Mircea Eliade YOGA IMMORTALITY AND ... - Brihaspati.net

The number 84 does not correspond to any historical reality, is a mystical number,
registered in all Indian traditions, both hin-dues as Buddhists ajivika, Jain (see examples
in Dasgupta, Obscure Cults, p. 234). Probably expresses fullness, completeness. The 84
Siddha thus represent the "totality of a
* D. Wright, History of Nepal (Cambridge, 1877), p. 140; W. Crooke, The Tribes and
Castes af North Western Provinces and Otulh, III (Calcutta, 1896), p. 158 (quoting
Buchinam) Briggs, cited, p. 172.
revelation. "As for the 9 natha, their numbers also symbolizes the integrity of a doctrine.
Goraksa-siddhanta-Samgraha tantric cites two texts clearly illustrate this symbolism: the
So-nitya-dasa-tantra says the nine natha spread Tantrism c6smicas at different times, and
Tantra-maharnava natha eight points reside in the eight directions, and non-veno in the
center (quoted in Dasgupta, p. 237). In other words, the doctrine disseminated by these
nine teachers covers the "full" space-time. The natha-and first Matsyendranatha,
Gorakhnath, Carpati, Kapala-are also lists of the 84 Siddha. We can thus see that sahajiya
Tantrism, both Hindu and Buddhist, alchemy (Nagarjuna, Carpati), the Hathayoga
(Goraknah) and Kapalika are united: its representatives are in-stances both lists Nathan as
nine in the 84 Siddha. We may have the key to its symbolism in one time (probably in the
seventh and eleventh centuries) was a new "re-disclosure" by teachers who, like his
predecessors-res, they showed the slightest originality (^ were not identified with Siva or
Vajrasattva? ) but again performed timeless doctrines according to the needs of his time.
One of the key points of this new "revelation" was the termination of the synthesis
between the elements of Tantric Vajrayana and sivaita, magic, alchemy 6 and Hathayoga
In a way, the "revelation" prolonged tantric synthesis. But some of the Natha Siddha and
insisted more than his predecessors on the value of magic and yoga as means to gain
invaluable freedom and immortality. It is primarily this aspect of his message that
impressed the popular imagination, even now find their echoes in folklore and vernacular
literature, and for this very reason that these latter seem valuable to our investigaci6n.
With regard to the proper order of yogis Kanphata been seen (p. 288), part of the tradition
of militant sivaismo. The Kanphata serve as Pujari (officiating) in the temples of
Bhairom, Sakti and Siva (Briggs, cited, p. 139). Many of them go on pilgrimage to the
temple of Hinglaj Vamac,
t
5 GoraksasamhUa, work attributed to Gorakhnath, is among the alchemical treatise, P. C.
Ray, A History of Hindu Chemistry, vol. II, p. JtCVI.
in Baluchistan, and carry as a souvenir necklace white pebbles-cas (Sarquhar, Outline p.
348). Moreover, the first Europeans who referred to Kanphata (eg Buchanam) Enconlock
them with vacamari similarity. His relations with the Aghori are quite narrow, after
his first initiation, called kanphata Augh, and sometimes it happens that a aughan-comes
Aghori (Briggs, p. 71). Certain Aghori serve in the temple of Kamakhya (= Durga) in
Essam. This temple enjoyed great fame for human sacrifice that were in force until the
nineteenth century (English fueronprohibidos by the Govemment in 1832). In 1585, one
hundred and forty victims were beheaded in a single sacrifice. "® If we consider that the
Assam (= Kamarupa) was the country both? Ico par excellence, that very important
exalted Durga Tantra-Kamakhya and described the bloody and licentious worship ( for
example Yoni Tantra, Tantra and Mahanirvana Kalika Purana) that Aghori were
notorious for his cruelty and orgies, understand that the name came to designate yogi on