceans and bodies of water. They are worldly beings who have not obtained freedom from Samsara. However, many Nagas posess great worldly powers and are able to heal sickness and affect weather etc... Sometimes humans will engage in Naga practices in order to accomplish benefit for beings on a worldly level. i.e. to heal sickness, bring rain etc...
There are many classes of Nagas. The majority are like animals, some are like hungry ghosts, some are like hell beings and experience great suffering, some are similar to gods and possess great power and are able to grant relative siddhis to humans.
Sometimes one may benefit from engaging in Naga practices and often there are sections in yidam sadanas and other practices where one makes offerings to nagas in order to clear worldly obstacles and accomplish wordly siddhis. However it is important to understand that Nagas are worldly beings and do not provide ultimate refuge. Also sometimes great Bodhisattvas take birth as Nagas in order to benefit sentient beings.
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