Gorakhnath was a medieval yogi and wonderworker who founded the Nathpanthi ascetics in the 13th century.
Gorakhnath was undoubtedly a historical figure, and his teacher's name was Matsyendranath (also known as Minanath).
However, tales of his life claim that he performed so many miracles and marvels that they cannot be believed.
Since the Maharashtrian poet-saint Jnaneshvar (1275–1296?) characterized his own spiritual teacher as one of Gorakhnath's students, he is thought to have lived in the early thirteenth century.
Gorakhnath is revered not just as a magician and a wonderworker, but also as the creator of the Gorakhshatakam, according to legend.
This work is a religious treatise that teaches Nathpanthi ascetics how to do a special style of yoga.
This yogic practice's ultimate purpose is to change the physical body's perishable constituents into everlasting ones.
The spiritual precepts in this work are congruent with those of the Nathpanthi ascetics who claim to be Gorakhnath's students, whether or not Gorakhnath wrote it.
Gorakhnath and his most successful disciples, according to mythology, have never died, and their triumph over death is a symbol of their spiritual achievement.
Despite its antiquity, George Weston Briggs' Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis, 1973, and Shashibhushan B. Dasgupta's Obscure Religious Cults, 1962, are the most comprehensive sources on Gorakhnath and his followers.
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