The Legend of Jogi - Jalandhari, Karnaripa, Gorakshanatha, Gopichand - Tibetan Vajrayana Text
Notes
This short story is taken from ‘Life story of Ratan Bahula’ composed by Jonang Kunga Drolchog (16th century).
The names of the Siddhas and Jogis are as written in the Tibetan text, except for Karnaripa. Jalandhari's disciple is written as Kanipa in Tibetan, he is widely known as Kanhapa. I have written him as Karnaripa because, according to the story, his name seems to have something to do with ears I think. Jalandhari is sometimes written as Jalandharika. The names of the places are difficult to identify, so I have written them down as they appear in the text.
Matseyender, Gorakshanatha, Jalandhari, Karnaripa and Gopichand are the well known masters of Natha's lineage.
There is much confusion in the identification of yogis and siddhas with the name of Black (Kanha and Krishna) in Tibetan. There is a siddha called Kanha, the main disciple of Virupa in the Sakya Lamdre tradition, who was previously a Shaivite yogi. And the first three lineage masters of the Amrtasiddhi teachings also have the name 'Black' (Krishna or Kanha). There are trulkhor texts in the Tibetan tengyur collection that are almost identical to Virupa's Amrtasiddhi trulkhot text (composed by Amoghavajra), which is attributed to Krishnacharyavrata. There are scholars who identify Kanhapa and Krishnacharyavrata as one person. There are Tibetan masters and scholars from the 14th to 17th centuries who claim that the source of the Amrtasiddhi teaching is not the well-known Mahasiddha Virupa, but it is the junior Virupa or Black Virupa who could be his disciple Nagpopa [Krishna or Kanhapa].
The story of Jogi - Jalandhari, Karnaripa, Gorakshanatha and Gopichand
Jalandhari's [ཛ་ལནྡྷ་རི་] disciple Vi-oki [བི་ཨོ་ཀི་] arrived alone at the Maru market with a skull garland around his neck, looking fearsome from the town of Ḍila. He sat down on an animal skin in the corner of the door. A yogi sitting alone picked up a kanjira [tambourine] with sadness and sang a song. Vi-oki then spoke to Jalanadhari and said that he also wished to have a spiritual career like him, so he requested him to give the mudrā to his ears [karna]. Jalanadhari replied, 'Do as I say, chant the mantra of Kali Devi, worship her and sit here with folded hands. I will return in ten days. Until then, don't be sad, I'll be back soon.’ Then, in the temple of the goddess, he gave the mudra to Vi-oki and gave him the name Kanipa [Karnaripa]. Jalandhari then asked him to go to South India. So Karnaripa went south with his disciples and crossed the ocean to Sri Lanka on his animal skin seat.
[When Karnaripa was away in South India, King Gopichand came to Jalandhari seeking immortality. Jalandhari said to Gopichand, 'If you want immortality, put your hand in this pitcher and you will find immortality. When Gopichand put his hand in, he found nothing. When Gopichand said that there was nothing in the pot. Jalandhara told him that immortality is like that. Gopichand got angry and as a punishment he imprisoned Jalandhari in a deep pit in the ground].
Karnaripa returned by crossing the ocean. On his way to the palace of Gandanavirambi, Karnaripa met Gorakshanatha [གོ་རཀྵ་ནཱ་ཐ་]. Karnaripa's disciples announced, "Arise, arise, Mahasiddha Karnaripa is arriving. Gorakshanatha said, 'Travellers do not bow to the inhabitants. I am the Guru and you are the disciple. When Karnaripa heard this, he asked Gorakshanatha, 'Who is your guru?’ Gorakshanatha replied, 'My guru is Matsyendera [མ་ཧཱ་ཚིནྡྲ་་]’. Gorakshanatha asked who his guru was and Karnaripa said his guru was Jalandhari. Hearing this, Gorakshanatha said, 'Gopichand buried your guru Jalandhari in a pit under elephant and horse dung’.
Karnaripa and his disciples then travelled to the east, where Gopichand was, and sat at his door in anger. Gopichand approached the Jogis and invited them to eat. Karnaripa said, "First feed two of my disciples, and when they are satisfied, you can offer the food to the rest of us. So Karnipa sent two of his disciples. When Gopichand served the food in their gourd bowls, no matter how much food he put in, it wouldn't fill. The food from the entire household of that town won't even fill their bowls. Gopichand was amazed and said, 'You must be a Mahasiddha. I also want to be a Jogi and become a Mahasiddha.’ Then Karnaripa said, 'If you want to become a Mahasiddha, you must give Jalandhari, then you will become a Mahasiddha. Otherwise you won't become a siddha. Then Gopichand asked, 'Where is Jalandhari? Karnaripa replied, 'Jalandhari is the one you buried in the pit. Gopichand was so frightened that he asked Karnaripa to curse him for his mistake. Karnaripa made three bodies of the king from the eight precious gems. All of Karnaripa's disciples uncovered Jalandhari from the pit by clearing away the dung. Jalandhari asked one of the bodies, 'Who are you?' and it replied, 'I am Gopichand'. Jalandhari recited a mantra and the body disintegrated. Jalandhari asked the second body, 'Who is this?' It replied, 'I am Gopichand'. This body also fell apart. The same thing happened to the third body. When Gopichand saw the bodies disintegrating, he trembled with fear and bowed his head at Jalandhari's feet. Jalandhari laid her hand on Gopichand's head and made him a siddha.
