H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji): teaching and sources

Teaching

Freedom is not reached through practice or time. He turns the mind back to its source with a single question, such as 'Who is thinking?', and asks people to keep quiet; repeating the enquiry as a habit, he warns, turns it into routine.^{3, 4, 6}

Who it is for

For readers who know Ramana Maharshi's self-enquiry and want to see how one of his disciples taught it in short, direct dialogues, and for anyone tracing the Western satsang teachers of the 1990s back to Lucknow.

Life and places

He was born in Gujranwala, in western Punjab, now in Pakistan. ²
In 1944, at the age of thirty-one, he travelled to Tiruvannamalai to meet Ramana Maharshi, and he stayed in southern India until 1947. ²
During the partition of India, Ramana sent him to his old home in the Punjab to bring his family to safety in Lucknow. ²
After retiring in 1966 he spent much time in the Himalayan foothills; he later settled in Lucknow, where he received visitors from all over the world, and he died on 6 September 1997. ²

Where to start

The Avadhuta Foundation publishes short satsang transcripts free on its website. The Fire of Freedom (2007) collects edited dialogues from 1991; its first section is online on David Godman's website. ^{3, 4, 5, 8}

Public context

He met Ramana Maharshi in 1944. From the early 1990s visitors from many countries came to his satsangs in Lucknow, where he died in 1997. ^{1, 2, 4}
His biographer David Godman says that he rewrote Papaji's spoken words for the books, with Papaji's approval. ⁷

Works

The Fire of Freedom: Satsang with Papaji

Book · 2007 · Avadhuta Foundation, Boulder, Colorado

Dialogues between Papaji and visitors in the living room of his house in Lucknow in the middle of 1991, edited by David Godman.

Visit source page · davidgodman.org ↗
Papaji: Interviews

Book · 1993 · Avadhuta Foundation, Boulder, Colorado

Interviews with Papaji by visitors, journalists and devotees in the early 1990s. The opening first-person account of his life was written by David Godman and approved by Papaji.

Visit source page · davidgodman.org ↗
Nothing Ever Happened

Book · 1998 · Avadhuta Foundation, Boulder, Colorado · About this teacher

David Godman's biography of Papaji in three volumes, with teaching dialogues, extracts from his diaries and letters, and accounts by devotees. Godman says he rewrote Papaji's spoken words in his own style and that Papaji read and approved the chapters.

Visit source page · davidgodman.org ↗

The short summaries are ours.

More works of H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji) in the library

In their own words

Short passages in the words of H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji), each with its source. Where the quoted text is not in the language of this page, a translation follows and says whose it is.

So don’t make it a habit of repeating this enquiry at all, otherwise, mind gets accustomed to it and then it becomes a routine. It will lose its value.

Satsang Extracts · 'How to Practice Enquiry', second paragraph (undated satsang) · avadhuta.com Recorded: Satsang transcript published by the Avadhuta Foundation; date and transcriber not stated.
Yes it is very simple and it is difficult because of so much simplicity. What is so simple cannot be understood.

Satsang Extracts · 'It’s Really Very Simple', first paragraph (reply to a letter; undated satsang) · avadhuta.com Recorded: Satsang transcript published by the Avadhuta Foundation; date and transcriber not stated.
So these are my fingers pointing to that, you see. Don’t cling to my words that I use: happiness and love.

Satsang Extracts · 'Words Are Just Pointers', second paragraph (undated satsang) · avadhuta.com Recorded: Satsang transcript published by the Avadhuta Foundation; date and transcriber not stated.

Documented teaching relationships

Learned personally with Ramana Maharshi

Godman's biography describes Papaji's personal relationship with Ramana.

Biographical tradition · davidgodman.org
Personal teacher of Gangaji

Gangaji describes Papaji as her personal teacher.

Self-reported · gangaji.org , satsangwithlisa.org
Personal teacher of John David (formerly Premananda)

John David describes Papaji as his personal Indian teacher.

Self-reported · johndavidsatsang.international
Personal encounter with Soham (formerly Samarpan)

Soham's biography mentions an encounter with Papaji without elaborating on its scope.

Self-reported · soham.one
Personal teacher of Mooji

Mooji describes Papaji as his master; first meeting in Lucknow, on his journey to India in 1993.

Self-reported · mooji.org
Personal teacher of Isaac Shapiro

In a 1996 interview Isaac Shapiro speaks of five years since meeting Papaji.

Self-reported · isaacshapiro.org
Personal teacher of Ganga Mira

Ganga Mira met Papaji in Rishikesh in 1968, became his student and later his wife.

Self-reported · gangamirasatsang.com
Personal teacher of Eli Jaxon-Bear

Eli Jaxon-Bear first met Papaji in Lucknow on 19 January 1990 and calls him his final teacher; his foundation publishes letters Papaji wrote to him between 1990 and 1993.

Self-reported · leela.org , leela.org (2)
Personal teacher of Madhukar

Madhukar went to Lucknow in 1992, met Papaji and regards him as his master.

Self-reported · madhukar.org
Personal teacher of Andrew Cohen

Andrew Cohen met Papaji in Lucknow in 1986 and calls him his teacher, through whom his lineage traces to Ramana Maharshi.

Self-reported · andrewcohen.com , davidgodman.org
Personal encounter with Catherine Ingram

Catherine Ingram interviewed Papaji; the interview appears in Papaji: Interviews (1993).

Stated by an institution · avadhuta.com
Personal teacher of Neelam

Neelam writes on her website that she came to her guru Papaji (H. W. L. Poonja) in Lucknow in 1994 and that she began sitting with students in satsang in 1995 with his blessing.

Self-reported · neelam.org
Personal encounter with Swami Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux)

The Abhishiktananda Centre and the Ajatananda Ashram write that Abhishiktananda met H. W. L. Poonja (Papaji) at Arunachala in 1953; the ashram calls it the beginning of a long association between the two.

Stated by an institution · abhishiktananda.org.in , ajatananda.org
Personal encounter with Jon Bernie

Jon Bernie says that Papaji invited him to come and see him and that he spent about six weeks with him in India in 1991.

Self-reported · eomega.org
Personal teacher of Arjuna Ardagh

Arjuna Ardagh's biography on BatGap says that in 1991 he met his teacher, H. W. L. Poonja, in Lucknow, India.

Self-reported · batgap.com

Teaching relationships are documented statements. They confer no trust and do not attest realisation.

Sources

Papaji Interviews · extended excerpt First-person account of his early life and his meetings with Ramana Maharshi, written by David Godman for Papaji Interviews and approved by Papaji; not a verbatim record accessed 10 Oct 2026
About Papaji · Avadhuta Foundation Biography by the foundation set up with his blessing to keep his archive; devotional accessed 10 Oct 2026
How to Practice Enquiry · Avadhuta Foundation Undated satsang transcript published by the foundation; his own spoken words accessed 10 Oct 2026
The Fire of Freedom, first section · David Godman Satsang dialogue from Lucknow, 1991, edited by David Godman accessed 10 Oct 2026
The Fire of Freedom · book page, David Godman Book page of the editor, David Godman accessed 10 Oct 2026
Nothing Ever Happened, volume three, excerpt · David Godman Dialogue between David Godman and Papaji on the guru, from the biography accessed 10 Oct 2026
Mostly about Books (expanded version), part 8 · David Godman Essay by his biographer on how he edited Papaji's words and on Papaji's interview of January 1994; undated accessed 10 Oct 2026
The Fire of Freedom (Avadhuta Foundation, 2007) · Open Library Library catalogue record accessed 10 Oct 2026

Compiled by us from the sources listed. Last checked 11 Oct 2026.

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