The life of Siddha Guru Gorakhanatha is no less mystical than those of Vedic sages like Vasishtha, Vyasa, Sukadeva. Born and brought up from the blessed ash of Shri Guru Matsyendranatha, he is a Master who represents the dazzling heights of the path to immortality. His writings are also readily available. An example of his creative verse follows:
Na tu tanmokṣamārge syātprasiddhaṁ paściṁ vinā, Abhyāsasya phalaṁ devi! Kathayāmyadhunā sphuṭm
ādau rogaḥ praṇaśyanti paścājjāḍyaṁ śrīragam, tataḥ samaraso bhūtvā candro varṣatyanāratm
dhātuṁ sva sañgrased vahniḥ pavnena samantataḥ, nānānādāḥ pravartante mārdavaṁ syātkalevare
jitvā pṛthvādikaṁ jāḍyaṁ khecaraḥ prasaretpumān, sarvajño ’sau bhavetkāmarūpaḥ pavanavegavān
krīḍti triṣu lokeṣu jāyante siddhayo ’khilāḥ, karpūre layamāne kiṁ kāṭhinyaṁ tatra vidyate
ahaṁkāralaye tatra dehe kaṭhinatā kutaḥ, sarvajñaḥ sarvakartā ca svatantro viśvarūpavān
jivanmukto bhavedyogī svecchayā bhuvane bhramet
“O Devi! No accomplishment can result without travelling through the celebrated path of the realized masters – the sushumna. Behold the results of this journey. First, all kinds of ailments are annihilated. Then the grossness of the body elements is destroyed. The moon is harmonized which continues to pour out the celestial ambrosia; and the fire unites with air to purify the grossness in totality; a variety of naada are heard, the body and skin become supple. Being victorious over the earth element, the yogi gains the power to soar across the universe. He becomes omniscient. His body is beautiful and radiant like that of Kamadeva, and is swift like the wind. He breaks the limits of the three worlds, accomplishes all siddhis. As camphor dissolving into the air/fire is purged of its own grossness, with the ego too being dissolved fully into God, the rigidity of the body is destroyed (thus the consciousness does not remain confined to the body only). A yogi being omniscient, omnipotent, liberated, all encompassing and emancipated from the cycle of life & death remains in the world of his own free will.”
The path shown by Guru Gorakhanatha starts from devotion to one’s Master which melts the impurities in the mind and the heart and makes them vessels fit enough for the yogic endeavor. For example:
Gagana maṇḍala me amirasa kuān, jahān siddho kā vāsā
Sagurā hoye to bhara bhara piye, nigurā jāye pyāsā
The further stages include entry into the sushumna and hereafter an indescribable, esoteric journey of the aspirant ensues which has been vividly charted in the literature of the Siddha Tradition.