(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. Other scholars have compared his spiritual stature to Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Aurbindo Ghosh. Many visiting monks would describe him as a rare siddha and an avadhuta. 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. His method of initiation involved sharing his pipe or by transfixing his gaze on them (called drishtipat). He would rarely initiate anyone by word of mouth although that is believed to be the commonly invoked method of initiation in Hinduism. He is known to have guided seekers based on their spiritual aptitude and receptivity in worshipping either saguna Brahman (God with form) or nirguna Brahman (God without form) and sometimes also help them choose their ideal of worship or veer them towards worshipping guru as Parabrahma (the ultimate reality). Though he would recommend saguna upasana for the beginners, he would eventually veer them towards nirguna upasana. 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. As such, his devotees gave him the epithet Jagadguru (spiritual guide of humanity). Reception In December 1973, Satya Sai Baba, while receiving one of Bhagwan Gopinath's devotees at Puttaparthi, is said to have remarked that Bhagwan Gopinath was the greatest Kashmiri saint and a jivanmukta in real sense, although there is no recorded evidence to prove Satya Sai Baba ever having met Bhagwan Gopinath during his lifetime. Swami Kash Kak, a contemporary saint of Kashmir during his times, is said to have remarked that Bhagwan Gopinath was the recipient of special grace of Mata Sharika Bhagwati, the deity of Hari Parbat shrine in Kashmir and Swami Nand Bab, yet another contemporary saint of his times, is said to have described him as the shahanshah of saints of Kashmir. Bhagwan Ramji, a practitioner of Aghor Yoga from Kreem Kund in Varanasi, described his spiritual state as that of an