Gangaji

"Always, every instant, every moment, in every circumstance, silent awareness is alive in you." Gangaji

Gangaji is an American guru who was born in Texas in 1942 and is watched regularly around the United States on various cable access channels as well as in person at her regularly scheduled Satsang meetings. She is said to have attained self-realization in 1990 after an encounter with Poonjaji, an Indian disciple who studied under Ramana Maharshi. After traveling to India with her husband, she was sent back to the United States to spread the message of Advaita-Vedanta. In Poonjai’s own words, Gangaji had "the purity, nobility and satvic nature to carry this transmission to the West."

To 'stop' is to stop searching for yourself in thoughts, emotions, circumstances, or bodily images. It is that simple. The search is over when you realize that the true and lasting fulfillment you have been searching for is found to be nowhere other than right where you are. It is here.

Her first book, You are That!, refers to the original Hindu concept “Tat Tvam Asi” and her first widely distributed book was The Diamond in Your Pocket, which was written as a series of short contemplations. It is likely to be her attractive presence and sweet smile which have contributed to her wide popular in the United States.

In 1994, a prisoner's letter to Gangaji inspired her to start the Gangaji Foundation Prison Program. The program sponsors in-prison visits and a correspondence program which provides free books, audios and videos to prisoners. Interestingly, a prisoner named John Sherman was profoundly affected by meeting Gangaji and has since become a spiritual teacher in his own right. In describing his experiences with Gangaji, Sherman had this to say;

In 1994, I had been in prison for fifteen years for a series of armed bankrobberies, gunfights, bombings and time on the ten most wanted list….At the moment I met her, ‘Everything stopped’…, I spent a year immersed in suffering; Paradisical suffering ….I wrote to her almost everyday…..I had heard, of course, of Ramana Maharshi. I would never have heard of him if it weren’t for Gangaji but I had heard of him.... I come to you now, only really to speak about the immediate present possibility of discovering the truth of your own nature. This possiblility and the way to go about it is the gift of Ramana Maharshi.

Gangaji’s wide popularity has helped thousands of people to recover from many various problems and to take up the path of Advaita-Vedanta. Eckhart Tolle, spiritual teacher and author of The Power of Now, has also spoken highly of her when he wrote "[Her] book is meant for the rapidly growing number of spiritual seekers who are approaching the end of their seeking and who are ready for the undiluted truth…It is part of an evolutionary transformation of cosmic magnitude: the awakening of consciousness out of the dream of identification with form, the dream of separation.”