Matsyendra Nath – My Great Grand Guru

Matsyendra Nath – 7th Century CE

There is a legend of the Naths that, one day as the great yogi sat fishing in his boat in the Bay of Bengal, he hooked a huge fish that pulled so hard on his fishing line that his boat capsized and the whale swallowed him whole. This is similar to the biblical story of Jonah in the stomach of a whale. In this story, Matsyendra Nath was protected by his good karma. At that time Lord Shiva had created a beautiful setting under the ocean. He was expounding to his spouse, Parvati, the sacred doctrine of Yoga and Tantra, which he had never given to anyone else. The large fish happened to go to this very site.

So it came to pass that the Nath was able to hear the secret discourse which Shiva gave to Parvati, without being noticed. After some time Parvati fell asleep, and when Shiva asked, “Are you listening?” a prompt “Yes!” came from the belly of the fish. Using his Shiva Netra (third-eye), Shiva gazed into the belly of the fish, where he saw Mina Nath (another of Matsyendra’s Nath’s many names). He was overjoyed at the discovery and said, “Now i know who my real disciple is.” Turning to his sleepy spouse He said, “I will now first initiate Matsyendra Nath,” who gratefully took the initiation and then for the next 12 years, all the while remaining in the belly of the fish, dedicated himself to the tantra yogic practices given to him by the Lord Shiva himself. At the end of the 12 years, another fisherman caught the monster, and upon opening it, Matsyendra Nath appeared as a fully realized Master.

Matsyendra Nath is responsible for the transmigration of all evolving souls. In his hands are the keys to the gates of salvation (moksha). He gives liberation to the deserving and bondage to fools. He is the immortal master of Hatha and Tantra Yoga. His deva celestial form is called Avalokiteshwara, which means, “The Lord Who Looks Down from on High.” In Tibet, he is the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshwara who gave to humanity the liberating mantra, “Om mani padme hum.” In Nepal, he is venerated as the guardian deity of Kathmandu in the form of Shveta Matsyendra (White Fish Lord). In India, he is Nath Matsyendra, celebrated in song and legend as the saviour and spiritual redeemer of all the Nath Yogis. In Maharashtra, India he is worshipped as Vithoba (Panduranga) with fish earrings.

He has a Shivalinga on his head. This is the mystic connection between Vithoba Krishna and Shiva Goraksha. In his Tantra Aloka, the great Abhinav Gupta salutes Matsyendra Nath as his Guru. The book called Kaulu-Jnana-Nirnaya, meaning “ascertainment of Kaula Knowledge,” was authored by Matsyendra Nath around the 10th century and is one of the oldest available sources of information about Kaulism.