Guru Gorak and Nath Sampradaya

Namaste,

I did a brief search on this site a found little on Gorak Natha MahaYogi and the Nath Tradition. I found this book recently while on retreat at a Buddhist Monestary in England Amaravati. It was here and in this book that I found some important threads between the yoga traditions and Buddhism.

I hope this is the right place to post this information which highlights some crucial Truths. I will add the link to the book with some quotes.

http://ocoy.org/wp-content/uploads/P...rakshanath.pdf


A WAR OF THEORIES
The history of the philosophical quest of the Absolute Truth in the
human race shows that there have been thousands and thousands of theories
or intellectual conceptions about the nature of the Ultimate Reality, and
there has not been a single one which could satisfy the intellect of all. The
philosophical literature has been developing from the earliest times, and it
is still progressing. No philosophical view has been found to be logically
unassailable. The history of philosophy has become a history of a continuous
warfare on the intellectual plane among the greatest and wisest rational
truth-seekers of the world. A sincere and earnest Philosopher, even to
satisfy himself that his conception truly represents the character of the
Absolute Reality, has not only to be convinced that his theory is free from
all possible logical fallacies and is capable of offering an adequate rational
explanation for the world-order, but has also to be convinced that no other
rival theory is or can possibly be so free from defects and can furnish such
a satisfactory explanation. He therefore feels impelled to put to test not only
his own conception, but also the conceptions arrived at by other philosophers.
This leads him to seek and find defects in the arguments and conclusions
of all other truth-seekers who differ from him and thereby to
demonstrate the exclusive validity of the conception which he himself
adopts. As Philosophers differ from one another in their modes of approach
and the conclusions they intellectually arrive at, every system of philosophy
becomes an object of attack from all sides, from the exponents of all other
systems of philosophy. This intellectual warfare amongst the Philosophers,
age after age, has been tremendously enriching the philosophical literature.
But no philosopher can have the inner assurance and satisfaction that he
has found out the Truth, that he has been blessed with the true knowledge
of the Absolute Reality. Every Philosopher is afraid, unless he becomes
dogmatic and arrogant, that the idea which he cherishes about the Supreme
Object of his life-long search may not be the correct one and that it may be
proved to be false by other philosophers. In fact, it is the fate of every
philosophical theory that it is supported with logical arguments by philosophers
of one school and refuted with counter- arguments by philosophers of
many other schools.
The Absolute Truth has been conceived by illustrious philosophers in
amazingly various ways, such as, Pure Void (Sunya), or Non-Being or NonExistence
(Asat), Pure Being or Existence (Sat). Pure Transcendent
Consciousness (Cit-matra), Pure Unconscious Matter (Acit Prakriti), Pure
Primordial Energy or Power (Maha-sakti)] Pure Consciousness with Power
(Saktimatcaitanya), Creative Will, Absolute Idea, Absolute Spirit, Supreme
Personality (Parama Purusha) with infinite Power and Wisdom, Morally and
Aesthetically Perfect Personality (possessing not only infinite power and
wisdom and bliss, but also the most lovable and adorable excellences),
Satya-Siva-Sundara PurushottamaPremdnandaghana Parameswara, and so
on and so forth. The world of phenomenal diversities is conceived by some
as an illusory appearance, by others as self-manifestation of the Ultimate
Reality, by others again as created by the Ultimate Reality, by others again
as the Sole Reality having no noumenal Reality behind it, and so on. The
finite spirits are conceived by some as uncreated and eternal and by others
as created and destructible, by some as atomic in nature, and by others as
all-pervading, by some as different from the Ultimate Reality and by some
as essentially non-different from the Ultimate Reality, by some as essentially
pure and free and incorruptible and by others as subject to degradation
and development, by some as essentially different from and independent of
the physical bodies and by others as evolved out of them, and so on. The
Ultimate Ideal of human life is also variously conceived by various philosophers.
There seems to be no end of differences among the views of philosophers,
(Nasau munlr yasya matam na bhinnam). Each view is splendidly
supported by its exponents with strong and elaborate logical arguments,
which carry conviction to certain classes of truth -seekers.
Every strongly supported view has given birth to a patricular school
of philosophy. But it seems that every strong logical argument has its weak
points. Critics discover these weak points in the arguments of a philosophical
school and lay special emphasis upon them to repudiate the whole system
propounded by it. Thus every system of philosophy is ably supported by its
advocates and most cruelly refuted by its opponents. If a particular view is
found to be satisfactory to one class of truth- seekers, it is proved to be
unacceptable by many classes of truth-seekers. Every apparently wellreasoned
theory about the Ultimate Truth is thus reduced merely into
a particular view-point from which the Truth is sought to be approached,
and no theory can evidently reach It. The intellectual path adopted by a
Philosopher fails to lead him to the realisation of the Absolute Truth, for which he feels within himself a persistent demand.

