Siddh Gosht is a composition of seventy-three stanzas in raga Ramkali, in the form of a debate between Guru Nanak Dev Ji and the Siddhas, the yogic adepts of the Nath tradition.
The Siddhas ask him who his teacher is, what his practice is, why he does not renounce, and how a householder can be liberated. He answers each.
The argument is the founding argument of the Sikh position: that withdrawal from the world is not the path, that the household life worked honestly is, and that the practice is remembrance rather than austerity.
It is set in the hills, at Achal Batala or at Gorakhmata in the various accounts, and its vocabulary is the technical vocabulary of the yogic tradition used against it.
It is one of the hardest compositions in the volume to follow without a commentary, because it argues in the opponent's terms throughout.
It runs to seventy-three stanzas in Ramkali and is set as a dialogue with the Nath jogis, with their questions put in their own vocabulary and answered in it.
The argument is about where the practice belongs. The jogis hold that it requires withdrawal, the cave and the ash. The answer given is that it belongs in the middle of the household and the trade.
The Nath establishments the dialogue names were real institutions with property and disciples. This is an argument with a rival that existed and was strong.