CHARPAṬ NĀTH, one of the yogīs whom, according to the Miharbān, Janam Sākhī, Gurū Nānak met on Mount Sumer, was a Gorakhpanthī recluse. Gurū Nānak himself mentions his name twice in his compositions in the Gurū Granth Sāhib - in his Sidh Gosṭi and in another hymn in Rāga Rāmkalī. In the Sidh Gosṭi (lit. discourse or dialogue with the Siddhas), Charpaṭ is stated to have put this question to him : "How is one to go across the world described as an impassable ocean?" Answers the Gurū :

        As unaffected liveth the lotus in water,

        And the duck,

        So with the mind fixed on the Word,

        One swimmeth across the Ocean of Existence.

        He who liveth detached,

        Enshrining the One Lord in his mind,

        Who hopeth yet desireth not,

        Canst see as well as show

        The Unfathomable and the Unperceivable,

        Of such a one will Nānak be a slave.

                                                        (GG, 938)

        

        In the Nātha tradition, Charpaṭ, is known to have been a disciple of Gorakhnāth whose period falls somewhere in the 11th to 12th century. Gurū Nānak whose period is much later must have therefore met some contemporary incumbent of Charpaṭ's seat who also bore his name. Sixty-four ślokas attributed to Charpaṭ are included in the Hindi work Nātha Siddhoṅ kī Bāṇiyāṅ, some of them relating to the preparation of elixir to prevent disease and infirmity. Charpaṭ is counted among Siddhas of the rasāyaṇa (alchemy) tradition.