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AVADHUTA* | PAPAJI |Mission Statement
Papaji's official Avadhuta Foundation was established in 1993 to catalog, preserve, and make available to the public, information about the Indian teacher and guru, HWL Poonja, affectionately known as Papaji, and also that of his beloved teacher, Sri Ramana Maharshi. It functions both as a library and bookstore to loan, sell, and distribute books, tapes, DVDs, CDs, photos of Poonjaji and Sri Ramana. We are dedicated as stewards of Papaji's message to faithfully present his teachings. This requires that we are true to his words and that we present them as accurately and purely as possible.
*The word Avadhuta comes from an Indian term Avadhoot for one who has "shaken off" or "passed beyond" all worldly attachments and cares, including all motives of detachment (or conventional and other-worldly renunciation), all conventional notions of life and religion, and all seeking for "answers" or "solutions" in the form of conditional experience or conditional knowledge. (Quoted from The Avataric Samrajya of Adidam.)
A Short Biography of Sri HWL Poonja,
1913 - 1997
HWL Poonja, lovingly referred to
as Papaji, was born on October 13, 1913, in a part of the Punjab
that is now in Pakistan. He had his first direct experience of
the Self at the age of nine. He met his Master, Sri Ramana Maharshi,
in 1944. Shortly afterwards he realized the Self in the presence
of his master.
Being a householder, Papaji continued to
work and support the many members of his extended family until
his retirement in 1966. After extensive travel Papaji settled
down in Lucknow, India, where he received visitors from around
the world. Papaji died on September 6, 1997.
You're invited to read a first-person account
of Papaji's life, written by David Godman and approved by Papaji
himself. It is published as the first chapter in the Papaji:
Interviews book. Papaji's
biography is published online at the Satsang
Bhavan web site, www.satsangbhavan.net.
In addition, a moving, in-depth biography
of Papaji is published in the 3-volume set of books called, Nothing
Ever Happened,
edited by David Godman. One reader wrote, that these
books are a clear picture of a great and unassuming man. One reader wrote, "My
mind is permanently 'ruined' [by] reading this...[It] has increased
my desire to be simple and free." Another wrote,"This
is one of the best biographies of a spiritual being and teacher
I have ever read...He always stayed a simple, ordinary, caring,
unpretentious man, never declaring that he was on a `mission'.
He always remained, simply, a free man."
