Gorakshanatha

His life

Gorakshanatha was the most prominent of the Hatha Yogis.  He is a miraculous personality.  He dominated over the large part of Indian sub-continent spearheading the message of Yoga through its length and breadth.  Patanjali placed the philosophical and fundamental understandings of Yoga with clarity of logic and rationality.  Hatha Yoga cult most of which was constructed by the Natha Yogis, come into picture to spread the practical aspects of Yoga.  (Nathas popularised Yoga and they also initiated a special religious/spiritual  movement which has a mixture of elements of Shaivism, Buddhism, and Hatha Yoga). Gorakshanatha was so very overpowering that even today resonance of his work can be felt in the major part of India and neighbouring countries. 

 

Yet, very less can be known about the life of Gorakshanatha.  His personality had been distorted by myth and folklore.  His time can be assumed to be around the 9th and 12th century.  The details of his life are obscured by the numerous legends.  One legend mentioned that Gorakshanath performed Tapas for twelve years, living on air alone and gained tremendous yogic powers and Siddhis.  He travelled throughout India as well as neighbouring countries to spread science of Yoga.

Gorakshanatha was the immediate disciple of Matsyendranatha, who is considered  by Natha yogis as the first human guru in their teaching succession. It is said that the doctrine of Yoga was given by Shiva (also known as Adinatha) to Gorakshanatha's guru, Matsyendranatha. The legend of Matsyendranatha is that while he was swallowed by a fish, he overheard that Shiva was teaching the secrets of Yoga to Parvati. However Parvati was angry and cursed Matsyendranatha to forget all about Yoga. Gorakshanatha disguised himself as a dancing girl and rescued his master from his enchantment through the words of his songs. 

Authorship of many Sanskrit and a few Hindi works on Hatha Yoga are attributed to Gorakshanatha. These are considered the greatest and the most influential of the Nathas.  The tradition of the Nathas is kept alive till the date and is spreading across the globe each passing day.

Through these literature and personal efforts with favourable divine backing Natha tradition underwent its greatest expansion during the time of Gorakshanatha. There are several sites, ashrams and temples in India dedicated to Gorakshanatha.  After Gorakshanatha, there were thousands of Hatha Yogis who ruled over the Indian spiritual scene apparently untill the 17^th century AD. Nine of these Natha Yogis are famous Nava nathas. 

Founder of Natha

It is said that Gorakshanath and Matsyendranath founded the sect known as the Natha tradition (or Natha Sampradaya) or the Goraknathis or the Kanphata Yogis, an order of religious ascetics who stress the practice of Hatha Yoga.  Kanphata - from Kan or ear and phata or split, refers to the fact that during the initiation ceremony the ears are split in order to insert enormous earrings. It is believed that this custom affects an important current (nadi) of life at the ear that facilitates the acquisition of certain supernatural powers. This order still survives today. 

Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Svatmarama (probably 15th century) is based on the Hatha Yoga, and also reproduces a number of verses from the Goraksha Shataka, material from the Geranda Samhita. 

He has been described as the most influential Indian since Shankara. It is believed with what seems considerable truth that Gorakshanath spread the doctrine and practice of yoga throughout India.  Salutations to him appear in the Sri-goraksa-sahasra-nama-stotra (hymns of the thousand names of Sri-goraksa), the Kalpa-druma-tanta, and Brahmanda-purana.

 

Kabir, who spared some  good words for the Yogis of his time, praised Gorakshanatha as a master who had found union with the Divine, acknowledging his indebtedness to the teachings about the six psycho-spiritual centres (cakra) of the body and the Yoga of sound (shabda-yoga). 

His teachings

He is called the founder of Hatha yoga, together with his master Matsyendranath, although many of the tenets and practices of this school were in existence long before his time. The Goraksasataka is a basic Hatha yoga text.  It describes the six components of yoga (which excluded the two limbs of yama, niyama in Patanjali yoga system). The doctrines of Gorakhnatha is open to all castes, which helps account for Gorakhnathis being found all over India. Gorakhnathis are not required to only live in a monastery and the Gorahkbodh allows them to live in market places and roads and in the shade of trees. Thus, Gorakhnathis can be found in almost any locality and are as widely scattered as any of the ascetic orders.