Naropa took birth as an Indian Prince, handsome in all respects and endowed with unmatched compassion.  He traveled to Kashmir and became very devoted to the dharma. However, his father the King, was displeased that his son was not fulfilling the position of a mundane prince.  Therefore, the King picked a brahmin girl from East Bengal for Naropa to marry.  However, Naropa could not benefit the whole world by marrying a princess and holding the throne.  His wife, understanding Naropa's pure intentions, allowed him to undertake the supreme path of the dharma. 

Naropa left, he took ordination in Kashmir and studied at Pullahari monastery.  At Nalanda monastery, he ascended quickly from being a debater (gate-keeper) to the monastery's chancellor, surpassing all scholars and practitioners, gaining universal fame throughout India.  

A woman, with the thirty-two marks of ugliness, appeared to Naropa one day while he was reading scriptures. 

The woman inquired, “Do you know the words of those text, the literal and relative meaning of the dharma?”  Naropa’s answer was affirmative.  The hideous lady danced with joy and seemed very pleased.  Then, she asked, “Do you understand the absolute and inner meaning of the dharma?”  Naropa, believing she would be even more pleased, answered affirmatively again.  The ugly woman became upset and called Naropa a liar.  She then told him that only her brother, Tilopa, knows the absolute meaning. 

Devotion instantly arose in Naropa and the old woman vanished.  Due to Naropa’s karma and impure view, he saw the old woman (who was actually the enlightened female being Vajrayogini) with the thirty two marks of ugliness, which represented the thirty two defects of our realm of suffering. 

Even though the scholars of Nalanda pleaded with him to stay, Naropa left Nalanda to find Tilopa.   Naropa, in his search, underwent twelve minor hardships --all which were manifestations of Tilopa trying to reduce the negative karma of his future disciple.  Each hardship, replete with metaphorical lessons, taught Naro about the wrongness of his dualistic and discriminatory thoughts, these included:

While walking on a thin cliff, he asked a woman infected with leprosy to step aside.  She told him, “If you have bias thoughts that external images are clean and unclean, you won’t find the guru!”

When he stepped over a maggot infested dog, Naropa was told, “If you don’t gain great compassion and if you continue to view others as inferior, you won’t find the guru!”

After refusing to help a gentlemen pound in the head of another man, Naropa was told, “If a practitioner does not pound down the ego, you won’t find the guru!”

After refusing to help a man cut up his intestines, Naropa was told, “You won’t find the guru if you don’t cut the intestines of samsara!”

After refusing to help clean the insides of a man, Naropa was told, “You won’t find the guru if you don’t clean the impurities of your own inner mind!”

When a King married his daughter to Naropa, and then she deserted Naropa, Naropa cast a spell.  He was then told, “You won’t find the guru if you have aversion, attachment and desire!”

During an excursion in the forest, Naropa met a hunter who said, “One will only find the guru by killing the beast of grasping and fixation!"

In a city, Naropa met a man burning lice, who said, “You must kill the lice that arise in one’s search for the true nature of all phenomena!”

Near a river, Tilopa met an old woman cooking fish.  He refused to eat them. With a finger snap, she resurrected the fish and said, “How can you find the Lama without eating away the fishy afflictions of the mind?”

After refusing to help a man kill his parents, he was told, “If you don’t kill the parents of grasping and fixation, you won’t find the guru!”

When passing through a country with a one-eyed man, Naro was told “The one eye is the single taste of all,” and that is when Naropa gained the first taste of understanding of Mahamudra.

The last minor hardship was when Naropa resided on a mountain, not believing he met the guru, and was about to murder himself due to anguish.  But then, Tilopa appeared and bestowed teachings to him. Naropa finally became a proper vessel to receive Tilo’s transmission.

Tilopa then made Naropa undergo Twelve Major Hardships in which he was beaten, fell off cliffs, ran until completely exhausted, chased by people and eaten by leeches.  Upon falling off the cliff, he cried "The pain is killing me!" This why he is named Naropa; Na means pain and Ro means kill. These hardships were skillful means employed by Tilopa, who purified heaps of negative karma and unvirtue which obscured Naropa's mind.

After all these hardships, Tilo slapped Naropa unconsciousness. This purified Naropa of all the remaining obstacles, and afterward Tilopa bestowed transmission and empowerment.  Naropa's laziness and arrogance as a prince were fully uprooted. 

Through the sufferings that Naropa underwent, a practitioner of the dharma should realize that one must purify one’s negative karma.  Strict diligence is a necessity. Presently, the purification practices which have been systematized in the various lineages include prostrations, offerings, guru yoga and Dorje Sempa recitations.  These practices are a sure method to be completed time and time again in order to destroy obstacles, pride and egotism.

Naropa realized the complete realization of the teachings and became fully enlightened, equaling his guru Tilopa.  The two became renown as the sun and moon of India, forever inseparable.