Gorakhnath

Gorakhnath

Subject – Art and Culture

Context – The government of Haryana has moved to prohibit the use of the expression “Gorakh Dhandha”, often used by politicians in speeches to refer to “unethical practices”.

Concept –

• Gorakhnath (also known as Goraksanath, c. early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, saint who was the influential founder of the Nath Hindu monastic movement in India.
• He is considered one of the two notable disciples of Matsyendranath.
• His followers are found in India at the place known as Garbhagiri which is in Ahmednagar in the state of Maharashtra.
• These followers are called yogis, Gorakhnathi, Darshanior Kanphata.
• His guru was Matsyendranathand his disciple name was bhaironnath.
• He was one of nine saints also known as Navnathand is widely popular in Maharashtra, India and dumgaon, Uttarakhand (where there worshipers do difficult tapasya in himalayas for a month sometimes 6 months or more).
• 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 emphasised that the search for Truth and the spiritual life is a valuable and normal goal of man.
• Gorakhnath championed Yoga, spiritual discipline and an ethical life of self-determination as a means to reaching samadhi and one’s own spiritual truths.
• Gorakhnath, his ideas and yogis have been highly popular in rural India, with monasteries and temples dedicated to him found in many states of India, particularly in the eponymous city of Gorakhpur.