Papaji is one of the most famous disciples of Ramana Maharshi; it is mostly because of him that Advaita teachings became so popular in the West. One of his main ideas, that made him especially appealing to the westerners, is that realisation is available immediately without any effort. This, together with his encouragement to spread his teachings, produced a wide range of self-proclaimed Advaita teachers and to a large extend a whole contemporary movement of neo-Advaita.
Papaji was born in what is now Pakistan in a brahmin family. He was a nephew of a well-known Vedanta teacher Swami Ramteerth. From an early age Papaji was spiritually inclined. He had his first spiritual experience at the age of 8. That state was so overwhelming, that he lost connection to the outer world. His mother told him, that he could regain this experience in devotion to Krishna, and he engaged fully in this practice. Devotion took over his whole life, and he started having visions of Krishna. Meanwhile he continued living his outer life – he got married, had childred and joined the army to support the family. He continued his practice in the military; eventually he became overwhelmed with the desire to see God. He quit the service and found a salesman job, which allowed him to travel all over the country. Papaji went to numerous sannyasins and saints asking them if they can show him God. They were giving all kinds of answers, but none of them satisfied him. One day a sannyasin appeared at his door and Papaji asked him the same question. A sannyasin said that a man in south India named Ramana Maharshi can do it. Papaji went to see Ramana and asked to show him God. Ramana said he cannot show God because he is not an object that can been seen, but rather he is the subject, the seer. Though Papaji felt attracted to Ramana, he was not satisfied with the answer, so he left and continued his practice. After a while something happened and he coudn’t continue anymore – he coudn’t make himself think of God, read mantra or do any other spiritual practice. He went to meet Ramana again, because he somehow felt he is the only one who could help. Ramana told him, that his practice served its purpose and now it is the time to leave it. Then Ramana looked at Papaji, and at this moment he experienced what Ramana was talking about. He became aware of his self. It was the same state he first experienced when he was 8.
After the experience Papaji stayed in south India until 1947, when Ramana sent him back to his hometown, which became a part of Pakistan, to take his family to India. Papaji didn’t want to leave his master, but Ramana told him “I am with you wherever you go.” He took his numerous relatives to India, and had to work hard to support them. By and by he started meeting people and sharing his understanding. In the late 60s Papaji got married again to his european disciple. By the end of his life Papaji became relatively known and started receiving lots of visitors, mostly because after Osho’s death in 1990 many of his disciples shifted to Papaji. He continued teching until his death in 1997. Many of his disciples later started teaching themselves, among them Mooji, Gangaji, Madhukar, Dolano, Andrew Cohen and many others.
Papaji continued with the line of Ramana’s teachings. He taught, that the self is already enlightened and free, and all that is needed is to realise that. He advocated self-enquiry as a way to investigate the source of ego and realise it is not substantial. Like Ramana he stressed that teaching through silence is more important than words, and that intellectual understanding alone is of no use. He emphasised that there is ultimately no difference between guru and devotee, no teacher, no disciple and even no message. According to Papaji, the spiritual search starts from obtaining a strong desire for God or liberation. This desire becomes like a flame, that burns all other desires and interests. Eventually that inner flame burns even the desire for liberation. And finally the presence of a master becomes a catalyser.
Irrespective of whether Papaji was really enlightened or not, he definitely did a great service to a western guru business. Now any Tom, Dick and Harry can pick up the flag of Advaita, declaring that he “realised his self”, or that “he has never been separate from the whole”, or that “his identification with the “I” dissolved completely”. Read a couple of books of Ramana and start repeating his words. Being a guru has never been as simple as with Papaji! No practice, no preparation required! Now thousands of people keep on with this mental gymnastics, and there is no end to it. The only question is – where does it lead people? Now hundreds, if not thousands of Advaita followers imagine they are enlightened, because “they realised”. The problem is – there is a huge difference between “I realised” and
“I thought”. And it is almost impossible to explain this difference to someone who thinks he realised. And Papaji is to blame.