Goraknatha Siddhar

Gorak­natha Sid­dhar is a great Sid­dha and a dis­ci­ple of the great Mat­syen­dranatha Sid­dhar and both the Guru and his Sishya are among the revered Pathi­nen Sid­dhar­gal. Also known as Gorak­nath amongst the Nav­nath yogis, Gorak­nathar wrote texts with vers­es on med­i­cine, phi­los­o­phy, and alche­my. Agath­iar and Bog­ar were also his Para­ma-Gurus. Like oth­er Sid­dhas, Gorak­nathar has pro­duced many works on Med­i­cine, Phi­los­o­phy, and Alche­my. Agathi­yar is said to have giv­en Gorak­nathar the duty of safe­guard­ing the secrets of alche­my: the stu­dent of alche­my must wor­ship Gorak­nathar and seek his grace to excel in the field.

Gorakar Muli­gai and Gorakar Vaip­pu are revered texts in Sid­dha med­i­cine giv­en by Gorak­natha Sid­dhar. Gorak­nathar also gave Avad­hootha Gita, a clas­sic text and one among the major works pro­pound­ing hatha yoga — Hatha Yoga Pradipi­ka.

Leg­ends state that Gorak­natha Siddhar’s Jee­va samad­hi tem­ple is in Vadukupoigainal­lur of Naga­p­at­ti­nam dis­trict of Tamil Nadu. Many also con­sid­er to be in Poyur, Girnar. Gorak­natha Sid­dhar is said to have also spent a por­tion of his grow­ing-up years in the Vel­lian­giri Moun­tains in Coim­bat­ore. Oth­er sanc­tums relat­ed with Gorak­nathar are Perur (Coim­bat­ore), Thiruchen­dur, and Tri­cona­malli. Gorak­nathar caves can also be found in Chat­ura­giri and Kol­li Hills.

Gorak­natha Sid­dhar is such a pow­er­ful being that his influ­ence can be seen on the Spir­i­tu­al evo­lu­tion of the entire Indi­an sub­con­ti­nent. Gorak­natha Sid­dhar was an influ­en­tial founder of the Nath Hin­du monas­tic move­ment in India. In Nath tra­di­tion, he is con­sid­ered as one of the two notable dis­ci­ples of Mat­syen­dranath.

The Gurkhas of Nepal and Indi­an Gorkhas take their name from this sid­dha. Gorkha, a his­tor­i­cal dis­trict of Nepal, is named after him. There is a cave with his padu­ka (footwear) and an idol of him there. Every year on the day of Baisakh Purn­i­ma there is a great cel­e­bra­tion in Gorkha at his cave, called Rot Mahot­sav. It has been cel­e­brat­ed for the last sev­en hun­dred years.

Like Gorkhas in the North there is also a group of peo­ple called “Yogeeswarar” in South India, Kanyaku­mari dis­trict, Sucheeen­dram taluk, Akkarai vil­lage- whose Kula Guru is Gorak­natha Sid­dhar.

Leg­end says that long back Gorak­natha Sid­dhar, dur­ing one of his many wan­der­ings, came to the Akkarai vil­lage and stayed with these peo­ple. They accept­ed the Yogeeswarar as their guru. When Gorak­natha Sid­dhar wished to leave them, the sad group fol­lowed him for some miles till he entered a small Lord Shi­va tem­ple for med­i­ta­tion at a vil­lage called Kor­randy. The long await­ing group in front of the tem­ple final­ly decid­ed to check for Gorak­natha Sid­dhar inside the tem­ple and they were all sur­prised on not find­ing him there. They believed that this is the samad­hi of Gorak­natha tem­ple and they still con­duct Poo­jas there. This tem­ple is called as Korikkanathar Thirukkoil locat­ed at the vil­lage called as Kor­randy, Therur, near­by Sucheen­dram, Kanyaku­mari Dis­trict.

Includ­ing Gorak­natha Sid­dhar and Mat­syen­dranatha Sid­dhar, the Nath sect con­sists of nine Naths. It is stat­ed that the nine Naths and 84 Sid­dhas (a more detailed list of Sid­dhars includ­ing Pathi­nen Sid­dhas) are all human forms cre­at­ed as yog­ic man­i­fes­ta­tions to spread the mes­sage of yoga and med­i­ta­tion to the world.

It is our bless­ing and priv­i­lege to expound some of the works of the great and ven­er­at­ed Gorak­natha Sid­dhar. Many songs of Gorak­natha Sid­dhar are replete with Sand­hya Bhasha, med­i­c­i­nal recipes, doc­u­men­ta­tion of expe­ri­ences and instruc­tions to sad­hakas of var­i­ous lev­els of pro­gres­sion and inten­si­ty. In the mys­ti­cal first poem we present here, Gorak­nathar speaks of the secrets he has left for seek­ers such as us and invites us with a promise that the deserv­ing seek­er is blessed for sure.

