Harriet and Shanti

Beloved Gangaji,

Not only am I celebrating your 30-year anniversary of meeting Papaji this month, but also what that meeting brought to my own life and consciousness ... how your meeting him opened the way to my meeting you, and then the blessed grace and unspeakable good fortune of also meeting him in form.

This month marks seven years since we all went to India together, and this photo was taken literally steps from where I first encountered Papaji's form on the Ganga at Ram Jhula in the spring of 1994. Suddenly, quite unexpectedly, there he was disembarking from a little boat. He walked right up the bank to me and nearly shouted, "You! You're the one from Maui!"

I had written to Papaji from Maui, telling him that I was coming with you to India and that more than anything I wanted freedom. He had read that letter out loud in Satsang Bhavan and asked for me to come forward, but I hadn't yet arrived. How he made that connection when we first met in Ram Jhula is a mystery and a miracle.

Shanti meeting Papaji in 1994

As I stood there absolutely dumbstruck by his presence, and I looked up into those wildly joyous eyes, I thought, "This is God." Not his form, which in itself was a mountainous force, but what it was I was seeing in his eyes. Later, when I heard you speak of "non-abidance in the mind anywhere," I knew that this was the unspeakable freedom I had seen in Papaji's eyes that day.

In 2013, nearly twenty years later, when we all traveled to India together, those days were some of the happiest of my life ... the Aartis every evening on the Ganga ... the absolute explosion of gratitude in my heart for all that had been given and received ... I wanted to share all of this with you.

Beloved Gangaji! ... Blessed Papaji! ... Thank you for ALL!

Send us your stories of meeting Papaji

Whether you met Papaji when he was alive, or you have a story of how his teaching has touched your life, we would love to publish it. Email us (and be sure to include a photo of yourself and anything else you want to show).

See more photos of Papaji