THE GORAKH BODH

This is a very obscure text of the Nathas, conducted in the form of questions from Gorakh (Gorakhnath) to Macchendra (Matsyendranath). The English translation, from a Hindi text, was published at the beginning of the century and is out of copyright.

Gorakh -- O Lord (Svami), you are the Master Teacher (Satguru Gosain), and I am but a disciple: may I put a question, which you would kindly reply to and resent not? To start with, what ideal (lacch) should the disciple put before him? Do tell me for you are the true Teacher.

Macchendra -- Let the unattached (awadhu, avadhuta) live at the monastery (hat) or be on the road, resting in the shadow of the trees; he should renounce desire, cruelty, greed, delusion, and the illusion of Samsar (Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha and Samsar ki Maya); he should hold converse (gosht) with himself and contemplate the Endless (Ananta); he should sleep little and eat little. In the beginning the disciple should live thus. Thus speaks Macchendra. [2]

Gorakh --  What should he see, what contemplate, and what treat as the essence (sar); with what should he shave his head and with the knowledge of what should he try to cross (the ocean of Samsar)?

Macchendra -- He should see himself, contemplate the Endless (Ananta), and fix upon Reality as the essence; he should shave his head with (or after receiving) the word of the teacher (Guru ka Shabda), and should cross over with the aid of Divine knowledge (Brahma Gyana). [4]

Gorakh --  What is the teaching (upadesh) of the Guru's order or doctrine (Ades)? Where does the void (Sunya) reside? Who is the Guru of the word (Shabda)?

Macchendra -- The most wonderful (anupam) is the teaching of the Guru (Ades); the void (Sunya) resides within us and Realisation (parcha or parichaya) is the Guru of the word (shabda). [6]

Gorakh -- What is the form (rupa) of the mind (mana)? What is the appearance (akar) of the vital breath (pavana)? What is the direction (disa) of the ten and through which door can the control be effected?

Macchendra -- The void (sunya) is the fore of the mind; the appearance of vital breath (pavan) is invisibility (nirakar); the direction of the ten is unsayable (alekh) and control lies through the tenth door. [8]

Gorakh -- Which is the root (mula) and which the branch (bela)? Who is the Guru and who the disciple; with what essence (tatt) can one go about alone?

Macchendra -- Mind is the root and vital breath is the branch; the word (shabda) is the Guru and attention (surat or surta) is the disciple. With the essence called deliverance (nirbana tat) Gorakhnath wanders about, himself in himself. [10]

Gorakh -- What is the seed (biraja) and what the field (khetra)? What is direct hearing (satvan)? What is true vision? What is Joga and what is the method (Jugti)? What is liberation (mocch)? And what is salvation (mukti)?

Macchendra -- The word (Mantra) is the seed; perception (mati) is the womb or land; and attention (surti) is direct hearing, and discrimination (nirti) is true vision; the ocean (Uram) is Joga and the earth (Dhuram) is the method; light (joti) is liberation and the refulgence (Juala) is salvation. [12]

Gorakh -- Which is the tree without a trunk, and which is the parrot without wings? Which is the dam (palu) without a shore (tir), and who died without death (kal)?

Macchendra -- Vital breath (pavana) is the tree without a trunk; mind is the parrot (sua) without wings; constancy (dhiraj) is the dam without a shore; sleep is dying without death. [14]

Gorakh -- In what house (ghar) is moon (chanda) and in what is the sun (sur)? In what house does Time play music (Tur, a musical instrument)? Where do the five elements (tat) have equipoise (sam rahai)?

Macchendra -- The moon in the mind; the sun in the vital breath; in the void (sunya) Time plays on the musical instrument (tura) and in the house of knowledge the five elements reside in equipoise (sam). [16]

Gorakh -- What is the New Moon (amavas) and what manifests (pariba)? Which or where is the great elixir (maha rasa) and whereto with it do we mount? At what place does the mind reside in the state of self-transcendence (unmani)?

Macchendra -- The sun (ravi) should be treated as the darkest night; the moon should be made manifest; the great elixir of the lower (ardh) should be taken to the upper (urdh); in the heaven within us (gagan) the mind resides in self-transcendence. [18]

Gorakh -- What destroys the bad word (kusabda) and where does the good word (susabda) reside? On what side (mukha) does the vital breath of twelve fingerbreadths reside?

Macchendra -- The good word swallows or catches the bad word and itself resides within (nirantar); the vital breath of twelve fingerbreadths is controlled (rahai) through the word of the Guru. [20]

Gorakh -- Who is the Adiguru? Who is the husband of the earth (dhartri)? What is the home of knowledge (gyana)? Which is the door (duvar) of the void (sunn)?

