The yogi whom all of India claims as their own

(This image of the Goraknath statue is from this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorakhnath#/media/File:Gorakshanath.jpg


I recall reading irrepressible Kabir Das poke fun at Gorakhnath, in a roundabout way actually taking pot shots at hatha yoga as opposed to bhakti or jnana yoga. Where Kabir says that no matter how much this yogi twists himself he did not get it. Which of course, if you read about Gorakhnath, you know is not true.
And the stories of him abound, with a potent moral message.  In fact, every state -- not just in India -- but in the entire sub-continent including Nepal, Bangladesh and the North Western region -- he has some cave or temple that is dedicated to him. Each of them talk of Gorakhnath as if he was born there and belonged there. Which is very exciting,  and can only be understood as how much he may have travelled throughout the continent. And having such a powerful influence even to this day. He belongs to the ranks of Chiranjeevis, the ones who are available to their devotees and whose energies are never dead.

For me, as a Tamil, it is exciting to see his name in the list of the Siddha yogis as Korakkar -- these were unconventional adepts who were determined to include the entire population -- instead of a limited elite -- into the idea of the divine. They used the path of bhakti to talk directly to the divine.

So the lineage runs like this -- Adinath, then Matysendranath and then Gorakhnath. However, in the way of our beautiful country, there is no vertical time line. The gurus and disciples mingle in the same horizontal time frame as the stories become layered one over the other to create a beautiful weave.  Historians struggle with this. They want a  linear timeline. But in India that may be difficult. Because disciples often wrote texts in the name of their gurus, in a bid to exhibit the lack of ego that this spiritual discipline required.
So historians guess that the Nath yogis may be fitted into the bracket from 6th century AD to 13th century AD. They also feel that Goraknath was centuries removed from his guru Matysendranath. However, many stories abound about them together. So, it is really difficult to tell.

I like this story.
In the city of Mayapuri, where Amazonian and beautiful women live, Matysendranath gets drawn in. Goraknath, in search of his guru, ascertains this. And he realises that his guru needs to be rescued. And lands up there to wean his teacher from this world of illusion.

However, while reading an interpretation of this story, (Chinmoy mission site), its said that Matsyendranath deliberately does this to show Gorakhnath up, for his dislike of women or his prejudice against them. And to dent his ego somewhat.

But there is another episode where the guru bows to his discple and says that he is now bigger than the teacher.

Its a beautiful moment, of egolessness.
We can embrace that message of this school of yoga.
It has the whole of cosmic truth in it.