Thursday 20 March 2014

Guru Gorakshnath

Guru Gorakshnath


Professor Briggs, in his book “Gorakshnath and Kanfata Yogis” (1938 AD) has written about guru Gorakshnath and his followers.


According to him, during medieval period Guru Gorakshnath was considered a great saint and a person with magnetic personality. He was considered with many magical and mysterious powers too.  
Throughout India there are numerous folk tales and folk songs in his praise.


 From Nepal to Rajputana, Punjab to Bengal, from Sindh to extreme South, no place was there without his presence.  A famous saint with many miraculous powers, he was a GURU to all Siva follower yogis who practiced hatha- yoga and were called “Kanfata – Yogis”.

In Nepal also he is considered as a protector and saint. Many temples dedicated to Guru Gorakshnath.

 In Buddhism also Guru Gorakshnath holds a very special place as a saint.

 According to some folk tales, he is also considered as a guru to Mohammad and another Muslim idol Saint GUGA.

People consider Guru Gorakshnath as a representative of Lord SHIVA; some consider him as Lord Shiva’s Incarnation and others as Lord Shiva Himself.

In spite of many analysis and research, Professor Briggs was unable to specify the place and period of Guru Gorakshnath’s birth.

According to some scholars, (Dr. Shahdulla, Dr. Silwan Levi etc) Guru Gorakshnath was born somewhere between 7th century AD.

During 15th and 16th century, many saints (Shree Chaitnya, Guru Nanak, Goswami Tulsidass, Bhakt Ramananda, Tukarama, Shankerdeva etc) effected the Indian population with their magnetic personality and introduced “Nama-Japa” , “Kirtan”, “Songs “and bhakti movement.  As a result, Hatha-Yoga practice went to background and Nath-Panth hold became loose among common men.


According to Professor Briggs, “Kanfata-Yogsi” and Nath-Panthi are found every in India and they are more organized than any other group present. Hindus have a great respect for Guru Gorakshnath. Adesh Adesh Guruji ko Adesh  


Adesh Adesh Alakh Niranjan


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