Macchendra -- The eternal beginningless (anadi) is the Adiguru; heaven (anbar) is the husband of earth; Awake-awareness (Chetan) is the home of knowledge, and realisation (parcha) is the door of the void. [22]

Gorakh -- Through the realisation (parchai) of what is the attachment with the Illusion (maya moha) broken; how can the residence of the moon (Sisihar) be pierced; how is the dam (bandha) applied and how can the body (kandha) be made immortal (ajar var)?

Macchendra -- When realisation (parchai) comes to the mind, attachment to the world ceases; with the control of the working of vital breath the moon (sisihar) is destroyed; the acquisition of real knowledge (gyana) applies the dam and the realisation of the teacher (Guru parchai) gives us immortality. [24]

Gorakh -- Where do mind, vital breath, the word (shabda) and the moon reside?

Macchendra -- The mind resides in the heart (hirdai); vital breath resides in the navel; the word (shabda) resides in the will (ruci); the moon resides in the heaven (gagan). [25]

Gorakh -- If there had been no heart (hirda) where would the mind have rested, composed? Had there been no navel where, would have vital breath rested unmoved? Had there been no form (rupa) where would have the word (Shabda} resided? Without a heaven where would have the moon been?

Without the navel, the air would have resided in the formless (Nirakar); without will, the word (shabda) would have resided (rahata) in the unmanifest (Akula); without the heaven, the moon would have resided in desire (abhika).

Gorakh -- Had there been no night, where would the day have come from? Without the day, where would the night merge? When the lamp is extinguished, where does light dwell?

Macchendra -- Without night, the day would have merged into Sahaj; had there been no day, the night would have passed into (Sahaj); on the extinguishing of the lamp, the light passes into the omnipresent (nirantar); had there been no vital breath, then the body of vital breath (pran purus) would have resided in the void. [30]

Gorakh -- Who is the creator of the body (kaya); wherefrom has light (tej) been created? What is the mouth (?muha or muda?) of Divine knowledge (Brahma Gyana)? How can the Unseeable be seen?

Macchendra -- The Absolute (Brahma) is the creator of the body (kaya); out of truth (sat) has effulgence (tej) been created; the void is the mouth (muda or muha) of Divine knowledge (Brahma Gyana); and through the Sadguru and the disciple realisation my the unseeable be made visible. [ 32]

Gorakh -- How many lakhs (hundreds of thousands) of moons are there in the body?. How does fragrance reside in the flower? Where does the ghee hide in the milk? How does the soul (jiva) conceal itself in the body?

Macchendra -- There are two lakhs of moons in the body; fragrance is the conscious(ness) (chetan) in the flower; the ghee is immanent in the milk; the soul (jiva) is the all- pervasiveness in the body. [34]

Gorakh -- Had there been no body where would the sun and the moon have resided? Had there been no flower, where would the fragrance have been? Had there been no milk where would the ghee have been? Had there been no body, where would the spirit have been?

Macchendra -- Without the body, the sun and the moon would have been omnipresent; without the flower, fragrance would have dwelt in the (Anhad); without the milk, the ghee (ghiv or ghee) would have resided in the void; without the body, the spirit would have been in the Supreme Void (Param Sunn). [36]

Gorakh -- Where do the moon and the sun dwell, where the essence, the root of the word (nad) and the vital power (bind)? Where does the Hamsa (swan) mount up for drinking water? To what place (ghar) do you bring the reversed power (ulti shakti) to rest?

Macchendra -- The moon resides in the upper (urdha) and the sun in the lower (ardha); the essence, the nad(a) and bind(u) dwells in the heart; to the heaven goes the swan (hans) for drinking water, and the reversed power (Shakti) reverts to the Self, its real, original home. [38]

Gorakh -- Where does nad(a) rise; where does it acquire equipoise (sam); how is it made to stand still, and where is it finally merged?

Macchendra -- Nad(a) rises from the Unconditioned (Avigata); gains equipoise in the void; you can stop it through the vital breath and it vanishes, unites with the Formless (Niranjana). [40]

Gorakh -- If the nad(a) sounds not, if the power acts not, if the heaven is not there to draw our hope, were there neither nad(a) nor bind(u), then where would the man of vital breath (Prana Purusha) reside?

