Sri H.W.L. Poonja to Eli Jaxon-Bear, November 1990 – April 1993

These are some of the letters Eli received from Papaji. Click on any letter image to view it in full size, and scroll left or right to navigate through the multi-page letters.

Dear Jaxon,

I have rec’d your two letters dt 10-19-90 & 11-7-90. I had to reply your letters on 11-20-90, but I had to wait because some people came away early before the Satsangh time as they were new comers from Zimbabaway & Berkeley. Then today I rec’d your letter card from Yosemite. The topic was very fresh & untouched from the National Park. Did you meet one Karl who came to see me at Hardwar & New York?

I have rec’d two letters from Ma Ganga jee which give me Joy & Happiness, asking me a question, which I will reply in an enclosed letter.

When you walk on the Razors edge don’t carry load.

[cross-writing] No one will walk along side abreast. Go your way … not to abide any whose … Love, your Papa.

One of the earliest letters, and already intimate. Papaji tracks Eli’s travels (Yosemite, the letter-card from the National Park) and notes new arrivals to satsang from as far as Zimbabwe and Berkeley — the West beginning to find him. “When you walk on the Razor’s edge, don’t carry load” is pure Papaji: the Katha Upanishad / Maugham image of the path of awakening.

My Beloved Son,

I am very glad to read your letter dt Dec 5th. Many people who have met with you & Ganga ji in Europe & in America are writing to me as to how they have been benefitted by both of you, & some have rec’d direct transmission from Ma Ganga ji & have asked me to permit them to go to Lucknow. One of the letter is enclosed here for your reference.

I want to ask you if the above person is very ill to take up a long distance travell as stated in the letter, in which case you will please help him.

May I advise them to see you in Maui if you are staying [… continues on page 2]

Papaji reports the early fruit of Eli and Gangaji’s work in Europe and America — people writing to Lucknow describing how they were helped, some asking permission to come. He defers to Eli on whether to send a frail correspondent the long distance, and floats directing people to meet Eli in Maui.

My dear Son,

I have rec’d your letter of Dec 20th.

I am very happy to read your letter & receive the credit cards thru Hanuman. You do things that none had done before. Why do you send me money. You know no one ever paid me money. Except my Indian boys in Colorado Springs & one in India. As a matter of fact I dont need money from those who come to receive light. You are the one who likes to give me maximum comfort & you will be rewarded for taking good care of me.

I am very happy with my Son & daughter, whose reputation is spreading in U.S.A & Europe. There are many who are enlightened — Ganga jee [… continues on page 2]

[cross-writing] Kiss you & Ganga jee. More & more people are coming. Remember to […]

A tender, half-scolding letter about Eli sending him credit cards and money. “No one ever paid me money — except my Indian boys”: Papaji took support only from his own family of Indian devotees, never from the Western seekers who came for light. “You will be rewarded for taking good care of me.”

My Dear Son,

Since I am not able to come to Hawaii nor Surendra & family.
I asked Hanuman if he could take back the credit cards you have sent me to deliver to you. He said it was not necessary. I can keep them & not use it.

I send you my Love my naughty Son. You do things that never one has had ever done to me. How to repay back this gesture of deep Love you have for your Papa.

My daughter speaks a natural language that none of the Zen [… continues on page 2]

The sequel to the January letter: Papaji has sent the credit cards back via Hanuman, who told him it wasn’t necessary, so he’ll keep them unused. “My naughty Son” — affectionate exasperation at Eli’s generosity. The closing turns to Gangaji (“my daughter”) and her natural way of speaking the teaching, the thought carrying onto the missing page.

Dear Son,

Rec’d your letter dt 10-8-91.

There are one hundred people who came for Satsang today, we can not accomodate more than 70 in the room actualy ment to seat only 30 people. Due to Dev Prem & Hari Devi who were interviewed by Osho leaders & put it on the Computor, has been circulated all over the world. People are comming here & have been renting the houses in Indira Nagar. I have no rest at all.

There are 8 people who have met with Ganga ji. They sing Her praise & are gratful to her.

3 people from Hawaii have come today including a wife of Lee Joseph & two others. Poona is shifting to Lucknow, [… continues on page 2 →]

A vivid snapshot of the moment the Lucknow satsangs exploded: a hundred people in a room built for thirty. Papaji credits an Osho-leaders interview — “put on the Computer” — circulating worldwide, and notes “Poona is shifting to Lucknow” as the Pune sannyasins arrived in waves. A primary-source record of the satsang movement reaching critical mass.

Dear Jaxon,

I have rec’d the recorded tape thru Raj Prakash who came from Boulder today.

I can not hear properly. Please send me the transcript. Only I heard:
Andrew: “[You think] I am confused.”

Ganga ji: “No, I dont say you are confused. I say your understanding is limited.”

I am very happy you speak with my tongue. First of all why did he go to you. He wrote to me “Tony, a woman on the street” had no understanding to pick up my (Andrew’s)

Possibly the most historically significant letter in the set. The “recorded tape” is the Berkeley satsang in which Andrew comes to Gangaji and she meets his “you think I am confused” with her precise correction — not confused, but limited in understanding. Made by Richard, a volunteer from Conference Recording Studios, that tape traveled the world and launched Gangaji’s international reputation. Here Papaji — hearing a poor-quality copy in Lucknow — quotes the exchange and asks Eli for the transcript. The bracketed [You think] restores words Papaji did not write down but that were spoken on the tape.

