I am very impressed by the figure and works of one yogi, about whom there are many legends exist. This is a siddhapuruṣa, who is known among the Nāthas as Kṛṣṇanāth or Kānīpnāth. In Maharashtra, he is revered as one of the Nine Nāthas, who are the Nine manifestations of Narayana, he is known as Prabuddha Narayana. There is a lot of similar and at the same time contradictory information about him. For example, he was a kāpālika and practiced the methods of Vajrayana in Bengal. Kānhapa is also known as Kṛṣṇācārya among Buddhists, and he is a very significant teacher of the Hevajra and Cakrasamvara Tantra practices. He contributed a lot to the development of such a practice as tummo, which became fundamental in the practices of the completion stage (Yoga of Naropa). In Śaiva-Śakta yoga this is the practice of Kuṇḍalini-yoga, which is in many ways identical to the tummo methods. In this regard, he was in many ways a follower of the same methods practiced by his guru, Jalandharnāth, who was significant for both the Nāthas and the Buddhists.

In the Haṭha-yoga-pradīpikā we find a description of the stages of “untying” the knots (granthi), which is accompanied by different types of bliss, such as ānanda, paramānanda, viramānanda and sahajānanda. This is accompanied by the experience of different emptinesses, such as śūnya, atiśūnya, mahāśūnya, sarvaśūnya. All these experiences of bliss and emptiness are the goal of the practices of I am very impressed by the figure and works of one yogi, about whom there are many legends exist. This is a siddhapuruṣa, who is known among the Nāthas as Kṛṣṇanāth or Kānīpnāth. In Maharashtra, he is revered as one of the Nine Nāthas, who are the Nine manifestations of Narayana, he is known as Prabuddha Narayana. There is a lot of similar and at the same time contradictory information about him. For example, he was a kāpālika and practiced the methods of Vajrayana in Bengal. Kānhapa is also known as Kṛṣṇācārya among Buddhists, and he is a very significant teacher of the Hevajra and Cakrasamvara Tantra practices. He contributed a lot to the development of such a practice as tummo, which became fundamental in the practices of the completion stage (Yoga of Naropa). In Śaiva-Śakta yoga this is the practice of Kuṇḍalini-yoga, which is in many ways identical to the tummo methods. In this regard, he was in many ways a follower of the same methods practiced by his guru, Jalandharnāth, who was significant for both the Nāthas and the Buddhists. All these experiences of bliss and emptiness are the goal of the practices of Kuṇḍalini-yoga or tummo (Caṇḍālī). In his commentaries on the Hevajra Tantra, describing these experiences of bliss, Kānhapa identifies the special state of sahajānanda with the state of mahāmudrā, as the peak of realisation in the completion stage.

Besides Kānhapa we find the state of sahajānanda praised by Matsyendranāth in the Akulavīratantra, by Gorakṣanātha in the Amanaska-yoga, in the Amaraugha-prabodha, etc. Kānhapa seems to have been a very important figure in what was formerly known as Sahajayana, the Sahaja practice followed by him, as well as Matsyendranāth, Gorakṣanātha and other Śaivas and Buddhist yogis. Their methods seem to have had a great influence later on the Vaiṣṇava sahajiyas, also on one of their branches, the Baul tradition. As one of the gurus in Bengal explained to me, the meaning of the term comes from ‘Ba’ (Va – vāyu) and ‘Ul’ (ulta – back), the reverse direction of prāṇa, i.e. inward, into the central channel, the suṣumṇa. They told me that the practice of prāṇāyāma is also very important to them.

Matsyendranāth, Jalandharnāth and Kānhapa all practiced the methods of vāmamārga (pañcamakāra–sevana, karma-mudrā, etc.), the purpose of which is to awaken the Kuṇḍalini Śakti. From an interreligious dialogue with Australia’s most renowned researcher of Kashmir Śaivism, John Dupushe, we discovered in the Vijñānabhairava-tantra (Śloka 68) and commentaries on it that the expansion of prāṇa is directly related to sexual energy. Therefore, the practices of prana expansion (prāṇāyāma) and kaulācāra have very deep connections.

Kānhapa wrote many verses, charyapadas and dohas, related to Sahajayana. In some Bengali texts (the Gorakhbijay and the Mīnacetan), the appearance of Kānīpā is described as part of the universal genesis process. I think this is a reproduction of the meaning similar to Puruṣasūktam of the Ṛigveda. It talks about the original puruṣa, from which the entire universe emerged, and from the parts of his body – different forms of living beings. Matsyendranāth appeared from the navel of Adināth, Gorakṣanāth  – from the hair, Hāḍipā (Jalandharnāth) – from the bones, Chaurangināth  – from the feet, Kānhapa (Kānīpā) appeared from the ears. Although, in the myths of Maharashtra it is about the ear of an elephant in the Himālayas. It is clear that this is symbolism, щtherwise, where would elephants come from in the Himālayas?)) All Nine Nāthas revered in Maharashtra, according to legends, are “ayonija“, i.e. they were not born from the womb of ordinary women. They are born from different natural objects, i.e. self-manifested (svayambhū). I think this all goes back to the worship of nature by the Ādivāsīs in India. Also, many gods are associated with natural forces in Vedism. All this should be understood as symbols of energies, natural elements, through which Śakti and Brahman manifest in different forms.

Although there is information about the birth of Kānīpnāth, which will cause less skepticism in the minds of Western people, for example, that he was born in Somapura (Bangladesh).

Also, there is a version that he was born in the South India, that his skin was dark in color, therefore he was called Kṛṣṇanāth. However, he truly had many names: Kāṇerīpā, Paṇḍitacārya, Yogasiddhācārya, Kānīpā, Kānhapa, Upādhyāya, Kanaḍāpā. Sant Kabīr wrote that Bhartṛhari received much inspiration on the path of yoga from Kānīpā. Of course, I have mentioned only a small part of what this yogi is famous for. There is much that is valuable and inspiring about him, his teachings, and practices in n the Hindi and Sanskrit literature.