Meeting Papaji

This author/interviewer/compiler has done a great service to: 1. The many who are inspired by the image of Papaji, but who may never have had the chance to meet up with him in meatspace; 2. Sociologists of relgion; 3. Psychologists studying mass hysteria; The obvious audience is category 1, simple would-be devotees who missed the boat in the 90's when Papaji was hot. Both interviewer and interviewees are pretty much united in their mindset that Papaji was some kind of god. (there are quotes in the interviews to this effect). I believe if you try to pin it down however, you'd be told "Oh of course not a god, he was pure emptiness pointing to emptiness". But if that's true, it's not clear why a person is needed for this function. There really is a deep contradiction shot through this book: on the one hand, everybody is already enlightened. On the other hand, not only do we for some reason still need to awake, but its best done through the agency (or non-agency) of this one particular Indian gentleman. Nobody really steps up to confront this non-sequiter, either they don't see it, or the implications would be too troubling, or they'd prefer to dismiss it is as mere logic/mind/rationality peeing in the punchbowl as usual. I don't mean to sound too tough on them. They all seem like super nice, sincere, wise and experienced people. I'm sure that they (such individual self as remains to them at least) believe they've awakened or gotten something from their association with this nice man. But to me the interest is more psychological or even sociological. It is so interesting that over and over, humans have to believe that (a) there is something transcendent out there; and most particularly (b) that certain particular human individuals have some kind of special conduit to that transcendence. This idea is so incredibly common in human history, yet these people show zero awareness of this human tendency. They just happily grind away at their one particular guy. This idea of 'The One' or the God-Man is the basis of most religions, royalty, pop stardom, politics, everything. It is the hardwired genuflection to the alpha chimp exhibited in any primate troupe. It is also an interesting exercise in group think, because this loose group of devotees was a totally non-coercive, self-aggregating cult, without any of the normal disparaged mind-control mechanisms - the emanated Shakti alone did the trick. They don't seem to know that many young people who met Chairman Mao in the 1960's (to take just one example) described him in similar terms as having eyes like lightning, etc. Although I greatly respect Ramana (the meta-guru of Neo-Advaita), somehow Papaji just doesn't ring my bell, he looks a bit shifty and tricky in his photos. Not at all the beatific infinitude of Ramana's beautiful face. But of course to the True Believer that just means that I wasn't on the scene and didn't get a toke of the real 24 karat shakti he must have radiated. Anyway this

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!