Papaji - 'Have you seen God?'

[Guest guest]

Papaji:

 

 

'Have you seen God?' I asked. 'And if you have, can you enable me

to see him? I am willing to pay any price, even my life, but your

part of the bargain is that you must show me God.'

 

'No,' he* answered. 'I cannot show you God or enable you to see God

because God is not an object that can be seen. God is the subject. He

is the seer. Don't concern yourself with objects that can be seen.

Find out who the seer is.' He also added, 'You alone are God,' as if

to rebuke me for looking for a God who was outside and apart from me.

 

**

 

When I appeared before him,

the Maharshi asked, 'Where have you been? Where are you living?'

 

'On the other side of the mountain,' I replied.

 

'And what were you doing there?' he enquired.

 

He had given me my cue.

 

'I was playing with my Krishna,' I said, in a very smug tone of voice.

 

I was very proud of my achievement and felt superior to the Maharshi

because I was absolutely convinced that Krishna had not appeared to

him during that period.

 

'Oh, is that so?' he commented, looking surprised and

interested. 'Very good, very nice. Do you see Him now?'

 

'No, sir, I do not,' I replied. 'I only see Him when I have visions.'

 

I was still feeling very pleased with myself, feeling that I had been

granted these visions, whereas the Maharshi had not.

 

'So Krishna comes and plays with you and then He disappears,' said

the Maharshi. 'What is the use of a God who appears and disappears?

If He is a real God, He must be with you all the time.'

 

The Maharshi's lack of interest in my visionary experiences deflated

me a little, but not to the extent that I was willing to listen to

his advice. He was telling me to give up my search for an external

God and instead find the origin and identity of the one who wanted to

see Him. This was too much for me to swallow. A lifetime of devotion

to Krishna had left me incapable of conceiving the spiritual quest in

any other terms than that of a quest for a personal God.

 

* - Ramana Maharshi

 

Nothing Ever Happened

by David Godman