மறைத்திட்டே னென்குகையி லனேக சித்தை மைந்தனே வுன்றன்பேர்ச் சொல்லி வைத்தேன் துறையதனைக் கண்டுநீ யெடுத்துக் கொள்ளு சொல்லாதே யொருவருக்கும் தொசந் தோசம் முறையாக விதையறிந்து நடந்தா யானால் முனிவர்ளுஞ் சித்தர்களும் புகழு வார்கள் நிறையாக தெரிந்துகொள் மைந்தா நீயும் நீடூழி காலம்வரை வாழ்கு வாயே

I have hid many secrets in the cave. Oh Son, I have sig­ni­fied your name! Go to your sec­tion and take it! Do not speak of it, for it isn’t appro­pri­ate. If you fol­low the prop­er instruc­tions, The Sages and Sid­dhas shall show­er prais­es. Under­stand com­plete­ly, oh my son! May you live for eter­ni­ty!

Read­ing this song was so wel­com­ing and seemed as an invi­ta­tion by Gorak­natha Peru­man to dip into what he offers us, for it is his bless­ing and des­tiny that we are even read­ing these lines of Gorak­natha Sid­dhar.

And in the fol­low­ing lines, Gorak­natha Sid­dhar reveals how the immac­u­late Shak­thi beholds the entire cre­ation and is beyond the time cycles of maha yugas and maha pralayas. Gorak­natha Sid­dhar also instructs that the immac­u­late Shak­thi resides in the ris­ing Kun­dali­ni. நாட்டியே ஈஸ்பரியுந் தனித் திருந்து நன்மைபெற சிருஷ்டிப்பா ளண்டந் தன்னை ஆட்டியே யுகமதுதான் முடிந்த காலம் அப்பனே பரமசத்தி யழியாள் பாரு தாட்டிகமாய்ச் சத்திக்கு ளெலாம டங்கும் தன்மையுள்ள வல்லசத்தி தரிக்கும் வீடு மூட்டியதோர் குண்டலித்தாய் வாசஞ் செய்யும் மூலமதை யறிந்துநீ குருவைக் காணே

The Moth­er stands all alone And deliv­ers cre­ation to attain the good! Even when the Yuga winds up and time runs out, My dear, see! The Moth­er does not per­ish. All cre­ation is con­tained with­in Shak­thi! The infi­nite space is the immac­u­late Shak­thi’s home! Moth­er resides in the ris­ing Kun­dali­ni, Real­ize the Source and see the Guru!

In order to under­stand the intri­ca­cies of the cos­mic time cycles, we rec­om­mend you read “ Unend­ing Quest: Rishikesh Reflec­tions” book by Anaa­di Foun­da­tion. The book is a com­pi­la­tion of Q&A with Shri. Adi­narayanan cov­er­ing a wide array of inter­est­ing ques­tions and eye-open­ing answers doc­u­ment­ed dur­ing the Anaa­di Foun­da­tion Rishikesh Retreat 2015.

In the fol­low­ing song, Gorak­natha Sid­dhar extols the thun­der­ing flood of Grace bestowed by the Guru. He points out that the holy feet of the Guru are the roots for lib­er­a­tion. Gorak­natha Peru­man also shares the sub­tle expe­ri­ences of the states as one rais­es in spir­i­tu­al con­scious­ness, lead­ing to a flame of tapasya that will burn the impu­ri­ties of igno­rance and the seeds of kar­ma.

குருகண்டு கால்பிடித் தேறும் போது குபீரென்று தள்ளுமடா வேகத் தாலே திருகண்டு வாயுவுக்கு மேல தாகத் திகழொளியு மெத்தவடா சப்த மேகம் இருட்கொண்டு மழைபொழியு மிருட்டுங் கனமும் இயற்க்கைதனை யறியாமல் மாண்டார் கோடி அருட்கொண்டு மதைக்கடந் தப்பாற் சென்றால் அப்பனே வொளிவீசுங் கண்கொள் ளாதே

Attain­ing the Guru, hold­ing onto Guru’s feet As you raise, the speed shall thwart and throw you! The flame shall shine more Than the wind; And the sev­en clouds shall Shroud dark, show­er rains and grow dark­er! Igno­rant of the nature many have passed away. By the Grace, If you do not miss and attain, Oh dear! The eyes can­not behold the radi­ant glow!

There are many sto­ries that extol Gorak­natha Siddhar’s guru bhak­thi. It is said that Gorak­natha Sid­dhar always fol­lowed vig­or­ous­ly and exten­sive­ly, every instruc­tion from his guru Mat­syen­dranatha Sid­dhar. The Nath sam­prathaya pays their immense respect to these great mas­ters. In his trav­els Gorak­natha Sid­dhar had criss-crossed the Indi­an sub­con­ti­nent and as point­ed to ear­li­er, a diverse geo­graph­i­cal areas have sig­nif­i­cance to his his­toric pres­ence. And diverse tra­di­tions hail his great­ness. Even the writ­ings of Sant Kabir and the Sikhs tra­di­tion have many ref­er­ences to Gorak­natha Peru­man.

In this edi­tion, we have pre­sent­ed a few gems from the works of Gorak­natha Sid­dhar from his tamil text “Brah­ma Jnana Sut­ti­ram”. We invite you to con­tem­plate more on these lines and share with us your insights. We also invite you to share with us lines from Sid­dhar Padal­gal that have deeply touched you. You could write to us at anaadifoundation@gmail.com.

In absorb­ing this, may our abhyasa con­tin­ue, may our shrad­dha in the Sid­dha Parampara strength­en and may rev­e­la­tions awak­en as we grow with­in!

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