Navnath

The Navanatha (Sanskrit: नवनाथ), also spelt as Navnath in vernacular languages, are the nine saints, Masters or Naths on whom the Navnath Sampradaya, the lineage of the nine gurus, is based. They are worshipped collectively as well as individually, and belongs to the Nath-tradition. Nine gurusNath Sampraday believes that Rishi Dattatreya, an incarnation of the Hindu trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, was its first teacher. Other traditions hold that Matsyendranath received initiation directly from Shiva, also known as Adi Nath. In many modern Nath groups, worship of Gorakshanath and Shiva is primary. The nine teachers, collectively known as Navnaths, are considered representative of great teachers in this tradition or parampara. Several lists are known: Nisargadatta MaharajAccording to both Maurice Frydman, translator of Nisargadatta Maharaj's I Am That, and Saumitra K. Mullarpattan, Maharaj's primary interpreter, "the most widely accepted list" is as follows: Matsyendranatha or Machhindranath (9th century), "who was said to be initiated by Shiva (next to Vishnu and Brahma one of the three primary Hindu gods) in the science and teaching of Yoga."Gorakshanath or GorakhnathJ