Bhagwan Gopinath Born Gopinath Bhan, also called Bhagwan Gopinath Ji, was a mystic saint of early 20th century Kashmir in India. He has been called a jivanmukta (liberated soul) and his spiritual state has been described asShambhavi avastha (state of Shiva) Contemporary saints of his times have also called him an Aghoreshwar. It was sometime during 1946–1956 that he came to be called as Bhagwan by his devotees. He is known to have remarked Bhagvad Gita as ones spiritual master. In his teachings, he regarded the practice of self-enquiry (atma vichara) as highly effective in helping a seeker attain self-realization. He considered lust and ego as impediments in ones spiritual development and extolled the virtues of honesty and truthfulness. He wouldnt differentiate between religions and regarded Hindus and Muslims to be one and the same. 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. Bhagwan Gopinath was born in a Kashmiri pandit family of Bhan’s, in a locality called Bhan Mohalla, in the city of Srinagar in Kashmir, on Friday 3 July 1898. His father, Pandit Narayan Joo Bhan dealt in the business of Kashmere wool and devoted much of his time to spiritual pursuits. He is known to have donated all his ancestral inheritance to his step-mother 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 After having given up his ancestral home in favour of his step mother, Pandit Narayan Joo Bhan, along with young Gopinath who was around 10 years old, started moving around, living at various rental accommodations..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. 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. Here he must have learnt languages like Sanskrit, Persian, Urdu and scripts like Sharda and Devanagari. Some of his close devotees, at times, had heard him speak English too. 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. To begin with, during 1912, for a brief while he assisted his maternal uncle in the business of Kashmere wool (called pashmina ).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. He ran the grocery store for ten years till about 1925 before taking to his spiritual pursuits full-time. In his younger years, he would recite by heart the sacred Hindu hymns like Bhavani Sahasranama, Indrakashi , Panchastavi, Vishnu Sahastranam, Shiv Mahimna Strotam, Shivastrotavali, Guru Gita and vaaks (poetic couplets) composed by some local saints. However, he had a marked interest for Bhagvat Gita and had kept a copy of the book close to where he would sit for his meditation right till his last day. He had memorized all these texts probably in his younger years. During his early years, young Gopinath would accompany his maternal uncle on annual or biannual trips to the holy spring at Pokhribal. As a leader of a group of young men, he would often organize trips to local shrines like Kheer Bhawani, Mattan, Mahadev and Vicharnaag Since his days in middle grade, he would often visit some of the local saints like Swami Zanakak Tufchi, Swami Baalak Kaw, a jatadhari sadhu, Swami Jeevan Sahib, Swami Narayan Joo Bhan He would also press Swami Baalak Kaws feet at times He would regularly attend gatherings of these saints discussing spiritual and philosophical topics. No one knows for sure as to who Bhagwan Gopinath’s spiritual master was. Some of his relatives were of the opinion that he received spiritual initiation from his own father while some are of the view that Swami Baalak Kaw was his spiritual master. However, few years before his death, a devotee enquired of him as to who his guru was. In response to this, Bhagwan Gopinath is said to have pointed towards Bhagvat Gita and remarked that anyone its 700 verses can be considered as one’s spiritual master. Based on Bhagwan Gopinaths comments about Bhagvat Gita, majority of his devotees, including some religious writers, consider him to have been self-initiated Although Bhagwan Gopinaths family tried to convince him to get married and take up the worldly life, he chose to live a life of celibacy and did his spiritual practices, all the while living at various localities of Srinagar in Kashmir. The tenure of his spiritual practice can be divided into the following three stages: (1908–1930) From his younger years, Bhagwan Gopinath would devote much of his time attending religious gatherings of singers singing glories of God and deities of Kheer Bhawani and Hari Parbat shrines. Based on some of his relics and hymns found written in his own handwriting, dedicated to Maha Ganesh, Hindu Mother Goddess, Lord Narayana, Lord Shiva and his spiritual master his devotees believe that he had practiced a form of spiritual practice called sanatana panchang upasana (also called panchayatana puja) in the beginning of his spiritual journey,. From the age of 22 years, he is said to have started the daily practice of circumambulating the shrine of Hari Parbat in Srinagar.. He is said to have had a vision of Mata Sharika Bhawani, at the age of 25 Hereafter, he is believed to have gradually veered towards the practice of meditating on God without a form (called nirguna upasana in Hinduism) (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). 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 many people in his room during this period. 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. 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. (1938–1968) During this stage, he is a said to have practiced some technique of meditation that would seemingly help him control elements (called tattva) like fire and water out of the total 36 such elements enumerated in Kashmir Shaivism. He started the practice of blowing air at live charcoals in his fire pot (called kanger in local language) sometimes for hours together. He was found talking to and directing invisible people at times. Various parts of his body like his shoulders and knees were seen shuddering at times. 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. 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. 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. 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 Bhagwan Gopinath, being an introvert, was a man of few words and had a straightforward demeanor. He is known to have always shunned publicity and covered himself with anonymity. Once, while explaining the inter-relation of various spiritual disciplines in realizing 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. 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 .Once, while visiting the shrine of Amarnath, he is said to have remarked: Shiva is dancing everywhere. He would refer to his legs as mere logs of wood and the body as food for the God of death (Mahakall ) and as such didnt consider physical body as the end-all be-all of human existence. He wouldnt advise anyone to give up ones family and household in pursuit of self-realization but guided people only if they practiced celibacy. 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. From around 1938, his devotees started recording and attributing various miracles to him like treating incurable diseases, blessing issueless couple with children, bringing back dead to life as the situation demanded, bilocation, mindreading, materialization, helping people to see the deity of local shrines like Kheer Bhawani and Hari Parbat in human form and also in the form of their effulgence and many more. His devotees have also reported miracles after his death. On 3 July 1999, an officer of the 18th Battalion of The Grenadiers regiment of Indian Army reportedly sighted him at the battle front during Kargil war, directing assault operation to recapture Tiger Hills. A similar sighting was reported by an officer of Indian Army during the 1947 war. 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.. 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 Hindusim) 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. 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 Gopinaths death a week in advance 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.. A few of such of his statements, translated here into English, which his devotees recognize 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 • Self-realization comes when one bids farewell to ones ego. • Lust is the biggest impediment in one’s spiritual development. • Keen intellectual contemplation and self-scrutiny help one to realize all aspects of God. • Serious spiritual seekers should not be afraid of taking on the road which is fraught with difficulties of self-realization. • One should rise above the narrow division of religion, caste or creed and make peace with all humanity. • One can consider Bhagvat Gita as ones spiritual master. • Sincere spiritual efforts and guru’s grace lead a seeker to self-realization. • A seeker must surrender onto guru’s feet with all his heart and soul. • One should always contribute to charity to not let greed settle in.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 11:29:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015