Bhagwan Gopinath

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Bhagwan Gopinath
Bhagvad Gita)
^** Bhagwan Gopinath’s birthday is observed on Ashad, Shuklapaksh, Dvadashi as per Hindu lunar calendar.
Quotation

Bidding adieu to ones ego leads one to self realisation.[1]

Bhagwan Gopinath (3 July 1898 – 28 May 1968), born Gopinath Bhan, also called Bhagwan Gopinath Ji, was a mystic saint of early 20th century

Bhagwan by his devotees.[3][5]

Though not much is known about who his spiritual master was, he is known to have remarked that one can consider

atma vichara) as highly effective in helping a seeker attain self-realization.[7] He considered lust and ego as impediments in one's spiritual development and extolled the virtues of honesty and truthfulness.[1][8] He wouldn't differentiate between religions and regarded Hindus and Muslims to be one and the same.[9] During various periods of his life, he spent considerable time meditating at various shrines in Kashmir as he considered it spiritually beneficial and would recommend the same to spiritual seekers.[10]

Birth and family

Bhagwan Gopinath was born in a

Mata Kheer Bhawani in Kashmir, he is said to have had a vision of the deity who expressed her desire to be born in his family as his daughter. Soon thereafter, Haar Maal was born who eventually got married and gave birth to Bhagwan Gopinath.[14]

There have been some unconfirmed reports that

Swami Vivekananda, who happened to be in Kashmir during 1898, had paid a visit to the Bhans' family on occasion of Bhagwan Gopinath's birth.[11] Some maintain that he stopped just short of entering their house while waiting at a nearby tailor's shop on 3 July, where he got the American flag stitched, to be hoisted next day on 4 July, which was probably when he even wrote the poem To The Fourth of July.[16]

He had two brothers and two sisters. While his elder brother, Pandit Govind Joo Bhan, remained celibate throughout his life; the younger one, Pandit Jia Lal Kak, got married but remained issueless and would spend much of his time at religious services. Both his sisters lost their husbands at an early age. The elder one, Smt Deva Mali, after bearing two daughters and the younger one, Smt Janaki Devi, after bearing two sons and two daughters. For the most part, towards the later part of his life, Bhagwan Gopinath was looked after by his elder sister and her two daughters: Smt Kamla Ji and Smt Chanda Ji.[13][17]

Early years

After having given up his ancestral home in favour of his step mother, Pandit Narayan Joo Bhan, along with young Gopinath who at that time must have been around 10 years old, started moving around, living at various rental accommodations.[17] His mother died when he was 12 years old and his father died when he was around 30 years old. However, all along these years from 1909 till his final days in 1968, his family changed their residence eleven times with period of stay at these places varying sometimes from a year and a half to eleven years at a stretch.[18]

He completed his education till middle grade from a local Christian missionary school called Tyndale Biscoe School, which used to be situated at Fateh Kadal locality of Srinagar back then.

Sharda and Devanagari. Some of his close devotees, at times, had heard him speak English too.[20]

Employment

Since his early years, he had expressed reluctance in taking up any form of employment. However, given their financial circumstances, his family insisted upon him to take up some kind of employment.[21] To begin with, during 1912, for a brief while he assisted his maternal uncle in the business of Kashmiri wool (called pashmina in local language).[17] Then, for a period of three years, he took up the post of a compositor with Vishi Nath Printing Press. Thereafter, he started a grocery store at a place called Sekidafar. Sometime during 1920, he moved the store to a locality called Chaayidob in Srinagar.[22] He ran the grocery store for ten years till about 1925 before taking to his spiritual pursuits full-time.[21]

Spiritual inclination

In his younger years, he would recite by heart the sacred Hindu hymns like

Shiv Mahimna Strotam, Shivastrotavali, Guru Gita and vaaks (poetic couplets) composed by some local saints. However, he had a marked interest for Bhagvad Gita and had kept a copy of the book close to where he would sit for his meditation right till his last day.[21] He had memorised all these texts probably in his younger years.[21] During his early years, young Gopinath would accompany his maternal uncle, Pandit Bhagwan Das Parimoo, who was a devotee of Sharika Bhagwati (the deity of the shrine of Hari Parbat), on annual or biannual trips to the holy spring at Pokhribal to desilt it from all the accumulated offerings of devotees.[15] As a leader of a group of young men, he would often organise trips to local shrines like Kheer Bhawani, Mattan, Mahadev and Vicharnaag.[18]

