Guru Gorakhnath

Guru Gorakhnath (also known as Gorakshnath), arguably one of the greatest yogis who ever lived, is famous as one of the founders of India’s Nath Hindu monastic movement. He is considered as one of the two notable disciples of Matsyendranath but since has become more famous and influential than his Master. His followers are found in India at the place known as Garbhagiri, which is in Ahmednagar in Maharashtra. Guru Gorakhnath has long since been revered and deified and is considered a representative, and even an embodiment, of Lord Shiva. Guru Gorakhnath is mentioned in older sources such as Padma Purana, Brahmanda Purana, Skanda Purana, along with Matsyendranath.

He was one of nine saints known as the Navnaths and is widely popular in Maharashtra, India. Hagiographies describe him as more than a human teacher (his teachings also know as Gorakhwani) and someone who was well established outside the laws of space and time, and who appeared on earth during different ages. Historians state Guru Gorakhnath lived sometime during the first half of the 2nd millennium CE, but they disagree on which century. Estimates based on archaeology and texts range from Briggs’ 15th- to 12th-century to Grierson’s estimate of the 14th-century.

The position of the Nath lineage is considered supreme within the annals of spiritual practice in the overall Sanatana Dharma Tradition of India. The Nath lineage is believed to have originated from Adinath (Primordial Master) Lord Shiva, in whose lineage there are believed to have been nine Naths and eighty-four Siddhas (perfected Yogis, adepts). Historians place all of them in the Middle Ages from the ninth to the fourteenth century.

Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath (Guru and disciple) command the leading position among the Siddha Yogis of this lineage. Tradition holds that Adinath Shiva himself was Matsyendranath’s Guru, while he, Matsyendranath, was, in turn, Gorakshanath’s Guru. In this pair of Guru and disciple, Guru Gorakhnath has achieved greater popularity and influence. Many Mahatmas of the Nath lineage consider Guru Gorakhnath to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva. They argue that in a text of their lineage named Mahakalyoga, Lord Shiva has stated: ‘I am Goraksh. Consider that as my form. I have taken that form for the propagation of the path of yoga.‘

From medieval times onward, Guru Gorakhnath is the well-known wonder-worker and master yogi of northern and western India. He and members of his order are celebrated in legend and song in countless villages. From Nepal to Rajputana, from the Punjab to Bengal, from Sind to the Deccan, tradition and folklore are full of allusions to Gorakshanath recounting his wonderful deeds. He is the famous saint and worker of miracles; the founder and out­standing teacher of the Shaivite sect of ascetics, original instructor of Hatha Yoga, founder and leader of the Nath Yogis, and the patron saint and tutelary of the state named Goraksh in Nepal, whose royal house was the land’s rulers.

Guru Gorakhnath is considered a Maha-yogi (or great yogi) in the Hindu tradition. He did not emphasise a specific metaphysical theory or a particular Truth but stressed that the search for Truth and the spiritual life should be a valuable and typical goal of man. Guru Gorakhnath championed Yoga, spiritual discipline, and ethical life of self-determination as a means to reaching samadhi and one’s spiritual truths.

His influence is widespread. References to him are found in the poetry of Kabir and of Guru Nanak of Sikhism, which describe him as a compelling leader with a large following, thereby suggesting he likely lived around the same time these spiritual leaders lived in India. Historical texts imply that Guru Gorakhnath was originally a Buddhist in a region influenced by Shaivism, and he converted to Hinduism championing Shiva and Yoga. Guru Gorakhnath led a life as a passionate exponent of the ideas of Kumarila and Adi Shankara that advocated the Yogic and Advaita Vedanta interpretation of the Upanishads. Guru Gorakhnath considered the controversy between dualism and non-dualism spiritual theories in medieval India as useless from a practical point of view.  He emphasised that the choice is of the yogi and that the spiritual discipline and practice by either path leads to a ‘perfectly illumined samadhi state of the individual phenomenal consciousness.’

The Nath tradition states that its traditions existed before Guru Gorakhnath, but the movement’s most significant expansion happened under the guidance and inspiration of Gorakshanath. He produced many writings and even today is considered the greatest of the Naths. It has been purported that Gorakshanath wrote the first books on Laya yoga.

In India, there are many caves, many with temples built over them, of which it is said that Guru Gorakhnath spent time in meditation. According to Bhagawan Nityananda (of Ganeshpuri), the samadhi shrine (tomb) of Guru Gorakhnath is at Nath Mandir near the Vajreshwari temple about one kilometer from Ganeshpuri, Maharashtra, India. According to legends, Gorakshanath and Matsyendranath did penance at the Kadri Temple in Mangalore, Karnataka. They are also instrumental in consecrating shivalingas at Kadri and Dharmasthala.

Many scholars associate the origins of Hatha yoga with the Nath yogis, in particular, Guru Gorakhnath and his guru Matsyendranath. 

The Gurkhas of Nepal and India take their name from this saint. He has long been considered the rashtradevata (lord of state) of Nepal, with his name appearing on numerous versions of Nepalese coins and currency notes. Gorkha, a historical district of Nepal, is named after him. There is a cave with his paduka (footprints) and his idol, and every year on the full moon day in the Hindu month of Vaishakha, there is a grand celebration at the cave called Rot Mahotsav that has been observed for the last seven hundred years.

In the Tamil Siddha tradition, Guru Gorakhnath is named as Korakkar, and is one among the Eighteen Siddhas. In that tradition,  Sage Agastya and Siddha Bhogar are claimed to have been his Gurus. His jeeva samadhi temple is in Vadukupoigainallur of Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu. According to one account, he spent a portion of his formative years in the Velliangiri Mountains in Coimbatore. Other sanctums related toKorakkar are Perur, Thiruchendur, and Triconamalli. Korakkar caves are found in Chathuragiri and Kolli Hills. Like other Siddhas, Korakkar is the author of works on medicine, philosophy, and alchemy. These include Korakkar Malai Vagatam (Korakkar’s mountain medicines), Malai Vaakadam, Korakkar Vaippu, Kaalamegam, Marali Varadham, Nilaiyodukkam, Chandhira Regai Nool, and many more. In his work, Chandira Regai Nool, Korakkar has predicted future events. One of such events predicted by him was that Bhogar will be born again in the world when people lose their faith in god.

Osho says about Guru Gorakhnath:

‘Without Gorakh, there could be no Kabir, no Nanak, no Dadu, no Vajid, no Farid, no Meera  —  without Gorakh, none of these are possible. The fundamental root of all of them is in Gorakh. India’s whole saint tradition  —  those innumerable devotees of love  —  is indebted to Gorakh. Just as without Patanjali, there would be no possibility of yoga in India; as without Buddha, the foundation stone of meditation would be uprooted; just as without Krishna, the path of love would not find expression  —  similarly, without Gorakh, the search that began for methods and techniques of sadhana, of spiritual practice to attain the ultimate truth would not have been possible. Gorakh made many discoveries within man for the inner search, more perhaps than anyone else. He has given so many methods that in terms of procedures, Gorakh is the most significant inventor.

But why have people forgotten Gorakh? The milestones are remembered, the path breaker is forgotten. The ones who have decorated the path are remembered; the one who has first broken the path is forgotten. Forgotten because those who come after have the leisure to dress it up. One who comes first will be unpolished, unfinished. Gorakh is like a diamond just out of the mine. If Gorakh and Kabir would be sitting together; you would be impressed by Kabir, not by Gorakh. Because Gorakh is a freshly mined diamond, but on Kabir, the jewelers have worked hard; on him, the chisel has worked hard; much polishing has been done.’