H. W. L. Poonja - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._W._L.

_Poonja

H. W. L. Poonja
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sri H. W. L. Poonja, b. Hariwansh Lal Poonja, (13 October 1910 (or later) in Punjab, British India – 6
September 1997 in Lucknow, India) also known as "Poonjaji" or "Papaji". Although Poonjaji denied being
part of any formal tradition, he is considered by many to be a yogi-saint[citation needed] of the Advaita
Vedanta and Bhakti traditions.

Contents
1 Early life
2 Meeting Ramana Maharshi
3 Later life
4 Message
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

Early life
H. W. L. Poonja was born in Gujranwalla, in western Punjab, which is
H. W. L. Poonja.
now Pakistan, in a family of Saraswati Brahmans. His mother was the
sister of Swami Rama Tirtha, one of the most famous saints of India. At
the age of eight, he experienced a highly unusual state of consciousness. He was persuaded by his mother
that he could reconnect to this unitary experience by practicing devotion to the Hindu God Krishna, and so
he gave himself over to Krishna Bhakti (devotion) with vigor. He proved to be a prodigy of sorts and while
still a boy he began to have visions of Krishna. This is known in the Vaisnava tradition as receiving the
"Darsana" of God. Playfully interacting with his visions of Krishna while simultaneously experiencing the
bliss of spiritual union, he spent his youth in intimate relationship with Krishna as his friend.

As an adult he led an apparently normal life, married, raised two children and even joined the British army,
while secretly his love for Krishna (and his visions of Him) continued. Pursuing the life of a devotee he was
not satisfied with having sporadic visions and was deeply troubled when Krishna did not appear. He became
obsessed with a longing to have the experience of seeing God all the time. He continuously repeated
Krishna's name (japa) and traveled throughout India asking sages if they could deliver the ability to produce
the darshan of God at will.

Meeting Ramana Maharshi

After all his attempts had failed, he returned to his family in Lyalpur. A sadhu appeared at the door soon
after that, and Poonjaji invited him in and asked him the question he had asked swamis throughout the
country: "Can you show me God? If not, do you know of anyone who can?" To his surprise, the sadhu told
him that there was a person, Ramana Maharshi, who could show him God. Further, the sadhu provided
detailed instructions on how to find this Ramana Maharshi at Tiruvannamalai in southern India. At the
soonest opportunity, Poonjaji traveled to Tiruvannamalai to meet the sage Ramana Maharshi at Sri Ramana
Ashram. It was 1944, and Poonjaji was thirty-one years old. However upon meeting Ramana, rather than
being given another vision of God Ramana pointed him in the direction of his own Self. He pointed out that
gods who appear and then disappear are not continuous, only the One who was aware of those gods was
continuous. He encouraged Poonjaji to find the One who had seen the visions of God because that One

1 de 3 25/04/2011 19:37
H. W. L. Poonja - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._W._L._Poonja

(Consciousness) does not come and go. He told Poonjaji to find out who the seer is. Poonjaji had a deeply
profound experience when he heard this, and under Ramana's gaze he became aware of the spiritual Heart,
which he felt open and bloom. This did not deter him from continuing with his japa of Krishna's name and he
was not impressed with the advice as such.[1]

At this point Poonjaji continued pursuing his devotional path, having many visions of Hindu Gods. He was
not yet convinced of the value of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy which Ramana was known for but was
attracted to him nonetheless. This came to an end when he had a vision of Ramana telling him that Krishna
devotion was the only truth. Poonja felt compelled to return to Sri Ramanasramam and ask Ramana if he had
indeed appeared before him and conveyed the primacy of Krishna bhakti. Though Ramana would not
respond to his question verbally, while Poonja was waiting for an answer, a group of devotees arrived and
gave Ramana a picture of Krishna. Ramana, looking at Krishna, wept with such intense devotion for him
that Poonja became convinced that Ramana was a secret bhakta himself. It was only later, when Poonjaji
went through a devotional crisis, one which he trusted Ramana (the secret bhakta) could help him with, that
he completely recognized the Self or Atman. Suddenly, after a lifetime of devotion, he found that he could
no longer bring his mind to think of God, do japa or any other spiritual practice. Deeply concerned, he asked
Ramana for help and was told that this was not a problem, that all his practice had carried him to this
moment and it could be left behind now because it had served its purpose. On hearing this and bathing in the
silent gaze of his guru, Poonjaji felt his body purified and remade atom by atom, transforming him as if he
were being given a new body one atom at a time. It was then that he suddenly understood what he was and
always already had been.