Since his days in middle grade, he would often visit some of the local saints like Swami Zanakak Tufchi of Habbakadal locality and Swami Baalak Kaw, a jatadhari sadhu, at Sekidafer locality. He would also press Swami Baalak Kaw's feet at times.[23] Yet another saint that he is known to have paid regular visits to was Swami Jeevan Sahib.[18] He would also visit Swami Narayan Joo Bhan of Bodhgeer locality in Kashmir.[6] He would regularly attend gatherings of these saints discussing spiritual and philosophical topics on vedanta, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and Kashmir Shaivism.[21] During his employment days at the grocery store, while manning the cash counter at the store, he would often be found engrossed in meditation. Sometimes he would spend whole night at the store while being absorbed in meditation.[21]

Spiritual master

No one knows for sure as to who Bhagwan Gopinath's spiritual master (

Bhagvad Gita and remarked that any one its 700 verses can be considered as one's spiritual master.[6][24] S. N. Fotedar, his principal biographer, who was associated with him for over two decades, tried to lay his hands on all the evidence he could in this regard and finally settled with the opinion that Swami Zanakak Tufchi was his spiritual master. This was later corroborated by the testimony of Pandit Baalji Wangnoo who was the younger brother of Swami Aftab Joo Wangnoo. Swami Aftab Joo Wangnoo was an initiated disciple of Swami Zanakak Tufchi. Although Mr Fotedar got convinced with this idea, he was not able to establish it conclusively as an accepted fact particularly amongst Bhagwan Gopinath's devotees at large.[6][24] Based on Bhagwan Gopinath's comments about Bhagvad Gita, majority of his devotees, including some religious writers, consider him to have been self initiated.[25]

Spiritual practice

Although Bhagwan Gopinath's family tried to convince him to get married and take up the worldly life, he chose to live a life of celibacy[8] and did his spiritual practices, all the while living at various localities of Srinagar in Kashmir.[26] The tenure of his spiritual practice can be divided into the following three stages:

Initial stage (1908–1930)

From his younger years, Bhagwan Gopinath would devote much of his time attending religious gatherings of singers (called

nirguna upasana in Hinduism).[30]

Intermediate stage (1931–1937)

During this period, he is known to have resorted to extreme measures of sense control which involve self-abnegation methods like fasting for months together (having just a cup of tea a day) while taking huge quantities of food at other times. During this time, he confined himself in a dark room with a lamp that used to be lit up at all times. He would often be found lying on bed while facing the wall. He did not allow very many people in his room during this period. Whole room and his bed used to be covered with a lot of dust and one could find cobwebs and spiders around the room but he wouldn't bother cleaning it or let anyone else clean it. A rat is said to have nibbled a hole into one of his heels during this time though he is said to have been oblivious to its pain. His only constant companion in the room besides the burning lamp was his pipe. During this time he would take intoxicants like opium and sometimes vomit a lot of blood. His whole body had swollen and had become weak. On one occasion his sister reminded him of the financial difficulties they were going through but he is said to have responded by saying (translated here into English) "our boat is in the middle of ocean right now, either we would reach ashore safe or drown".[29] Some religious writers think he might have practised some form of tantric spiritual practice like pranabhasya during this time.[29][31] After seven such years of his spiritual practice, his devotees affirm that he had become, what they call in Hinduism, a siddha purusha (one who attains spiritual powers) as it was right after this period that people started flocking him to get their worldly problems solved.[28]

Final stage (1938–1968)

During this stage, he is a said to have practised some technique of meditation that would seemingly help him control elements (called

Sikh disciple who had come to see him from some other state and lived at his home for 3 months. He also initiated Pandit Maheshwar Nath Zutshi of Mallapore locality of Srinagar by offering him his pipe. He also started the practice of transfixing his gaze on water filled in a tumbler kept inside a brass basin filled with water. This brass basin was placed over an earthenware pot which too was filled with water.[28] It was also during this time that majority of his miracles were recorded and people started flocking him, seeking solutions to their worldly problems. It was sometime during the period between 1946–56 that he came to be called as Bhagwan by his devotees.[5] He regularly visited the shrines of the deities of Mata Sharika Bhagwati and Mata Ragnya Bhawani during this period. Sometime after 1957, on every Sunday afternoon, musical concerts were held at his place by known local musicians who would play local and Indian classical music for him.[28] Some of the other shrines visited by him during the initial and final stages of his spiritual practice were Jwala Ji at Khrew, Bhadrakali at Handwara, Jyestha Bhagwati at Srinagar, Gupt Ganga near Nishat Bagh, Tushkaraja Bhairav at Srinagar and Amarnath.[10]

