Table Of ContentMEETING
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
