Guest guest Posted July 30, 2001 Report Share Posted July 30, 2001 Hi Gary, > I have read references to Poonja as a > disciple of Maharshi. Is it just that > Poonja has the same " style " ? Sri Poonja's story is a little strange. According to David Godman's biography of him, which is based on interviews with Poonja and members of hs family, Poonja managed to become both spontaneously self-realized as a child and a devotee of Ramana Maharshi as an adult. The story, basically, is that he fell into a deep spontaneous samadhi as a child at the age of either six or nine (his year of birth is uncertain), lost his sense of self, and was happy ever after. But he didn't realize the significance of this until he met Ramana Maharshi many years later. Meanwhile, his mother was a Krishna bhakta, an adoring devotee, you might say in English, so he became one too. He grew up with such vivid visions of Krishna that Krishna was his best friend. As a lieutenant in the army, he was still spending hours every night in ecstatic trances talking to Krishna. For some reason which eluded me while reading the biography, Poonja wasn't satisified with these visions of Krishna. He felt he hadn't succeeded in really seeing God, and he began travelling around India to find a guru who could show him God. He did this unsuccessfully from 1930 until 1944. Finally he tried Ramana Maharshi. He asked Ramana to show him God, and Ramana answered: God isn't something you can see; God is what is inside you doing the seeing. He resisted Ramana's teachings for a while, went away, came back, had his first experience of the heart opening, and then finally fell into self-realization again -- and realized that it was the same state he had already been in at the age of six or nine during the samadhi which had changed his life. Poonja told Godman: " With hindsight I could now see that the question 'Who am I?' was the one question which I should have asked myself years before. I had had a direct experience of the Self when I was six but had not appreciated or valued it. My mother had convinced me that it was an experience of Krishna and had some- how brainwashed me into undertaking a quest for an external god whom she said could supply me with that one experience that I desired so much... " This is probably much more than you wanted to know, sorry! > I wonder the same thing about a less radical > state. Perhaps some people are > misdiagnosed as in depression when they > are " just " beginning to realize that > their happiness doesn't lie where they > thought it did. Maybe every depression is like that. Maybe every depression is an opportunity to abandon our usual strategies for seeking happiness and escaping from disappointments. The longer I think in Eastern terms, the stranger it seems to me that Western culture takes utterly for granted the idea that if you're unhappy, then the state of affairs must be changed to produce happiness. The ancient idea (common to both East and West) that such a strategy is impossible seems to have utterly vanished from modern life in the industrialized West. Regards, Rob - " Gary Schouborg " <garyscho " Realization " <Realization > Monday, July 30, 2001 1:04 AM Re: (no subject) > Thanks for the warm welcome, Rob. > > > Occurs to me that > > many people who are widely regarded as fully > > self-realized (whatever that means exactly) came > > to their realization spontaneously, without teachers. > > Three that come to mind are Sri Ramana Maharshi, > > Sri Shivabalayogi, and Sri H.L. Poonja. > > I have read references to Poonja as a disciple of Maharshi. Is it just that > Poonja has the same " style " ? > > > > I sometimes wonder what happens to children who > > have similar experiences if they happen to live in > > the United States or other countries whose cultures > > don't recognize such phenomena. After Ramana > > Maharshi's self-realization, he went into something > > that resembled a coma for three years, stopped eating, > > etc. Are there children in his condition in American > > mental hospitals? Even in India, these experiences > > are often treated like illness. Sri Poonja was an > > example of that. > > > I wonder the same think about a less radical state. Perhaps some people are > misdiagnosed as in depression when they are " just " beginning to realize that > their happiness doesn't lie where they thought it did. > > Gary > > > > ..........INFORMATION ABOUT THIS LIST.......... > > Email addresses: > Post message: Realization > Un: Realization- > Our web address: http://www.realization.org > > By sending a message to this list, you are giving > permission to have it reproduced as a letter on > http://www.realization.org > ................................................ > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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