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Gorakhnath
Gorakhnath | |
|---|---|
 Statue of Gorakhnath performing yogic meditation in lotus position at Laxmangarh temple, India | |
| Personal life | |
| Known for | Hatha yoga,[1][2] Nath Yogi organisation, Guru, Gorakhpur |
| Honors | Mahayogi |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Founder of | Nath monasteries and temples |
| Philosophy | Hatha yoga |
| Sect | Nath Sampradaya (sect of Shaivism) |
| Religious career | |
| Guru | Matsyendranath |
Gorakhnath (also known as Goraksanath (Sanskrit: Gorakṣanātha),[3] c. early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, mahasiddha and saint who was the founder of the Nath Hindu monastic movement in India.[4] He is considered one of the two disciples of Matsyendranath. His followers are known as Jogi, Gorakhnathi, Darshani or Kanphata.[5]
He was one of nine saints, or Navnath, and is known in Maharashtra, India.[6] Hagiographies describe him to be a person outside the laws of time who appeared on earth during different ages.[7] Historians agree that Gorakhnath lived sometime during the first half of the 2nd millennium CE, but there is some disagreement about which century he lived. Estimates based on archaeological and textual evidence range from Briggs' estimate of the 11th to 12th century[7] to Grierson's estimate of the 14th century.[8]
Gorakhnath is considered a Maha-yogi (or "great yogi") in Hindu tradition.[9] 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.[9] Gorakhnath championed Yoga, spiritual discipline and an ethical life of self-determination as a means to reaching samadhi.[9]
Gorakhnath, his ideas, and his yogis have been popular in rural India, with monasteries and temples dedicated to him found in many states of India, particularly in the eponymous city of Gorakhpur.[10][11]
- ^ Guy L. Beck 1995, pp. 102–103.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Encyclopedia Britannicawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Bruce M. Sullivan (1997). Historical Dictionary of Hinduism. Scarecrow Press. pp. 96, 149. ISBN 978-0-8108-3327-2.
- ^ Briggs 1938, p. 228.
- ^ Briggs 1938, p. 1.
- ^ Briggs 1938, pp. 228–250.
- ^ a b Briggs 1938, p. 249.
- ^ Briggs 1938, pp. 228–230.
- ^ a b c Akshaya Kumar Banerjea 1983, pp. 23–25.
- ^ White, David Gordon (2012), The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India, University of Chicago Press, pp. 7–8
- ^ David N. Lorenzen and Adrián Muñoz (2012), Yogi Heroes and Poets: Histories and Legends of the Naths, SUNY Press, ISBN 978-1438438900, pp. x–xi
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