Naro Jnanasiddhi - (1016-1100)

Naropa is one of the most prominent and authoritative Indian mahasiddhas and masters of Mahamudra and tantra. He received the Mahamudra and tantra lineage teachings from his guru Tilopa and transmitted them to his disciple, Marpa, the Great Translator of Tibet.
Early days: Naropa, known as Abhayakirti ('jigmed dragpa’) Jnanasiddhi, was born in Kashmir into the Brahmin caste, according to Taranatha and other sources, who say that he was born in a place called Jambud (Shrinagar, according to Guenther) in eastern part of India. His father was Shantivarman and mother, Shrimati. According to Taranatha, from an early age, he began to receive a complete education and became a tirthika pundit (scholar of non-Buddhist teachings), also practicing the tantras of Hinduism. During this time, Naropa went to the house of a woman who sold beer and encountered a junior Buddhist pandita. After the Buddhist pandita departed, Naropa found a volume of Sutras left behind by him and began to read them. He became very inspired by the teachings and his heart filled with devotion for the dharma.Naropa then went to Madhyadesha where he became an ordained monk in the Buddhist order, becoming educated in the Buddhist teachings. Naropa, who had been a tirthika pandita became instead the most learned pandita in the Buddha-dharma. He was honoured for this accomplishment by being made the "Northern Gatekeeper" of Nalanda and Vikramashila universities. He taught at the universities and became one of the most well-known abbots of the time. During this time, he practiced the Vajrayana tantric meditation of Chakrasamvara every evening and had many sacred visions of the dakinis. At some point, some dakinis encouraged him to leave by saying, "In the east is Tilopa. Go before him and you will attain great siddhi".

Searching for Tilopa: Naropa travelled to the eastern regions and searched for Tilopa everywhere, but Tilopa was nowhere to be found. One day, Naropa was at a monastery in the eastern region. While in the monastery kitchen, a vile and filthy old man came in and roasted many live fish in the glowing fire. Naropa was unable to persuade him not to roast the fish alive, and the other monks jumped up and began to run towards the old man to stop him from killing. The old man responded: "If you don't like it, just throw these roasted fish leftovers into the water!" Upon putting the roasted fish remains into water, they came to life and swam away in all directions.Naropa then knew that the old man was a realized Siddha. Following after him, he prostrated at his feet and begged him to teach. The old man became angry and struck Naropa without saying anything. When Naropa thought to himself, "Is this yogi Tilopa?" the old man answered: "Yes! Yes!" When Naropa thought "Is this yogi someone other than Tilopa?" the old man replied: "No! No!" At that point, he realized that this old man was Tilopa.Tilopa sometimes manifested as a yogi by performing yogic deeds and sometimes just seemed to be a simple madman. During all these times Naropa had no conceptual thoughts or doubts about Tilopa's realization.

Developing devotion: Once Naropa received a lot of vegetables from a wedding celebration and he offered them to Tilopa. Tilopa asked for more and so Naropa went again to the wedding reception, thinking that it would please his Guru. In India, it is not the accepted custom to go to a banquet twice in one day, so Naropa stole the whole pot of vegetables and carried it off. The people at the wedding caught him stealing and beat him with sticks and rocks, but Naropa managed to hang onto the pot and bring the vegetables to his guru. At another time, Tilopa and Naropa encountered a princess sitting in a palyanka (palanquin) on the road. Tilopa said, "Grab the princess and bring her here!" Naropa transformed himself into a Brahmin and, uttering auspicious words, he put flowers on the girl's head. He then grabbed her and fled with her; the servants of the princess however caught up with him, and beat Naropa to the ground until he was like a corpse. Naropa subsequently recovered through the blessings and skilful means of his guru.Once again, Tilopa and Naropa met someone's wife, this time married to a minister. Tilopa wanted her as his wife and told Naropa to do as he had done previously. Naropa paid her parents the price for a high caste girl and took her off with him. He thought he would offer her to his guru in the morning, but Naropa became very ill and was sick for many days. During this time, his guru recited mantras and Naropa soon recovered fully. At that time, Naropa offered the girl to Tilopa. However, the girl was so attracted to Naropa that she made love-glances at Naropa. Seeing this, Tilopa got very mad and said to the girl: "You don't like me but instead, you like him." He then beat both Naropa and the girl.Those and many similar deeds were done in order to develop Naropa's faith. During all of these events that Naropa went through, his devotion and faith remained firm and was not shaken even slightly. Not only did it not diminish; in fact his faith and devotion expanded. In this way, Naropa served his guru Tilopa for twelve years and although he went through numerous hardships, Tilopa never even spoke a single good word to him.

