Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath called for an encyclopedia of the Nath Sampradaya with collections from literature from all over the world including Afghanistan and Pakistan to be compiled. “Artefacts from all over the world should also be collected; and where they no longer exist, replicas be made and displayed in a museum,” he said.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of an international conference which will discuss the contributions of the Nath sampradaya to social amity.
The CM currently heads the sect. This is the second such conference which will draw in-person and virtual participation from scholars, academics and members from across the world.
Adityanath said that the impact of the sect was visible throughout the country.
“This is a sect that has never practised any kind of untouchability. There are no distinctions of caste, religion, area or language. It has had just one goal- to unite everyone,” he said.
The two-day conference is being held at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University which houses a research wing dedicated to the sect.
Touching on the multi-faceted influence of the sect, Adityanath said that in Punjab, it had instilled people with the courage to fight off foreign invaders through songs sung to the tune of sarangis (a stringed instrument). In Karnataka, the influence is visible in the Manjunath tradition of which Shiva is the presiding deity.
He also touched upon the real nature of the Gyanvapi mosque- the nature of which is currently the subject of a court case. The name, he said, denoted Shiva- who was omniscient. “It is not a mosque as is currently thought,” he said.
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The Gorakhvani, a book which encompasses the message of Gorakhnath, the founding father of the peeth, Adityanath said had been quoted in various texts by various poets and writers. Among those he mentioned were Malik Muhammed Jayasi and Kalidas.
The central tenet of our belief is cleanliness of the spirit and the body, he said.
Adityanath called upon the attendees to not only hold academic discussions on the sect but also such that could be a part of everyday, practical living.
