[above illustration by Rosalyn White from thanka; under the
direction of Tarthang Tulku
from Buddhas Lions: The Lives
of the Eighty-Four Siddhas.]
(The illustration, above right, is from
a contemporary one rupee coin of Nepal.
In the petals are the following syllables:
Shri Shri Shri Go Ra Kha Na Tha
[Shri Shri Shri Gorakhnatha].
Gorakhnath and his guru; Siddha Matsyendranath,
are held in high esteem in Nepal.)
Gorakhnath
( Gorakh, Goraksa, Goraksha, Gorakhnatha, Gorakshanatha
)
( 9th or 10th century )
One of the best known and one of the greatest masters (some
say originator) of Hatha Yoga and associated Shaivism. May have been from
the Punjab, and some suggest, he is first to write in Hindi, or Punjabi.
The Gorakh-Bodh
(“Illumination of Gorakh) is an ancient Hindi text (12th century ?) which
consists of the supposed dialogue between Gorakhnath and his Teacher, Matsyendra.
[ The lineage traces itself to Adinatha (Adinath, Nath,
Natha)
and then Shiva himself ].
The 33 verses deal with the such diverse topics as: the
life of the avadhuta, shunya (void), nada (sound), chakras, japa, and sahaja.
Gorakhnath is thought to have authored the Goraksha-Samhita,
the Amaraugha-Prabodha, the Jnata-Amrita-Shastra, and the
Siddha-Siddhanta-Paddhati and others.
There is also an old Natha sect text titled, Gorakh-Upanishad.
links
Goraksa
from Buddhas Lions:
The Lives of the Eighty-Four Siddhas
Siddha
Siddhanta, or Gorakshanatha Saivism
Hinduism Today archive
Cult
of Matsyendra, Mina and Gorakshanatha in Nepal
Yoga
– the Natha Sampradaya,
from the “Tantrik Home Page”
Gene Thursby mirror
page of above
from “Hindu Tantrik Home Page”
Yoga
poses named after Goraksha and Matsyendra
bibliography
Gorakhnath and Medieval Hindu Mysticism
By Mohan Singh.
Lahore: Mohan Singh, 1937.
Philosophy of Gorakhnath
(with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha),
by Akshaya Kumar Banerjea.
With a Prefatory Note by Mahamahopadhyaya Gopinath Kaviraj,
M.A., D.Litt.
and Foreword by C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar
Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis
George W. Briggs / Published 1973
information and order from:
| * | barnes
and noble
Natha Cult and Mahanad: A Study in Syncretism
P.K. Bandyopadhyay
Hardcover (May 1993)
information and order from:
amazon.com
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and noble