The Sanskrit word Kaula refers to that which belongs to the Kula: the teaching, cult, and way of life of the clan. It names the values of togetherness, harmony, and cosmic in-being, and historically the tantric stream of the Kaulas—identified as Shaktas and, in the north, as the Uttara Kaula.
The International Nath Order is a synthesis of the Adinath and Uttara Kaula streams. Shri Gurudev Mahendranath received the Uttara Kaula parampara from Shri Pagala Baba of Ranchi and willed that its transmission be taken back into the greater Nath stream rather than continued as a separate sadhu sect. Inside the Order, Kaula is the family aspect of that stream: initiates are Kaula members by definition, and friends who have no diksha may still stand in the clan. The word is not a synonym for Kula. Kula is the circle and the sanctum; Kaula is the way that circle lives.