Philosophy

Bhagwan Gopinath, being an introvert, was a man of few words and had a straightforward demeanor.[26][32] He is known to have always shunned publicity and covered himself with anonymity. As such, various religious commentators along with his devotees have found it difficult to classify his spiritual journey into a particular school of Indian philosophical thought.[33] Its widely believed that he must have followed the tenets of trika doctrine of advaita (non-dual) Kashmir Shaivism (in which, the Goddess Bhairavi-Aghoreshwari is enthroned above God Bhairava and is the main ideal of worship[34]) with jnana (knowledge), iccha (will) and kriya (action) having had a dominating influence on him.[9][35]

Once, while explaining the inter-relation of various spiritual disciplines in realising God, he said: " think of Brahman (God without a form) as a tree and if one sits on any one of its branches (various spiritual disciplines), the same goal will be reached in each case."[9] He once remarked: "Omkara (Hindu Symbol) is the "throat" of Godhead and nothing is possible without it". A couple of his pen-drawings have been found in which he has drawn the symbol Omkara (in Sharada script) surrounded by the names "Rama" and "Shiva" probably indicating that God (in the form of Omkara) can be realised through either path.[36] Once, while visiting the shrine of Amarnath, he is said to have remarked: "Shiva is dancing everywhere" and afterwards, was seen in a joyful mood the whole day.[9]

He would keep incense sticks burning in flames instead of letting them smoulder as he had an affinity for light sources. Sometimes he would also keep the oblations, offered in the fire pot, burning in flames and also referred to it as the "feet" of Lord Narayan.[9] He would refer to his legs as mere "logs of wood" and the body as "food" for the God of death (Mahakal)[8][37] and as such didn't consider physical body as the end-all be-all of human existence.

He wouldn't advise anyone to give up one's family and household in pursuit of self-realisation but guided people only if they practised celibacy.[9]

Gathering from various hymns written by him, it is evident that he had an inclination towards Bhakti tradition as well, which is also indicated by his fondness for Indian classical music and the pictures of Guru Nanak and Ramakrishna that adorned his walls.[36]

Stature

In his own words, when enquired about his spiritual state by a saint from Banaras who had come to visit him in May 1957, he is known to have recited the 6th verse from chapter-15 of Bhagavad Gita, which reads as follows:

na tad bhaasayate suryo

na shashaanko na paavakah
yad gatva na nivartante

tad dhaama paramam mama

and translates as "neither the sun illumines it, nor the moon, nor the fire. That is my prime abode (spiritual state), where having reached, one does not return".[9] His devotees and other contemporary saints of his times have described his spiritual state as jivanmukta.[38][39] Some religious scholars have described his spiritual state as Shambhavi avastha (the state of being Shiva) while others have described it as Bhramastithi (the state of ever dwelling in Brahman).[3] Some of his devotees believe him to be one of the Saptarishis (seven sages in Hinduism). He is known to have sent one of his devotees, Mr. Zadoo, to convey greetings to the Saptarishi cluster of rocks on the hillside of Hari Parbat.[40] Other scholars have compared his spiritual stature to Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Aurbindo Ghosh.[41] Many visiting monks would describe him as a rare siddha and an avadhuta.[28]

Disciplic succession

Bhagwan Gopinath is not known to have made any formal disciples although he is said to have spiritually initiated a few seekers that would come to him seeking his spiritual tutelage.

Parabrahma (the ultimate reality). Though he would recommend saguna upasana for the beginners, he would eventually veer them towards nirguna upasana.[9] Once in response to a question by his devotee as to whether saints should render help to people in spiritual and temporal spheres, he is known to have remarked that unlike a muscular animal who can easily swim across the river, a small insect would drown without help so they have to be helped.[9] As such, his devotees gave him the epithet Jagadguru
(spiritual guide of humanity).