Later life
After his transformation he stayed in southern India until 1947, when during the partition of India, despite
Poonjaji's fierce longing to stay with his master, Ramana sent him to his old home in the Punjab (then in the
new country of Pakistan) to bring his family to the safety of Lucknow, India. Ramana's last words to him
were: “I am with you wherever you go.” In the following years, Poonjaji earned money to support his family,
meeting with seekers and sharing satsangs wherever he was. In 1953, he met his first Western disciple, Henri
Le Saux, also known as Swami Abhishiktananda, who wrote many books on Advaita Vedanta and
Christianity. In 1966 he retired and spent a lot of time in the Himalayan foothills, where his Belgian disciple,
Meera, later known as Ganga, met him in 1968. They traveled throughout India, Europe and South America,
often together and with their daughter, Mukti.

Poonjaji later settled in Lucknow, where he received visitors from all around the world. He died on
September 6, 1997.

Message
Poonjaji refused to identify himself with any tradition and was considered decidedly radical in the directness
of his teaching. During his satsang his teaching was consistent with that of his guru Ramana Maharshi, and
similar to Advaita Vedanta, while his style and manner of teaching has been compared to the early Chan
(Zen) masters. His message, like that of his teacher Sri Ramana, was always that the Self is already
enlightened and free. He emphasized that there is ultimately no difference between guru and devotee, no
teacher, no disciple and even no message. His teaching emphasizes again and again that words can only point
to ultimate truth, but never are ultimate truth, and that intellectual understanding without directly realizing
the truth through one's own investigation is not enough. Like Sri Ramana, he taught self-enquiry, which
involved locating a person's sense of "I" and focusing on and investigating this directly. Poonja was quick to
point out that devotional bhaktas such as Kabir, Ravidas, Sukdev and Mirabai were also awakened in the
same state of freedom known as Sahaj Samadhi, which they called God. And like Sri Ramana, he stressed
that teaching through silence was more important than teaching through words. While a powerful
transmission of awareness, presence, grace, love, bliss or shaktipat was experienced by many who met him,

2 de 3 25/04/2011 19:37
H. W. L. Poonja - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._W._L._Poonja

often dropping them directly into an experience of the Self, he would at times emphatically reject the notion
of transmission.

There are disciples of Poonjaji who share satsangs in various locations around the world. These include
Gangaji, Isaac Shapiro, Neelam, Madhukar, Mooji, Pari, Avinash, Gyandeva, Andrew Cohen, Eli
Jaxon-Bear, Catherine Ingram, Yudhishtara, and Ganga (formerly Meera). David Godman moved to
Lucknow in 1992, and stayed with him 1997, and soon became his biographer in the following years edited
and published a number of books on him, including, Papaji Interviews, an anthology of interviews, and
Nothing Ever Happened, a three volume 1,200-page biography.

Notes
1. ^ Nothing Ever Happened, Volume One, David Godman

References
Papaji: Interviews (A collection of Interviews with Poonja) by David Godman, published 1993 by
Avadhuta Foundation
Papaji Interviews & Reflections (earlier Indian edition, essentially a different book), published 1992
by Pragati
Nothing Ever Happened (A three volume biography). by David Godman, published by Avadhuta
Foundation
This: Prose and Poetry of Dancing Emptiness (the essence of Papaji's teachings) Edited by Prashanti,
published by VidyaSagar Publications and Weiserbooks.com
The Truth Is (the essence of Papaji's teachings with dialogues) Edited by Prashanti, published by
VidyaSagar Publications and Weiserbooks.com
Wake Up and Roar: Satsang With H. W. L. Poonja (two volumes), edited by Eli Jaxon-Bear
The Fire of Freedom: Satsang with Papaji by David Godman, published by Avadhuta Foundation
My Master is My Self, by Andrew Cohen and Murray Feldman, ( 1989 account of his relationship
with H.W.L.Poonja before the schism)

External links
Avadhuta Foundation, Papaji's Homepage (http://www.avadhuta.com)
Talks by Papaji, online (http://www.google.co.in/search?q=Papaji&hl=en&safe=off&
rlz=1B3GGLL_enIN384IN384&prmd=vb&source=univ&tbs=vid:1&tbo=u&
ei=4yNHTNK2FsaOcYnAubUP&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&
ved=0CDMQqwQwAw)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._W._L._Poonja"
Categories: 1913 births | 1997 deaths | Hindu gurus | Indian religious leaders | 20th-century philosophers |
Advaitin philosophers | Spiritual teachers | People from Lucknow

This page was last modified on 13 April 2011 at 10:34.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

3 de 3 25/04/2011 19:37