Talk:H. W. L. Poonja

message: He is popularly known as "Papaji," not sure why the article is listed this way. I propose we move it to Papaji, with a redirect from his name.... no one would type in "H.W.L. Poonja!" Sethie 22:24, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Your reworking of that part looks great. Iddli (talk) 05:30, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed. Removing references to his followers and their controversial claims seems best at this point. For the record, Papaji's statements confirming awakenings are not denied, but are not definitive confirmations of full realization, and based on what is in Godman's book and Papaji's seemingly contradictory, Zen like approach can also be seen as classic tests of egoicity in the disciple, a method of testing which has a long spiritual tradition. Papaji is on record as denying he gave his final teachings to any followers or that any proved worthy to receive them. As it says in Godman's published interviews on this subject: David: “Many people have heard you say, ‘I have not given my final teachings to anyone’. What are these final teachings, and why are you not giving them out?” Papaji: “Nobody is worthy to receive them. Because it has been my experience that everybody has proved to be arrogant and egotistic… I don’t think anyone is worthy to receive them.”--Dseer (talk) 03:31, 24 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text:  Just FYI - Papaji's guru - Ramana Maharshi - was asked if there were any secret or advanced teachings that he had reserved, and he emphatically said "no".  So that is just one of many Papaji remarks that seem like "BS". 162.205.217.211 (talk) 00:25, 19 August 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Move page

message: A number of people still consider Poonjaji their spiritual master. Andrew Cohen (spiritual teacher) is among those having experienced shaktipat but later on the two of them split because of personal disagreement. Cohen, Andrew Autobiography of An Awakening, Moksha Press (1992) 
: FYI - Poonjaji did not give "shaktipat", he gave awakening experiences. 162.205.217.211 (talk) 00:28, 19 August 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Austerlitz -- 88.72.7.243 (talk) 17:29, 10 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Focus on Papaji 

message: * I don't agree with the argument given by you. Actually, I think you are so fond of Poonja that you cannot bear any remark which seems to be "critical" to you. Am I wrong?
:Austerlitz -- 88.75.215.44 (talk) 11:33, 26 March 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: -- 88.75.201.66 (talk) 18:54, 29 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Focus on ''what''? 

message: I was very astonished, when I read the passage about Ramana Maharishi being a secret bhakta, and telling H.W.L. Poonja in a vision that "Krishna devotion was the only truth". This contradicts completely everything I have read about Poonja and Ramana Maharishi.(About Poonja: "Nothing ever Happened" by David Godman, and about Ramana Maharishi D.Godman's "Be what you are", Orthur Osborne's books, "The Complete works of Ramana Maharshi" and "Arunachala Shiva" by Premananda, Godman and Swartz, published just recently 2009. 
Ramana was a compassionate jnani, but not a bhakta. To those, who were unable to practice Atma Vichara he suggested to continue with their previous sadhana, mostly some form of bhakti. He appreciated bhakti as a road to Self-realization. But that vision Poonja received, I cannot believe it. It suits and confirms Poonja's primary sadhana and his agenda. By the way, Krishna was and is not worshipped in southern India, and Shiva has been there the most exalted divine manifestation. Tellervo (talk) 10:05, 21 May 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: See my comment in the Focus on Papaji section above. David Spector (talk) 15:33, 10 July 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Hagiography?

message: If you don't like the Caplan-quote, you can counter-balance it which quotes with deny this charge, or you can argue against the reliability of the source per WP:RS, but you can't simply remove sourced info without proper discussion. And surely not a second time, withput discussion. Joshua Jonathan -Let's talk! 15:10, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Caplan-quote 

message: I am in way trying to defend Papaji or suggest removing the criticism section on his page, but I think there should be a reference to the fact that he didn't intend for all these devotees to become "teachers". I think he would probably agree entirely with the Alan Jacobs quote and the middle quote as well... Here is a video where he talks about them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG-8RRHrIWk I think this needs to be balanced in the article, as its otherwise slightly slanderous not too muention dubious as well. Bodhadeepika (talk) 00:21, 3 June 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: In classic Wikipedia fashion, we have gone from too much Criticism to none at all, which seems unwarranted, because Papaji seems one of the more dubious gurus.  Unfortunately, in the 21st Century, we only have people who believe everything (NewAgers) and those who believe nothing (materialists). 162.205.217.211 (talk) 00:30, 19 August 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Criticism 

message: The current version (permalink) of this article is rather lacking in its Biography section, especially before the 1960s. So I took a look at older versions, including this one from 2007 (chosen because an editor at the time had significatly fleshed it out).
You can see that many of the old (and relevant) biographical details were removed. The section is now largely quote blocks. I think this article could benefit from both -- keep the quote blocks (which are insightful) but also add back some of the former info. -47.218.29.68 (talk) 20:40, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: I've now read several pages of the referenced biographical info from the "Online sources" section. There are all sorts of interesting details about his early life in that first-hand account that could be added to this article. But since it's all linked to archive.org, I'm not motivated enough to do more editing work here. Instead, it's sufficient for people interested in learning more about Poonja to read that. -47.218.29.68 (talk) 22:39, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Bio needs more info