Our Tantrik Lineage

We recorded this some time back and its not as comprehensive as I would have liked it to be (lineage is such a rich and sprawling conversation, after all) so I never posted it but inspired by the conversations in the Discord this morning, I felt that this reflection would be good to have!

There is some debate as to whether Macchanda, the founder of the Kaula lineage (who along with his consort and 12 children probably taught around 6-8th CE) is the same as the legendary Matsyendranatha who founded the Hatha Yoga tradition and who taught around the 12th or 13th CE. These are siddhas so they can live forever and materialize any body at any time for any reason, so dating can be a little complex! 

But there is no doubt that even if they are two different lineage founders that the Nath Sampradaya is included in the Kaula marga! Sri Ramakrishna inherits this lineage from both Kedarama Bhattacharyaji, who initiated him into the Kali mantra and also from Bhairavi Brahmani, who iniated him into the Kaula marga. Both Bhairavi Brahmani and also the legendary Macchanda, are said to have come from Assam. Whereas Konkanamba, by her name must have come from Maharasthra and Matsyendranath but especially Gorakshanath are perhaps from South India. By some accounts, Abhinava Gupta's guru Sambhunatha came from South India and Jnanetra Natha who founds the the Krama/Kali-Kula might have come from Jalandhara and been initiated by Kali herself in the form of the Yogini Mangala Devi in Oddiyana, in the swat valley! So what we get is a sort of Pan-Indian Kaula movement!

You might enjoy Śani Deva's beautiful lineage tree which is part of the "community cheat sheet" he's working on!