Macchendra -- Nad(a) sounds, bind(u) moves; the heaven (gagan) attracts desire; but were there neither nad(a) nor bind(u) then breath would reside in the omnipresent (nirantar). [42]

Gorakh -- When form dissolves and the Formless remains, when water becomes air, when there is neither sun nor moon, where does the Hamsa dwell?

Macchendra -- The Sahaja hans(a) resides after the play in the Person of the void (Sunn hans); when the form becomes Formless then the spirit (hans) resides in the Supreme light (Param Joti). [44]

Gorakh -- What is the root (mula) of the rootless (Amul)? Where does the root reside? Who is the Guru of the goal (pada)?

Macchendra -- The void is the root of the rootless; the root resides in the omnipresent (Nirankar); the Guru of the goal is liberation (Nirban). [46]

Gorakh -- Where does the vital breath (prana) rise? Wherefrom does the mind come? How is the speech (vacha) born and where does it dissolve (viliyate)?

Macchendra -- The birth of the mind is from the Formless (Avagat), the vital breath from the mind, and speech from the breath; speech is dissolved in the mind. [48]

Gorakh -- Which is the lake and which the lotus? How can we ward off Kal(time or death)? How can we reach the Unseeable, Unreachable (Agochar) world?

Macchendra -- Mind is the lake and air is the lotus; by becoming upwards-faced (Urdh-mukhi) you can ward off Kal; through knowing the lower and the upper one my become one with the Unknowable (Agochar liv lahai). [50]

Gorakh -- Which is the difficult, and which the easy; what is union (sandh), and through what nerve centre (chakra) can the moon be made stable? How can the conscious mind attain to self-transcendence?

Macchendra -- The Pure (Anila) and the Stainless (Vimal) are the difficult and easy forms of union (sandh); the dam is to be applied above the chaki nerve-centre (chakra); the always-awake can attain to self-transcendence (unmani). [52]

Gorakh -- How came about birth? How did the first consciousness begin (ad ki surat)? How was I born?

Macchendra -- As oil is in the sesame seed, as fire is in the wood, as fragrance in the flower, so too resides the spirit (devata) in the body (deh). [54]

Gorakh -- What drives ahead the conch-like (sankhini)? Where does the elixir in the arched vein (banka nala) go? As the breather goes to sleep, where does the vital breath (prana) in the body (pinda) side?

Macchendra -- True spontaneity (sahaj subhai) can drive the conch-like (sankhini); the arched vein (banka nala) resides in the navel; as the breather goes to sleep; the vital breath in the body resides in its own shadow or resides undivided (api chhaya or aparchhinna). [56]

Gorakh -- At what nerve centre (chakra) is the moon stabilised? At what nerve centre (chakra) is the union or penetration (sandh) applied? What nerve centre (chakra) controls (niredha) the vital air? What centre (chakra) imparts knowledge (pramodh) to the mind? At what centre (chakra) should attention (dhyana) he centred (dhariye)? At what centre (chakra) should one rest?

Macchendra -- The higher (Urdh chakra), the lower (Ardh chakra), the Pashchima (west) centre, the heart centre, the throat (kantha) centre the Gyana (Agya) chakra.

Gorakh -- Which is the garden, the town and the mandal? In which city is the Guru? If I forget it, how am I to cross over?

Macchendra -- Whoso gives up speech has achieved the void of the manifoldness (maya sunn): in contemplating that, one rises above good and evil; by an understanding of Shiva and Shakti, one may attain to self-transcendence (unmani). [60]

Gorakh -- By what stalk of the lotus (nala) can the liquid (Siva) be drawn up? How does the soul (jiva) drink it? How can one residing in the womb of the mother, drink the elixir?

Macchendra -- It is collected through the Shankhini Nadi; the soul (jiva) resides in the Sushumna nadi; while residing in the womb of the mother he drinks it through the banka nala. [62]

Gorakh -- What is the house (graha) and what the habitation; in what womb does he remain for ten months? Through what mouth does he drink water and through what mouth, milk? In what direction was the body born?

Macchendra -- The Pure, the Formless (Anil) is the house (graha) and the Unconditioned (avagat), the habitation (has); in the womb of the Beyond (Atit) he remains for ten months; through mind he has water and through vital air (pavan) he drinks elixir or milk (amrit); in the direction of Omkar the body takes birth.

Gorakh -- In what void (sunn) is he born? In what void (sunn) is he absorbed?

Macchendra -- He is born in the Sahaja Void and the Satguru gave him instruction at the void of nearness (Samip Sunn); he then got absorbed in the void of unattachment (Atit Sunn). He then explains to you the essence of the supreme void (Param Sunna). [88]