50 Thought-Provoking Papaji Quotes

Last Updated on January 8, 2023

Papaji was a spiritual teacher who lived in Lucknow, India. He was a contemporary of Ramana Maharshi and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and was considered by many to be an enlightened master.

Papaji was born H. W. L. Poonja in 1910, in a small village in Pakistan. He grew up in a family of farmers and received a traditional education. However, from a young age, he was drawn to spiritual matters and spent much of his time reading religious texts and meditating.

In his early 20s, Papaji left home to seek out spiritual masters in India. He eventually met his guru, Sri Ramana Maharshi, and spent many years in his ashram in Tamil Nadu, studying and practicing under his guidance.

After the death of Sri Ramana Maharshi, Papaji began traveling and teaching, sharing the wisdom he had gained from his guru with others. He became known for his straightforward and uncompromising approach to spiritual teachings, and was often referred to as “Papaji,” which means “father” in Hindi.

Papaji’s teachings were based on the idea that the ultimate goal of spiritual practice is self-realization or the realization of one’s true nature as the infinite and eternal Self. He believed that this realization could be achieved through the practice of self-inquiry or the constant questioning of one’s identity and the source of one’s thoughts and experiences.

These Papaji quotes which I have compiled below, reflect his belief that the ultimate goal of spiritual practice is to transcend the ego and realize one’s true identity as the eternal Self.

Happy reading!

Best H.W.L. Poonja A.k.a. Papaji Quotes

1. “You have to simply become aware of the movement of the mind, which begins this endless trouble.” – Papaji

2. “If you identify with what comes and goes, you will be unhappy. If you identify with what is permanent and always there, you are happiness itself.” – Papaji

3. “That ocean of eternal peace is you. What is the difficulty that we suffer from? It is that we seek peace elsewhere and do not experience that we are peace incarnate itself.”
– Papaji

4. “Find where the ego rises from and it will disappear.” – Papaji

5. “If there is peace in your mind you will find peace with everybody. If your mind is agitated, you will find agitation everywhere. So first find peace within and you will see this inner peace reflected everywhere else. You are this peace!” – Papaji

6. “Detach yourself from those things, which are not permanent, and rest in that which is always permanent.” – Papaji

7. “Thoughts are impediments to seeing your own face. Don’t give rise to any thought, and discover who you are.” – Papaji

8. “Understanding and not understanding are all in the scheme of ignorance, just a realm of the mind. This is not learning. This is your birthright. You cannot study to be what you are. You do not need to understand in order to breathe.” – Papaji

“Understanding and not understanding are all in the scheme of ignorance, just a realm of the mind. This is not learning. This is your birthright. You cannot study to be what you are. You do not need to understand in order to breathe.” Click To Tweet

9. “What is the purpose of human life? To Return Home.” – Papaji

10. “One is always free and one is always alone. The mind is only dreaming.” – Papaji

11. “If you see the illusion, you are enlightened, but if you think that you are enlightened, you ARE IN the illusion!” – Papaji

12. “When you know that you are meditating it is not meditation.” – Papaji

13. “When you stop thinking, you are no longer imagining things that are not true.” – Papaji

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14. “Meditation is to effortlessly turn the mind toward that energy which energizes mind.” – Papaji

15. “Look here and know who you are. Instantly you will find freedom, and this suffering–hitchhiking from womb to womb–will instantly stop. The only way is to look within.” – Papaji

16. “Keep quiet. Don’t touch the thoughts. Let them be.” – Papaji

17. “If you address the mind with “Who are you?” it will disappear” – Papaji

18. “Look within, there is no difference between yourself, Self and Guru. You are always Free. There is no teacher, there is no student, there is no teaching.” – Papaji

19. “The way to live a happy beautiful life is to accept whatever comes and not care about what does not come.”
– Papaji

20. “Now is the time to have a direct introduction to this moment. This moment is free of time, of mind, of any notions. Introduce yourself to this moment.” – Papaji

21. “You are the unchangeable Awareness in which all activity takes place.” – Papaji

22. “Nobody wants to work. Not even the breath wants to work.” – Papaji

23. “Let your will burn in this fire so that it takes you nowhere else. Let your self be burned in this fire of eternity, love and peace. Don’t be afraid of this fire, it is love itself. This desire for freedom is the fire of love!” – Papaji

24. “Surrounded by nothingness you have to do nothing. You have to do nothing to be who you are. Nothing at all.” – Papaji

25. “Whatever comes, let it come. Whatever stays, let it stay, whatever goes let it go.” – Papaji

26. “The one who follows the thought is also a thought! The one who follows the thought IS in thought. When you know that both are thoughts, you are home. You are not at home, you ARE home. Then allow thoughts to arise and allow them to be followed. You remain as That unmoved and unconcerned Being. This is the highest understanding.” – Papaji

27. “If there is peace in your mind, you will find peace with everybody. If your mind is agitated, you will find agitation everywhere. So first find peace within and you will see this inner peace reflected everywhere else. Where else will you find peace if not within you?” – Papaji

28. “Emptiness is emptiness. San Francisco or Delhi. Wherever you go, the emptiness surrounds you. Silence will follow you wherever you go.” – Papaji

29. “As the lotus does not touch the water
so do not let the world enter your heart..
Being busy in the world is no trouble,
unless you are troubled being busy,
then the only trouble is the trouble..

