Bhagwan Gopinath - Final Days

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 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 (the mantra of Lord Shiva). 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.