My Beloved Son,

I am glad to read your letter dt 14th Jan 92, about the project you have undertaken prompted by the Supreme Purusha speaking to you from within. This is HIS Grace working thru my Dear Son. I bless you for this Divine Service for its own Manifestation.

Many people have written to me that the Travel Agents in U.S.A. are recomending the tourists who come to India, that they have to include to visit Papa ji in Lucknow. There are many journalysts from China, Germany, England & U.S.A. who have come for my interview. Catherine Ingram & Christine who contribute for Yoga Journal are also here for interview.

Papaji blesses a project of Eli’s — “prompted by the Supreme Purusha speaking to you from within … HIS Grace working thru my Dear Son.” The letter also documents the media moment around Papaji: U.S. travel agents steering tourists to Lucknow, and journalists from four countries — including Catherine Ingram for Yoga Journal — arriving to interview him.

Dear Son,

I have rec’d this letter on the other side from Mr Dev Gogi working in Sri Ramana Ashram, that the Ashram President & the Editor V. Ganeshan of the Mountain Path has given him “the Book” Wake Up & Roar for book review. He & Raj — you may have seen them in Lucknow with me.

This Book was given by Nataraj to the President, Ramana Center & the Path Way Magazine, who sent it for review. This Book has been read & appreciated by thousands of people in the west. I am receiving letters that one reading of the Book has awakened some people.

[cross-writing] Love & blessings, your Papa

The lineage closing the circle. Papaji reports that Wake Up and Roar — the satsang collection Eli compiled — has reached Sri Ramanasramam itself: Dev Gogi, and V. Ganeshan (Ramana Maharshi’s grand-nephew and editor of The Mountain Path, the ashram’s journal) have taken the book for review. Published by Nataraj, read by thousands in the West, “one reading has awakened some people.” The book made in Papaji’s room returning to Ramana’s own ashram.

Beloved Son,

I have rec’d your Fax. I have finally decided to go visit Maui & CA & NY from July–Aug–Sept. You may go ahead with your advertisement to announce my visit in the Yoga Journal. Catherine Ingram has also invited me to visit her house in Haiku. You need not give the exact dates.

Arjun is just leaving India for Seattle. He will contact you thru Fax. Many people are arriving here after being pushed by Ganga ji.

I had gone to Kathmandu & had talks with the Lama Rinpoche whom Andrew also had met last year after Bodh Gaya. Arrangements for Ganga ji’s visit will be looked after [by] Peter — Peter Gordon — & others. Some 60 people will also go there to attend her meetings.

With Love,
H W L Poonja

The capstone of the correspondence: Papaji finally agreeing to make his 1993 journey to Maui, California and New York, authorizing Eli to announce it in Yoga Journal, with Catherine Ingram hosting him in Haiku on Maui. He notes Gangaji’s meetings now drawing some sixty travelers. From a first meeting in a Lucknow bedroom in 1990 to an international teaching tour three years later — the arc of the transmission entering the West.

Papaji to Eli

From others in the story — in their hands, not Papaji’s. Includes the two earliest documents in the collection.

THE SUFI LETTER

Dear Mr Eli-Jaxon,

I hope this letter will find you in best of spirit.

I am sending you the following three address of three famous Sufis. After meeting them you will find many more. I could not contact in Delhi. I am writing…

The earliest document in the collection — and, in Eli’s memoir, the thread that led him to Lucknow. It is from the government official Eli met in Delhi, at the Sufi quarter of Nizamuddin; stationed in Lucknow, the official had the names of the great Sufis and wrote to send Eli the addresses of three of them. Dated January 7, 1990, it precedes Eli’s first meeting with Papaji on January 19.

THE SURENDRA LETTER

From Surendra, Papaji’s son — the man who answered the door in Lucknow and told Eli, “He is upstairs. He is waiting for you,” the moment that opens the Meeting Papaji account.

FROM YAMUNA

Dearest Jaxon Brother,

I just sit next to Papaji who took out “Wake Up and Roar” Volume I because he read a little while ago a young man wrote that he burst out into tears of recognition while reading the first chapter. He reads out loud to Jyoti and me and smiles radiantly: “A wonderful, wonderful book, I never knew — that’s why people all over the world are getting it, reading it.” Then he continued reading — you know how he does it — he reads the words for the first time, and actually he spoke the same words of the first 2 pages to a young man from Germany this morning.

As soon as you had left, Papaji asked: “Where are the 500 US Dollars from Eli?” — So you see the money went back to the source!

I also had a very beautiful meeting with Sven and Translater afterwards. I never knew before that we could meet so deeply.

The days with Gangaji in the house have been so blissful, and the joy of talking with her about all that cannot be spoken to anybody else will last me a long time — maybe the both of you come back earlier this…

From Yamuna — a heart surgeon and one of Eli’s students from Germany, who came to see Papaji and became his full-time assistant. Writing from beside him, she describes Papaji taking out Wake Up and Roar and reading it aloud to her and Jyoti, delighting in it after hearing a reader had wept with recognition at the first chapter: “A wonderful, wonderful book, I never knew.” Her aside — Papaji asking after “the 500 US Dollars from Eli,” the money “gone back to the source” — belongs to the same thread as the 1991 letters about Eli’s gifts.