Reception

In December 1973,

Aghoreshwar.[4]

Reported miracles

From around 1938, his devotees started recording and attributing various miracles to him

1947 war.[49]

Final days

A couple years before dying he was often heard remarking that he had grown old and this to some of his devotees was him dropping hints about his final days being imminently close. On the morning of 28 May 1968, as a part of his daily routine, he washed his face, tied his turban and smeared his forehead with a saffron mark (called

tilak in Hinduism). All throughout the day, many people had come to visit him. Later-on in the noon, some sadhus (wandering monks) too had come to visit him. He used to give alms to these visiting sadhus (some of whom he would call as mere jugglers in ochre robes) who, on their journey to Amarnath shrine, would stop-over at his place. On this day too, he gave these sadhus whatever money he had in his cloth purse. He is then said to have gone into a state of meditative trance (called samadhi in Hinduism) till about 5:30 pm when he asked for some water and was helped to drink a tumbler full of sweet water. He died at about 5:45 pm and his recorded last words were Om Namah Shivaya (the mantra of Lord Shiva).[8][50] On his death, Swami Nand Lal, is said to have remarked that Kashmir was being rocked by an earthquake. He is also said to have predicted Bhagwan Gopinath's death a week in advance.[51]

Teachings

Bhagwan Gopinath never taught in a formal way. However, he would, from time to time, make statement either in response to questions of devotees, or on his own while being amongst them. Being a man of few words, he would usually use short sentences and one had to lend a curious ear to decipher their contextual meaning.[1] A few of such of his statements, translated here into English, which his devotees recognise as his teachings, are as follows:

  • One should cultivate and preserve the three virtues of righteous moral conduct, viz straightforwardness, honesty and purity in thought, word and deed.[1]
  • Self realisation comes when one bids farewell to ones ego.[1]
  • Lust is the biggest impediment in ones spiritual development.[8]
  • Keen intellectual contemplation and self scrutiny help one to realise all aspects of God.[9]
  • Serious spiritual seekers should not be afraid of taking on the road which is fraught with difficulties of self-realisation.[1]
  • One should rise above the narrow division of religion, caste or creed and make peace with all humanity.[52]
  • One can consider Bhagvad Gita as ones spiritual master.[9]
  • Sincere spiritual efforts and guru's grace lead a seeker to self-realisation.[1]
  • A seeker must surrender onto guru's feet with all his heart and soul.[9]
  • One should always contribute to charity to not let greed settle in.[53]

In culture

Bhagwan Gopinath on a 1998 stamp of India
  • Indian Postal Service, released a stamp titled Bhagwan Gopinathji on the occasion of his 100th birth anniversary on 3 July 1998 "Stamp titled Bhagwan Gopinathji released". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011.[54]
"Stamp information". Retrieved 17 July 2011.


  • Doordarshan has made a documentary on Bhagwan Gopinath in the year 1996.[55]

Press releases


Notes

  • Sh. S.N.Fotedar could very well be called the principal biographer of Bhagwan Gopinath. His work has been labelled as "detailed" and having enough factual material in it by Sh S.N.Katju, who used to serve as a judge at Allahabad High Court[56] and whose son, Markandey Katju, formerly a judge of Supreme Court of India, completed his tenure as the chairman of Press Council of India on 5 October 2014. One could be tempted to jump the gun in labelling him as a primary resource, but having spent over two decaded with Bhagwan Gopinath, and given Mr Katju's appraisal of his work and with no reason to doubt the judgments of Mr. Katju, some of the references in the present article have been taken from his work.[26]

