Gorakhnath Jayanti is observed on the 13th day of the Shukla Paksha of Magh month, Which is today.  Gorakh was the hindu saint, a yogi and an enlightened master who invented enormous number of meditation techniques to achieve the ultimate state of consciousness. Gorakhnath, His vision, His meditation devices and His yogis are highly popular in rural India, with monasteries and temples dedicated to Him in many states of India, particularly in the eponymous city of Gorakhpur.

He was the influential founder of the Nath Hindu monastic movement in India. He is considered as one of the two notable disciples of Matsyendranath. His followers are found in India at the place known as Garbhagiri which is in Ahmednagar in the state of Maharashtra. These followers are called yogis, Gorakhnathi, Darshani or Kanphata.

Guru Gorakhnath is thought to have authored several books including the Goraksha Samhita, Goraksha Gita, Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati, Yoga Martanda, Yoga Siddhanta Paddhati, Yoga-Bija, Yoga Chintamani.

Osho has also dedicated a whole discourse series to Gorakh i.e Die O Yogi Die.

Osho says Gorakh, a tantrika, a man so versed, so efficient in all the methods of Tantra that anybody in India who knows many businesses is known as doing gorakh-dhandha. Gorakh-dhandha means ‘in the business of Gorakh’. People think one should stick to one’s own business. Gorakh moved in all directions, in all dimensions. Gorakh’s full name was Gorakh-nath. It must have been given by his disciples, because nath means lord. Gorakh has given all the keys possible to enter into the inner mysteries. He has said everything that can be said. He is, in a way, a full stop.

Gorakh became a new beginning for this country. No new beginning came from Mahavira. He was a rare man; but for centuries the first twenty three Jaina tirthankaras had already said what he was saying. He was just their repetition. He is not the beginning of a new journey. He is not the first link in a new chain, rather the last link.

Gorakh is the first link of a chain. Through him a new type of religion was born. Without Gorakh, there could be no Kabir, no Nanak, no Dadu, no Vajid, no Farid, no Meera  —  without Gorakh none of these are possible. The basic root of all of them is in Gorakh. Since then the temple has been built high. On this temple many golden spires have been raised… but the foundation stone is the foundation stone.

Though the golden spires may be seen from afar, they cannot be more important than the foundation stone. And the foundation is not visible to anyone, but on this very stone stands the whole structure, all the walls, all the high peaks… The peaks are worshipped. People simply forget about the foundation. Gorakh has been similarly forgotten.

But

India’s whole ‘sant’ tradition  —  those innumerable devotees of love  —  is indebted to Gorakh. Just as without Patanjali there would be no possibility of yoga in India; as without Buddha the foundation stone of meditation would be uprooted; just as without Krishna the path of love would not find expression  —  similarly, without Gorakh the search that began for methods and techniques of sadhana, of spiritual practice to attain the ultimate truth would not have been possible. Gorakh made many discoveries within man for the inner search, more perhaps than anyone else has made. He has given so many methods, that in terms of methods Gorakh is the greatest inventor. He pushed open so many doors for going into man’s inner being,

he created so many doors that people got caught in them. Hence we have one word that remains with us  —  people have forgotten Gorakh  —  but not the word Gorakhdhandha, this word for maze remains. He gave so many methods, that people were confused, which method is right, which is wrong, which to do, which to drop? He gave so many methods that people became absolutely dumbfounded, hence the word Gorakhdhandha, maze. Now if somebody is entangled in something, we say, “What Gorakhdhandha have you gotten into?”

Gorakh had a rare individuality, similar to Einstein. Einstein gave such penetrating methods for investigating the truth of the universe, as no one before him had given. Yes, now they can be further developed, now a finer edge can be put on them. But Einstein has done the primary work. Those who follow will be secondary. Now they cannot be first. The road was first broken by Einstein. Many will come who improve this road: ones who build it up, ones who place the milestones, ones who beautify it and make it comfortable. Many people will come, but no one can take Einstein’s place. In the inner world the same situation exists with Gorakh. But why have people forgotten Gorakh? The milestones are remembered, the path breaker is forgotten. The ones who have decorated the path are remembered, the one who has first broken the path is forgotten. Forgotten because, those who come after have the leisure to dress it up. One who comes first, will be unpolished, unfinished. Gorakh is like a diamond just out of the mine. If Gorakh and Kabir are sitting together, you will be impressed by Kabir, not by Gorakh. Because Gorakh is a freshly mined diamond, but on Kabir the jewellers have worked hard, on him the chisel has worked hard, much polishing has been done.