Ocean does not complain about the dance of ten million waves!
so don’t be concerned with the rise and fall of thoughts..

Keeping an old troublesome habit
is like keeping poisonous snakes in your arms.
Now is the time to hold this snake and throw it out..

Bad moods are either past or imaginary future,
in the Present there are no moods at all..
Moods belong to the circumstance, to the past;
face the Sun and there will be no shadow of the moods..

The world is like a tail of dog, it’s nature is to curl.
The best you can do is stay Quiet
and not let anything bother you..
Visitors will come and go, don’t interfere with these waves..
Just be silent..” – Papaji

30. “The whole world is your own Self. So who is good and who is bad?” – Papaji

31. “When we go from waking state to sleep, we lose everything that we held in the waking state. Relationships and possessions are lost to us in sleep. We have to let them go.” – Papaji

32. “No monastery has been successful at producing enlightenment. It has been tried; there are no shortcuts.” – Papaji

33. “When mind is quiet, all is Self. When mind moves the world arises. So be Still, throw away everything and be Free.” – Papaji

34. “Look here and know who you are. Instantly you will find freedom, and this suffering–hitchhiking from womb to womb–will instantly stop. The only way is to look within.”
– Papaji

35. “The most holy association is to Be as you are. This is Freedom. This is beyond imagination, very new and very fresh. So just keep Quiet. Do not think. It is you. It is you. Don’t stir a thought, and if a thought comes, let it, don’t waver, don’t doubt your majesty. It is so simple. The one who has It will know that they have done it. When you are quiet it is Beauty, Joy and Stillness. It is effortless. Effort is to disturb your mind, effort is playing with corpses in the graveyard. Just contemplate that which is always silence. Go to the Source. Do not believe anything, simply stay quiet and return home and do not rest until you are there. Peace is only available when there is no “I” and you need an “I” to do practice. The secret to Bliss is to stop the search, stop thinking, stop not-thinking, and keep Quiet. The best practice is to Know “Who am I.” You are Brahman, know this. If you want to do anything, just Always adore Self.” – Papaji

36. “If you see the illusion you are enlightened, but if you think that you are enlightened you are in the illusion!” – Papaji

37. “It is all your desires that you see, when you think. But when your mind is quiet, without desire, you are complete and as wonderful as you have always been.” – Papaji

38. “What is purification of the mind? No thought. This thought-less mind, sattvic mind, no mind, can be called Consciousness itself. Self itself.” – Papaji

39. “Whatever comes, let it come. What stays, let it stay. What goes, let it go.” – Papaji

40. “All that you are attached to, all that you love, all that you know, someday will be gone. Knowing this, and that the world is your mind which you create, play in, and suffer from, is known as discrimination. Discriminate between the Real and the Unreal, the known is unreal and will come and go so stay with the Unknown, the Unchanging, the Truth.” – Papaji

41. “Who is journeying for freedom? The one who is already free. Just get rid of the concept, “I am the body, separate from the source.” You return to what you always were.” – Papaji

42. “You have to be very careful, to be vigilant, to see what is coming from the mind, and to see the happiness that is coming from the self.” – Papaji

43. “If you practice, you will only become fatigued. When you are fatigued, you throw away everything. At that instant, you are free. To get rid of everything is freedom. Everything that you do suggests “Get rid of me.” To get rid of desires is freedom, freedom from the function of the mind.” – Papaji

44. “Don’t go to the past. The past is a problem, the past is mind. When you go to the past, all will be problems so don’t go to the past. The mind is the past and the past is a graveyard. don’t go the graveyard.” – Papaji

“Don’t go to the past. The past is a problem, the past is mind. When you go to the past, all will be problems so don’t go to the past. The mind is the past and the past is a graveyard. don’t go the graveyard.” Click To Tweet

45. “Meditation is to effortlessly turn the mind toward that energy which energizes mind.” – Papaji

46. “There may be one thousand mirrors, each reflecting a different reflection of the sun. There are not one thousand suns, there is one sun shining in all. Reflections may be different, Sun is the same. Sun is one, shining in everything, in every atom, same.” – Papaji

47. “If there is peace in your mind you will find peace with everybody. If your mind is agitated you will find agitation everywhere. So first find peace within and you will see this inner peace reflected everywhere else. You are this peace!” – Papaji

48. “Reality is that which always exists and never changes.” – Papaji