THE PATH OF YOGA
A good many philosophers, having realised the inherent weakness of
the method of logical reasoning and intellectual theorising as a means to the perfect satisfaction of the innermost demand of the soul for the attainment of the Absolute Truth, have turned towards the method of spiritual self discipline.
One great Western philosopher has said that "Learned ignorance
is the end of philosophy and the beginning of religion". Religion here does not of course mean blind submission to any particular dogma or creed or performance of certain prescribed rites and ceremonies; but it means systematic discipline of the body, the senses, the mind, the intellect and the heart, under expert guidance, for the purification and refinement of the entire being of a man and the elevation of the empirical consciousness to higher and higher spiritual planes, so as ultimately to make it fit for being perfectly illumined by the light of the Absolute Truth. This is the path of Yoga. The most illustrious philosopher of ancient Greece, who was proclaimed
by the Oracle of Delphi as the wisest man of the age, gravely said
that his wisdom perhaps lay in the fact that "I know that I know nothing".This great Guru of many great philosophers frankly confessed that with all his philosophical reflections he could not reach the Ultimate Truth which his heart craved for.
The term Philosophy itself is very significant in this connection; it
carries the sense of its own inherent limitation with it. It means love of
wisdom, and not the perfect attainment of wisdom. It implies sincere and earnest pursuit of Truth, and not the direct realisation of Truth. A Philosopher, so long as he relies solely upon logical reasoning and intellectual argumentation, may continually advance towards the Truth with all the earnestness of his heart, but will never reach it. In his very attempt to make the Absolute Truth an object of his logical conception and intellectual comprehension, the Absolute Truth eludes his grasp. He always searches and misses.
His Eternal Beloved never unveils Himself to his logical
intellect. He has to transcend his logical intellect in order to be united with the Transcendent Truth. His consciousness has to rise above the domain of Space, Time and Relativity in order to be in the closest embrace of the Infinite Eternal Absolute Truth. This is the path of True Religion. This is the path of Yoga.
After a good deal of deep thinking, the Upanishadic Rishi also came
to the conclusion that Atma is not attainable by means of philosophical dissertation (pravacana) or intellectual acumen (medha) or extensive study(vahu sruta); It is attainable only by him to whom It reveals itself (Yameva esha brinute tena labhyah). A truth-seeker has however to make his consciousness fit for the self-relevation of Atma. It does not reveal itself to the consciousness of a person, howsoever intellectually gifted he may be, unless he is free from all vices and evil propensities, unless his mind is pure and steady and calm and tranquil, unless his entire consciousness is with intense
longing directed towards the Divine Light.
So long as the sense of Ego predominates in the consciousness of a person, so long as he thinks that by dint of his own intellectual power he will unveil the true nature of Atma, the veil will remain in the form of his egoistic vanity. For the attainment of fitness for the self-revelation of Atma, the consciousness must be freed from the sense of Ego as well as all egoistic desires and attachments and inclinations of the mind. It is upon moral and spiritual self-preparation of the truth-seeker that fitness for Truth-realisation depends. This means the
systematic practice of Yoga. This is the conclusion at which the Upanishadic Rishi arrived.

Namaste,

It should be remembered that the Ultimate Truth reveals Itself in a
plane of consciousness higher than those in which these speeches and thoughts move, and that the methods of philosophical thinking and the expressions of thoughts in appropriate linguistic forms are only means to the purification and enlightenment and concentration of the empirical consciousness and its elevation to the higher planes.
Reality in the Samadhi state does not for his own satisfaction feel any
necessity for the formation of any intellectual conception, since to him this experience is the most perfectly integrated knowledge of all possible existences in the universe and beyond it and this experience carries its certainty within itself. He enjoys the bliss of this experience, for herein he feels the fulfilment of his knowledge, the fulfilment of his life, the fulfilment of his mind and heart and intellect. Herein he becomes perfectly united with the Absolute Truth.
Excerpts from Goraknaths Philosophy.