Sayings of Gorakhnāth : annotated translation of the Gorakh Bānī
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Bibliographic Information
Sayings of Gorakhnāth : annotated translation of the Gorakh Bānī
Oxford University Press, c2019
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Gorakh Bānī
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [217]-223) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The medieval vernacular (non-Sanskrit) traditions of yoga represent an aspect of Hinduism that to date has received much less scholarly attention than classical and contemporary Hinduism. Gordan Djurdjevic here brings together a representative selection of medieval Hindi poetry attributed to the legendary guru Gorakhnath. Gorakhnath is famed as the founder of the influential order of the Nath yogis, who are credited with the development of hatha yoga. The poetry
gathered in the collection, known as The Sayings of Gorakh Bani, reflects this worldview. Its major thematic concerns relate to the practice of yoga, engagement with the various chakras within the body, and the attempts to reverse the flow of seminal fluid, by which process yogis believe the state of
immortality may be reached. These often-enigmatic texts on the one hand provide a criticism of religious authority based on bookish knowledge, while on the other hand they celebrate yogic engagement with the subtle body and its centers of occult energy and miraculous powers.
Sayings of Gorakhnath offers translations or the complete sabad and pad sections from the Gorakh Bani, the two largest sections in the collection. Some additional texts from the collection are also provided. Translations are preceded by an introduction and accompanied by notes, which contextualize and elucidate the subject matter.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Sayings of Gorakhnath
"Sabads"
"Pads"
"The Overview of Teaching"
"The String of Breaths"
"Instruction to a King"
"Self-Understanding"
"'Measure of Fearlessness' Yoga"
"Fifteen Days"
"Seven Days"
"Machindra's Instruction to Gorakh"
"A Line of Hair"
"The Ornament of Wisdom"
"The Five Measures"
Appendix: "The Victory of Goraksa"
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"