ABSTRACT
We have seen that, to be fully initiated into the sect, the would-be Yogī has to pronounce a vow of brahmacārya, usually taken at the same time as the ear-splitting ceremony. This vow of brahmacārya, or celibacy, is symbolized by the giving of a particular loincloth (langoṭ or kopīn), accompanied by the appropriate mantra. 1 From what I have seen in the present time, the Nāth Yogīs, be they itinerant or living in monastery, are supposed to be celibate and the present statutes of the sampradāya are very strict on this point. The 1995 statutes specify that they concern the Avadhūt Yogīs, those ‘who have renounced wordly aspirations and are not grihastha’ and they enjoin ‘the removal of any Sādhu or Mahant who disobeys the rules of the Nāth Sampradāya and becomes a householder (grihastha) or tries to become a householder (grihastha banane kā prayatna kar rahe hai)’ (article 11). The secretary of the Mahāsabhā commented in relation to the rule: ‘Those who cannot keep celibacy, they have no control and constitute a major problem. They are not Yogīs. Married Yogīs represent a corrupt tradition’ (personal communication). A folk etymology echoed by Dvivedi (1981: 21) relates grihastha to girast, and to girnā, to fall, to be disgraced.