References

  1. ^
    OL 13149417M
    .
  2. ^ a b Raina, G.N, "Jagadguru Bhagwan Gopinath Ji, The imitable sage" (PDF), Ancient and Modern ascetics of Kashmir, Arundhati Prakashan, p. 229, Chapter 19.2, retrieved 31 May 2011
  3. ^ a b c Sharma, J. N. "Jagadguru Bhagwan Gopinath Ji" (PDF). Ancient and modern ascetics of Kashmir. Patrika. p. 249, Chapter 19.8. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  4. ^ a b Katju, S.N. (1995), Kaula, Janki Nath; Saligram Bhatt (eds.), Kashmiri Pandits: A cultural Heritage, pp. 145, Chapter 27
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  6. ^ a b c d Fotedar, S.N. "Bhagwan Gopinath Ji of Kashmir, Chapter 4". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  7. ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
    .
  8. ^ a b c d e Fotedar, S.N. "Bhagwan Gopinath Ji of Kashmir, Chapter 7". Retrieved 12 August 2011.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Fotedar, S.N. "Bhagwan Gopinath Ji of Kashmir, Chapter 14". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  10. ^ a b Fotedar, S.N. "Bhagwan Gopinath Ji of Kashmir, Chapter 5". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  11. ^
    ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  12. ^ Fotedar, S.N. "Bhagwan Gopinath Ji of Kashmir, Chapter 1". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  13. ^ a b Raina, G.N. "Jagadguru Bhagwan Gopinath Ji, The imitable sage" (PDF). Ancient and Modern ascetics of Kashmir. Arundhati Prakashan. p. 230, Chapter 19.2. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  14. ^
    ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  15. ^
    ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  16. ISBN 9780959406009
  17. ^
    ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  18. ^ a b c Fotedar, S.N. "Bhagwan Gopinath Ji of Kashmir, Chapter 2". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  19. ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  20. ISBN 978-0-9634798-6-0
  21. ^ a b c d e f Fotedar, S.N. "Bhagwan Gopinath Ji of Kashmir, Chapter 3". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  22. ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  23. ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  24. ^ a b Raina, G.N, "Jagadguru Bhagwan Gopinath Ji, The imitable sage" (PDF), Ancient and Modern ascetics of Kashmir, Arundhati Prakashan, p. 230, Chapter 19.2, retrieved 31 May 2011
  25. ^
    ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  26. ^ a b c Katju, S.N. "Bhagwan Gopinathji of Kashmir and letters expounding Shiv-Shakti philosophy". Patrika. p. 44, Chapter 16. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  27. ^ Raina, G.N, "Jagadguru Bhagwan Gopinath Ji the Imitable Sage-Whose influence is being felt in even great measure now" (PDF), Ancient and Modern ascetics of Kashmir, Arundhati Prakashan, p. 230, Chapter 19.2, retrieved 31 May 2011
  28. ^ a b c d e f Fotedar, S.N. "Bhagwan Gopinath Ji of Kashmir, Chapter 10". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  29. ^
    ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  30. ^ Sharma, Prof. J.N., "Jagadguru Bhagwan Gopinath Ji" (PDF), Ancient and Modern ascetics of Kashmir, Patrika, p. 249, Chapter 19.8, retrieved 31 May 2011
  31. ^ Katju, S.N (1995), Kaula, Janki Nath; Saligram Bhatt (eds.), Kashmiri Pandits: A Cultural Heritage, pp. 145, Chapter 27
  32. ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  33. ^ Katju, S.N, Bhagwan Gopinathji of Kashmir and letter expounding Shiva-Shakti philosophy, Patrika, p. 44, Chapter 16, archived from the original on 12 June 2011, retrieved 31 May 2011
  34. ISBN 978-0-9721459-0-9
  35. ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  36. ^
    ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  37. ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  38. ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
    .
  39. ^ Raina, G.N. "Jagadguru Bhagwan Gopinath Ji, The imitable sage" (PDF). Ancient and Modern ascetics of Kashmir. Arundhati Prakashan. p. 229, Chapter 19.2. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  40. ISBN 9780959406009
  41. ISBN 978-0-9634798-6-0
  42. ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  43. ^ Dhar, A.N. "Remembering Bhagwan Ji" (PDF). Ancient and Modern ascetics of Kashmir. Arundhati Prakashan. p. 249, Chapter 19.7. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  44. ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  45. ^ Raina, G.N, "Jagadguru Bhagwan Gopinath Ji, the Imitable Sage-Whose influence is being felt in even great measure now" (PDF), Ancient and Modern ascetics of Kashmir, Arundhati Prakashan, p. 230, Chapter 19.2, retrieved 31 May 2011
  46. ^
    ISBN 9780959406009
  47. ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  48. ISBN 978-81-313-0402-0
  49. ^ Fotedar, S.N. "Bhagwan Gopinath Ji of Kashmir, Chapter 13". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  50. ^ Fotedar, S.N. "Bhagwan Gopinath Ji of Kashmir, Chapter 12". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  51. ISBN 978-81-7648-576-0
  52. ISBN 9780959406009
  53. ^ Fotedar, S.N. "Bhagwan Gopinath Ji of Kashmir, Chapter 8". Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  54. ISBN 978-84-931101-0-9
  55. ISBN 978-81-7648-812-9
  56. ^ "Former Judges of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad and its Bench at Lucknow(1900-1990)". Archived from the original on 17 April 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bhagwan_Gopinath&oldid=1179149485"