Do you know that when the Kohinoor diamond was first discovered, the man who found it didn’t know it was a Kohinoor? He had given it to his children to play with, thinking it was a pretty colored stone. He was a poor man. He had found the Kohinoor in the waters of a small river flowing through his fields. For months it remained in his house, the children kept on playing with it, they kept throwing it from one corner to another, it remained in the courtyard… You wouldn’t have been able to recognize the Kohinoor. The Kohinoor’s original weight was three times as much as it is today. The edges were set, it was polished, cut, its facets were brought out. Today only one third of the weight remains, but the value has become millions of times greater. The weight became less, the value increased, because it kept being refined  —  more and more polished.

If Kabir and Gorakh are sitting together, perhaps you won’t even recognize Gorakh; because Gorakh is a diamond just removed from the Golconda mines. On Kabir much cutting has been done, the jewellers have worked hard… you will be able to recognize Kabir. Hence Gorakh has been forgotten. The foundation stones are forgotten. You will be very surprised when you hear Gorakh’s words. A little finishing is needed; they are uncut. This sharpening of the edges is what I am doing here. You will be amazed as you begin to know him a little. Gorakh has said the most essential. He has said the most valuable…Today we begin the discussion of one such foundation stone. The whole palace of India’s sant literature stands on him. All is based on this one individual. He has said all that slowly slowly becomes very beautiful, a many colored splendor. Upon this base people will do sadhana and meditate for centuries.  Who knows how many enlightened beings shall be born through him!

DIE, O YOGI, DIE!

What a wonderful statement! He says die, disappear, be completely obliterated.

DIE, O YOGI, DIE! DIE, SWEET IS DYING.

Because in this universe there is nothing sweeter than death. DIE THAT DEATH  and die such a death GORAKH DIED AND SAW,  die that way in which Gorakh attained enlightenment. In the same way you die and see. One death we are already familiar with: in which the body dies, but our ego and mind go on living. This same ego finds a new womb. This same ego, troubled by new desires, again starts off on the journey. Even before leaving behind one body, it is already eager for another. This death is not the real death.

I have heard, one man told Gorakh he was thinking of committing suicide. Gorakh said: “Go and commit it, but I tell you, afterwards you will be very surprised.”

That man said: “What do you mean? I came to you so that you would tell me ‘Don’t do it!’ I went to other sadhus. They all cautioned me: ‘Brother, don’t do it, suicide is a great sin.'”

Gorakh said: “Are you mad? No one can commit suicide. No one can even die. Dying is not possible. I warn you, do it and you will be very surprised. After committing suicide you will discover, ‘What! The body is left behind, but I am exactly as I was!’… And if you want to commit real suicide, then stay with me. If you want to play nonsense games, then it’s up to you  —  jump from some mountain, put your neck in a noose. But if you want the real death, then stay by my side. I will give you the art which brings on the great death, then there will be no possibility of returning again.” But that great death seems to us to be nothing but great death, this is why he is calling it sweet.

DIE, O  YOGI, DIE! DIE, SWEET IS DYING.

DIE THAT DEATH GORAKH DIED AND SAW.

Gorakh says I teach death, the death I passed through and became awakened. It was the death of sleep, not of me. The ego died, not me. Duality died, not me. Duality died, and non-duality was born. Time died, and I met the eternal. The small constricted life broke, and the drop became the ocean. Yes, certainly when the drop falls into the ocean in one sense it is dying. As a drop it is dying. And in another sense for the first time it attains to the great life — it lives on as the ocean.

