Mooji Quotes

Destiny’s path brought me to meet my master, Sri H. W. L. Poonja, lovingly known as Papaji. And only through the grace and presence of Papaji, who is a direct disciple of Sri Ramana Maharshi, was I somehow able to read and to understand Sri Ramana’s teachings inside my heart. What I came quickly to see and understand was that self-inquiry is the most direct approach to Truth. And it had to be direct, because I have a very short attention span and am only attracted to what is straightforward, immediate, and simple.

After a powerful experience with a Christian mystic in 1987, my life underwent many changes, inwardly and outwardly, which culminated with my giving up teaching art at the local college. One day I was drawn to enter a spiritual bookshop in central London. I was not accustomed to reading books, but I was instantly attracted to a picture of Sri Ramana Maharshi on the cover of one book. His face radiated a warmth and light that immediately touched my heart. However, when I opened the book, my reaction was, Whoa! What is this?! His words felt very intellectual and noisy to me – so much so that I actually thought the printer must have made a mistake and put the wrong cover on the book. The picture emanated such profound serenity, silence, and peace, but the concise instructions of self-inquiry within couldn’t enter my being back then. So I closed Sri Ramana’s book and put it aside. Instead, I found another book in the same shop entitled The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, which spoke to me immediately.

Truth can never be merely a holy cluster of concepts, conditioning, or beliefs. It is not an event, nor is it an object apart from you in some sacred vault. For Truth to be Truth, it must be unchanging, immutable, ever present – yet it is beyond characteristics and conditions. It cannot be anything that comes and goes, for everything changeful arises from it and comes and goes in it.

We all start out looking at life from the particular perspective of our upbringing, which provides us with assumptions about who we are. For most of us, this culturally imparted point of view simply remains our perspective as we move through life.

Spirituality is the search for perfect understanding, for Self-discovery, for Truth, and it must take place right where you are. The Truth that you are searching for must already be right here, for it is timelessly present.

Satsang comes in innumerable forms – sitting in the physical presence of a master, following the guidance offered in a book such as this, working in the garden, playing with your children. Once you have the eyes to see it, every movement of life itself is satsang, calling you home to your limitless Being.Welcome to satsang.

The Absolute is not revealed through human effort. At the appointed time, presence simply begins merging in it. If you try to force this, you will bring the mind and person in again. It will seem as though the mind has accomplished something tremendous, but it will be a fake realisation, a mere mental state.

Apply yourself fully to the introspection offered here. It is good for all seekers... This self-inquiry is your internal work. Internal work – eternal satisfaction. Internal work revealing timeless Self.

Amongst all the activities that we do, we rarely give enough time to sit quietly by ourselves. I would like to introduce to you not just to sit alone, but to guide you into your inner Being. What you truly are is not merely what we think we are, not merely what we have been brought up to believe we are. Actually, surprisingly, beautifully, we discover a level of peace and natural well-being-ness, joy, and silence. And right here, in the depth of our Self, you will discover a great calmness. And I want you to know that, this, that we are going to find today, you will see that it is always here. And the most wonderful thing about this is that you are about to discover that which has always been here. It has never left you!

All that we refer to as being ours – our body, our mind, our emotions – is not what we are, essentially.

Here you are invited into the direct experience of that timeless reality through the method of self-inquiry, which forms the essence of this book.

The concept I am the body is the core belief we adopt very early on... We take ourselves to be a particular body with a unique personality, and this perspective remains with us as we live our lives.

Truth is what we are. It is our essential nature and Being. It is the pure Self, the limitless one, the ultimate reality – it is awareness itself.

We have become unaware of the magnificence of our true nature on account of our upbringing, conditioning, and education, all of which paint a very different picture of who we are – and all of which we believe.

In 1993... I was quite spiritually naive back then – I knew nothing of gurus, spiritual paths, or meditation, and certainly nothing of Advaita. I only knew the divine love of Christ and Sri Ramakrishna.