Sandal Transmission: Finally, when they were at an empty plain Tilopa said, "Now make a mandala offering so I can give you the upadesha (key instructions)." Naropa looked around and said: "There are no flowers nor any water here to make mandala offering." Tilopa answered: "Does your body not have blood and fingers?" so Naropa cut himself and sprinkled the ground with his own blood; he then cut off his fingers and arrayed them as if they were flowers. Tilopa then struck him with a muddy sandal and knocked him unconscious. When he woke up he was able to see the reality of things as they are. Naropa was completely healed and was given all the upadeshas and further instructions. Naropa became one of the greatest yogis and Tilopa instructed him: "Now, don't debate, don't teach any students - if you act thus you will swiftly attain the highest state."When Naropa was abiding at Pullahari monastery, he engaged in non-conceptual meditation. However, events forced him into a debate with a Tirthika, at which time Tilopa appeared and helped Naropa. Thus he did not fully comply with the instructions, which caused him some obstacles in the path. Naropa stayed mostly in Pullahari, near Nalanda and also he wandered around various places conducting abhishekas, teaching tantras, giving upadeshas, and also engaging in great activities for the benefit of many sentient beings.Foremost among his disciples was the Tibetan Marpa, the great translator, who brought the lineage of Naropa to Tibet and continued it through his great disciple, Milarepa.Guru Tilopa imparted him the Mahamudra lineage. Naropa attained the realization of the Ultimate Reality and became one of the most renowned Mahasiddhas of India. He received from Tilopa the six yogas mentioned below and had many students including, Shantipa, Atisha, and the Tibetan Marpa who brought his lineage to Tibet. Among his students were eight extraordinary disciples. Four were learned in the Father Tantras and four were learned in Mother Tantras and held the Oral Instructions lineage.

The Six Doctrines: Naropa is known for the transmission of his 'Naro Cho-druk', '‘The Six Dharmas of Naropa’,  a set of very special extraordinary teachings shortly described here:

• ‘tum mo’ - ‘The practice of Inner Heat Generation’: This is a practice where you take the chakra at the navel, which is called ‘Nirmanakaya Chakra’ as a support for yoga practice in order to purify the situations of union and be able to utilize desire as part of the Path. Therefore tum mo is called the life pillar of the Path;
• ‘öd sal’ - ‘The practice of Luminous Wakefulness’: This is a practice where you take the heart chakra, which is called the ‘Dharmakaya Chakra’ as a support for yoga practice in order to purify the situations of deep sleep and be able to utilize delusion as part of the Path. Therefore, luminosity is called the Essence of the Path;
• ‘mi lam’ - ‘The practice of Conscious Dreaming’: This is a practice where you take the chakra located at the throat, which is called the ‘Sambogha Chakra’, as a support for practice and purify the situations of dreaming state and be able to utilize anger as part of the Path. Therefore it is called the gage of the Path;
• ‘gyu lü’ - ‘The practice of Illusory Body’: This is a practice where you take the head chakra, which is called the ‘Mahasukkha Chakra’ as a support for yoga practice in order to purify the situations of awaken state and be able to utilize pride and envy as part of the Path. Therefore, illusory body is called the foundation for the Path;
• ‘bar do’ - 'The practice of Intermediate state': Together with the first four they constitute the six doctrines that Naropa received from Tilopa and practiced suc-cessfully passing them onto Marpa and so on these practices were practiced and transmitted form Guru to Disciple in an uninterrupted way. Therefore these practices can be practiced till present days;
• ‘pho wa’- 'The practice of mind transference'

The principal student and lineage heir of Naropa was Marpa. 

Excerpt from the official website of The Tsurphu Labrang