Birth and Family
Bhagwan Gopinath was born in a Kashmiri pandit family of Bhans, in a locality called Bhan Mohalla, in the city of Srinagar in Kashmir, on Friday 3 July 1898, which corresponds to Ashad, Shuklapaksh, Dvadashi (Ashada 19th, Vikrami 1955) per Hindu lunar calendar. His grandfather, Pandit Lachhman Joo Bhan was a wazir wazarat (deputy commissioner) of revenue department in the Dogra regime of the then-princely state of Kashmir. His father, Pandit Narayan Joo Bhan dealt in the business of cashmere wool and devoted much of his time to spiritual pursuits. He is known to have donated all his ancestral inheritance to his step-mother. Bhagwan Gopinath’s mother, Haar Maal, was the daughter of Pandit Prasad Joo Parimoo who was an initiated disciple of a local saint. His brother disciples used to call him Jada Bharata. Hindu scriptures like Yoga Vasistha were regularly taught and discussed in religious gatherings at their house. Prasad Joo had initiated his younger daughter, Zapaer Ded, into Japa Yoga and eventually in her fifties, she was recognised as a saint. On one occasion, while Pandit Prasad Joo Parimoo was meditating at the shrine of the deity of 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.
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. 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.
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.
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