The poet Rahim has said: The drop equals the ocean, what a miracle! whom to tell? Rahim the seeker astounded, looking at himself. Rahim says, the drop is equal to the ocean, how miraculous! Who to tell? Who will believe it? It is so wondrous who will accept that the drop and the ocean are equal, that the drop is the ocean? The whole existence is enthroned in an atom, that nothing is small here, that every thing contains the whole! The drop equals the ocean, what a miracle! whom to tell? It is so wondrous, if you tell it to someone he will not believe it. It is so wondrous that when I knew it for the first time myself, I didn’t want to believe it. Rahim the seeker astounded…

When I saw it for the first time, I too remained astounded. Rahim the seeker astounded, looking at himself. I looked at myself and was astounded, because I had always thought I am small and constricted. But one’s own vastness is experienced when one breaks the boundaries of the limited, when one transcends the small. As an ego you have not gained anything, you have only lost. Creating the ego you have not received anything, you have lost all. You have remained a drop, a very tiny drop. The more arrogant you are, the smaller you go on becoming. Conceit strengthens the ego more and more. The more you melt the bigger you become, the more you dissolve, the greater you become. If you dissolve completely, if you evaporate completely, the whole sky is yours. Fall into the ocean, you become the ocean. Evaporated, rising in the sky, you become the sky. Your being is one with existence. The drop equal to the ocean, what a miracle! whom to tell?

But when you experience it for the first time you too will be dumb-struck, like a dumb man eating sweets. The experience will be there, the taste will be there, the nectar will be showering inside, but  you will have no words to convey it. … what a miracle! whom to tell? How to say? It is such a marvellous thing. Those who courageously declared, “Aham brahmasmi  —  I am the ultimate”: do you think people accepted it? Mansoor said, “Anal haq  —  I am the truth” and people killed him. Jesus was crucified because he said, “I and My Father above are one.” The Father and the son are not two. The Jews could not forgive him. Whenever anyone has declared his godliness people could not forgive him. This is how it is!… what a miracle! whom to tell? Who to say it to? Whoever you tell will start denying it…

The drop equals the ocean, what a miracle! whom to tell? Rahim the seeker astounded, looking at himself. Rahim says, when I look within myself I too am astounded, amazed, speechless! I myself cannot believe: me? god? This voice which is arising from within, this sound of Analhaq within, this echo of Aham brahmasmi within, this soundless sound Omkar awakening within  — I myself cannot believe that I, Rahim, me, a common little man like me… me? god? The drop equals the ocean…Who should I tell when I myself am finding it difficult to trust, then whom should I tell?

This is why I am sitting here, to help you trust it. When this trust comes, it is satsang, sitting with the master. Sitting near me don’t become Siddhantalankaras, become Siddhas, the fulfilled ones, less than that won’t do. Less than that is worthless. Learn the art of dying. DIE, O YOGI DIE.

Die as a drop, and become the ocean. The art of dying is the art of attaining absolute life.

Source:

This is an excerpt from the transcript of a public discourse by Osho in Buddha Hall, Shree Rajneesh Ashram, Pune. 

Discourse Series: Death is Divine

Chapter #1

Chapter title: Die O yogi die

1 October 1978 am in Buddha Hall

References:

Osho has spoken on ‘Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, Shiva, Lao Tzu, Gorakh, Mahavira, Dadu, Nanak, Kabir and many other enlightened Masters’ in many of His discourses. More on them can be referred to in the following books/discourse titles:

1. Vigyan Bhairav Tantra
2. The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha
3. Tao: The Three Treasures
4. Zarathustra: The Laughing Prophet
5. The Mustard Seed: My Most Loved Gospel on Jesus
6. The Path of Love
7. Bodhidharma: The Greatest Zen Master
8. When the Shoe Fits
9. Hyakujo: The Everest of Zen, with Basho’s Haikus
10. Yoga: The Alpha and the Omega
11. Sermons in Stones
12. The Book of Wisdom
13. The Divine Melody
14. The True Name
15. Krishna: The Man and His Philosophy