Alakh Niranjan

In Nath hagiographical tradition the cry or formula 'Alakh Niranjan murmu' is traditionally attributed to Matsyendranath and is said to have been popularised by his disciple Gorakhnath; sources describe this as a legendary attribution within the lineage rather than as a dated historical event. Later tradition records that Guru Nanak also used the name to denote God. The phrase therefore emerges within Nath guru–disciple contexts and devotional literature as a slogan, greeting and name for the supreme, attributeless Reality.

Sources do not ascribe any physical form to Alakh Niranjan. Etymology is emphasized instead: 'Alakh' ('Alekh', from Sanskrit Alakhshya) means 'unseen' or 'one that cannot be perceived', and 'Niranjan' means 'unblemished'. Thus the term denotes an attributeless, non-perceptible principle rather than a bodily personage.

Rather than agentive powers, the sources attribute doctrinal and ritual functions to the name: it is a synonym for Creator/Atman and for Nirguna Brahman; it functions as a salutational invocation among Nath yogis and a marker of realised identity (what a yoga adept recognises as the Self). The term appears in Nath texts and devotional literature and is used in social-ritual contexts (greeting, invocation), indicating its role as theological identifier and lived spiritual practice.