MEETING PAPAJI FIRST - HAND ACCOUNTS GATHERED BY ROSLYN MOORE DO PUBLISHING Copyright© 1999 Roslyn Moore All rights reserved The interviews in Meeting Papaji were conducted from April, 1998 to June, 1999. Cover and Interior Book Design by Colored Horse Studios Cover photograph of The Ganga above Hardwar at La:xman Jhoola, & Photographs of Surendra, Usha, Sangeeta, Yamuna, Roslyn and Arunachala by Bruce Moore Photographs of Papaji on back cover and on page 179 by Jarananda Photograph of Neelam by Sherry Burkhart Photograph of Mira by Dov Frazer Photograph of Papaji on page 208 by Kalendar Schiess! Photograph of Yudhishtara by Bob Wallace Photograph of Dasarath by Jon Reis Flower drawing on page 189 by Augusta Lucas-Andreae Bruce and Roslyn Moore DO Publishing P.O. Box 103 Mendocino, CA 95460 707-964-2630 [email protected] ISBN 0-9646999- l -5 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 99 96084 To Papaji To the dancing emptiness PREFACE The idea for Meeting Papaji was born shortly after Papaji's death. I had known Gangaji for a year and a half then. She was Beloved and Teacher to me. I'd considered going to India to meet her Master but hadn't yet acted on it. Now it was too late. When Papaji died I was unexpectedly moved. On my cushion in our living room, facing the altar I'd set up to honor him, I read his book The Truth Is. The sense of abstraction I'd encountered when reading it before had van ished, and I clearly heard every word he was saying, Self to Self. I was experiencing Papaji's Awakened Presence, a dynamic, joy-permeated peace. Still, there was the sorrow of knowing I had missed my chance to meet him in form. Contemplating the happiness I felt when I heard Gangaji talk about Papaji, I asked myself why I had overlooked the great opportunity. Why did I only know its importance upon his death? The sense of loss was potent. In it there was a call. Even though I hadn't met him, there were those who had. Perhaps if I were to talk to those who knew him, hear their voices and look into their eyes, some measure of the revelation of Papaji's power, love and grace would be trans mitted through them to me. And weren't there others, like myself, who missed meeting Papaji? What about the people who had met him? Wouldn't they welcome the chance to share what was being expressed about him? Before I knew it I was imagining that I could put together a book about Papaji that would introduce him and his message of freedom to the whole world. I didn't know whether I was being delusional or visionary, and, surpris ingly, I didn't care. When my husband Bruce said he would love to work on the project with me, I knew this book Vlll would some day exist. MEETING Collecting the material for Meeting Papaji carried us to PAPAJI India; to Arunachala, the sacred mountain where Ramana Maharshi lived; to the Ganga around Hardwar, Papaji's favorite place of pilgrimage and refreshment; to Satsang Bhavan, where Papaji gave satsang in Lucknow and a com munity of people now offers his video satsangs and sweet communion; and to the home and bedroom of Papaji, which is radiant with his presence, and available to all. It was a privilege and a joy for us to find ourselves on such a Journey. And what a wonder it was to talk with so many people who were so in love! We came to know that for each one of them, there were hundreds we wouldn't meet. Papaji touched every person uniquely and profoundly. I soon saw that any notion I had of capturing him in the form of a book was absurd. Instead, he captured me. Papaji's personality was not what I expected. I had thought I would be hearing about a serious Indian holy man dressed in white, with a benevolent smile and calm, predictable behavior. Instead I heard stories about a fully articulated man who, at least at first, seemed to be full of the devil. What to think? All I could do was wait and see. Now I can say that this association with Papaji is radical and liberating. It has destroyed any concept I had about what a free being is like, what relating to one is like, and what realization is like. This is grace at work. A few words must be said about the nature of stories. The fulfillment of a spiritual life is to wake up from the story of one's own life, to understand that it is a mere fabrication, a false idol. It is only when the story is given up, and there is nothing left for the events of our lives to stick to, that we are free. Knowing this, what can this collection of stories off er? Paradoxically, stories that point to the end of the story have the potential to instruct and to inspire. Even more mysteri lX ous is that, at the deepest most unthinkable level, such MEETING stories are not written by us. Freedom is their true author. It PAPAJI is Freedom itself using story, personality, ego, to call us home. Our interest in meeting a True Teacher and the willing ness of those who met Papaji to share their luck is at the heart of this book. In the recognition of this great good fortune the distinctions fade between reader and storyteller, teacher and student, you and me. Only the open heart, the true love that is evoked, remains . -Roslyn Moore • August, 1999