Meeting Papaji: First-Hand Accounts

Rating:
Summary: In the presence of a living master
Review: I have been a spiritual seeker for a long time. I have read and pondered many metaphysical books, searched out autobiographies of spiritual masters. But I have never read one that affected me like "Meeting Papaji." I cannot recommend this book highly enough. By reading it I was literally brought into the presence of a living mater. In the preface Roslyn Moore describes being led to gather stories about meeting this great soul. The book is made up of eleven talks she had with people who were with Papaji in the nineties. The author is blessed with a combination of innocence and intelligence that brings each person out perfectly. Seeing what Papaji said to people and how he dealt with them is endlessly fascinating. There is an immediacy in reading "Meeting Papaji" that cuts through all concepts. As a result, many of my questions have come to rest. More importantly, and this would have been hard for me to believe, the search itself has now come to rest. This is Papaji's gift. Prashanti, one of the interviewees, lived near Papaji in Lucknow for many years and is now a software engineer and Ayurvedic healer in Northern California. He says, "With a saint realization happens just from being with him, doing nothing. There is nothing you can attribute any attainment to, although I guess you can attribute it to the Shakti (spiritual energy) of the saint. Being with Papa pointed to the absolute immediate Presence. No words were necessary. You would just snap into knowing, as if someone turned the light on." Papaji's transmission is simple: that we can know what is deeper than appearances; that we can be free; that we are realized now. This becomes clear through his presence, which is the presence, through his Shakti, and through asking for and sincerely desiring that. Even though Papaji left his body in 1997, he is alive!

Rating:
Summary: In the presence of a living master
Review: I have been a spiritual seeker for a long time. I have read and pondered many metaphysical books, searched out autobiographies of spiritual masters. But I have never read one that affected me like "Meeting Papaji." I cannot recommend this book highly enough. By reading it I was literally brought into the presence of a living mater. In the preface Roslyn Moore describes being led to gather stories about meeting this great soul. The book is made up of eleven talks she had with people who were with Papaji in the nineties. The author is blessed with a combination of innocence and intelligence that brings each person out perfectly. Seeing what Papaji said to people and how he dealt with them is endlessly fascinating. There is an immediacy in reading "Meeting Papaji" that cuts through all concepts. As a result, many of my questions have come to rest. More importantly, and this would have been hard for me to believe, the search itself has now come to rest. This is Papaji's gift. Prashanti, one of the interviewees, lived near Papaji in Lucknow for many years and is now a software engineer and Ayurvedic healer in Northern California. He says, "With a saint realization happens just from being with him, doing nothing. There is nothing you can attribute any attainment to, although I guess you can attribute it to the Shakti (spiritual energy) of the saint. Being with Papa pointed to the absolute immediate Presence. No words were necessary. You would just snap into knowing, as if someone turned the light on." Papaji's transmission is simple: that we can know what is deeper than appearances; that we can be free; that we are realized now. This becomes clear through his presence, which is the presence, through his Shakti, and through asking for and sincerely desiring that. Even though Papaji left his body in 1997, he is alive!

Rating:
Summary: Get a glimpse of the wonders of Papaji!
Review: In his life, Papaji, a fully enlightened master and disciple of Ramana Maharshi, transformed hundreds (maybe thousands) of lives in his effortless way, through the vehicle of satsang in the little town of Lucknow, India. So many who were in his presence describe the profoundest awakenings to the truth of life. Roslyn Moore, the author of this book, was inspired to track down and interview some of these fortunate individuals. And she did a great job. Reading this book gives you a peep into the deep transformative process that Papaji's presence precipitated in a number of interesting (and beautiful) personalities. The first interviewee is Gangaji, who began giving her own satsangs in the US a number of years ago at the prompting of Papaji (she has done such magnificent work -- see her book The Path of Self-Inquiry to get some feeling for her satsangs). If you are a Gangaji fan, you will love hearing some of the "inside" stories that she tells regarding her times with Papaji. Moore also interviews an Ayurvedic healer, one of Osho's former disciples, a former Japanese monk of the highest order, Papaji's physician, and Papaji's former wife (to name a few), all of whom gave their lives to him and in the process awakened to the wholeness of their being. Many who read this book will be lifted to the "next step" (so to speak) in their lives -- the book is loaded with the influence of awakening. You will be well rewarded for reading this book. Thank you Roslyn Moore for writing it.

Rating:
Summary: Good reading, but funny idea about enligthenment
Review: Interviews with disciples of Papaji/Poonjaji. Good idea, nicely done. Only the interviewd people, except the son of Papaji, seem to be rather brain-leaky. One may like it, if one likes the non religious aproach to spirituality. But even then, it sounds too easy, that one just walks in with a guru and realizes the highest spiritual truths, then soon becomes a spiritual teacher and would have reached the end of wisdom. So I'd take the book as an example, how it should not be, but it's hard work, to figure out exactly whats wrong, because it sounds quite authoritative and unrefutable at certain pages. It's just simple interviews, but their omisions imply a lot which needs rethinking, (which, I think, is good:-).