Within months of his retirement, early in September 1962, his wife Rajvanshi Devi died. In a letter written a month before his death to one devoted to him, he said, "I have a feeling that the end is near, end of the energy to do, end of my very existence". He died on 28 February 1963 at Sadaqat ashram, Patna with 'Ram Ram Ram' on his lips.
His legacy is being ably carried forward by his great grandson Ashoka Jahnavi-Prasad a scientist and a psychiatrist of international repute who introduced sodium valproate as a safer alternative to lithium intreatment of bipolar disorder and a member of the elite American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Because of the enormous public adulation he enjoyed,he was referred to as Desh Ratna or the Jewel of the country. He wrote a number of books including "Satyagrah at Champaran", "Bapu ke kadmon mein", "India divided" and "Atmakatha". Dalai Lama in his autobiographical book Freedom in Exile described him as a "true Bodhisatva" and said that his humility brought tears to his eyes.
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