Gangaji
Encyclopedia
Ashland, Oregon
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...
with her husband, fellow spiritual teacher Eli Jaxon-Bear
Eli Jaxon-Bear
Eli Jaxon-Bear is an American spiritual teacher and author currently living in Ashland, Oregon. Before he met his final teacher, Sri H.W.L. Poonja in 1990, he was best known for his work with the Enneagram. Following his meeting with Poonjaji he continued to teach, carrying his teacher’s message...
.
Early life
Gangaji was born Merle Antoinette Roberson (Toni) in Texas on June 11, 1942, and grew up in Mississippi. After graduating from the University of MississippiUniversity of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
in 1964, she married and had a daughter. In 1972, she and her family moved to San Francisco. There, she was soon divorced and pursued many paths to change her life including relationship, motherhood, political activism, career, and spiritual practice. She took Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
vows, practiced Zen
Zazen
In Zen Buddhism, zazen is a meditative discipline practitioners perform to calm the body and the mind, and be able to concentrate enough to experience insight into the nature of existence and thereby gain enlightenment .- Significance :Zazen is considered the heart of Zen Buddhist practice...
and Vipassana
Vipassana
Vipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...
meditation, helped run a Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center, and had a career as an acupuncturist in the San Francisco Bay area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
.
Feeling unfulfilled by her seemingly successful life, she and her partner of thirteen years, Eli Jaxon-Bear
Eli Jaxon-Bear
Eli Jaxon-Bear is an American spiritual teacher and author currently living in Ashland, Oregon. Before he met his final teacher, Sri H.W.L. Poonja in 1990, he was best known for his work with the Enneagram. Following his meeting with Poonjaji he continued to teach, carrying his teacher’s message...
, sold their house and moved to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
in 1989, where they were married shortly afterward.
Papaji
At this time she met Andrew Cohen, a spiritual teacher and student of Sri H.W.L. Poonja, also known as Papaji. Impressed by Cohen’s "enormous confidence", she returned to California to sit with him for two months. In the meantime, her husband, Eli, traveled to India and located Papaji. Struck by the letters she received from Eli, in the spring of 1990, Gangaji herself traveled to Lucknow, India to meet Papaji. In the biography of her life, Just Like You, she said, “The extraordinary event in this life was that I met Papaji. Until then I looked everywhere for the transcendental or the extraordinary, but after meeting Papaji I began to find the extraordinary in every moment.” Papaji gave her the name Gangaji, and asked her to share what she had directly realized with others.Teaching
Today, Gangaji travels the world as a teacher and author. Her teachings find wide acceptance among spiritual seekers interested in self-realizationSelf-realization
Self-realization is a self-awakening.Self-realization may also refer to:* Self-Realization Fellowship, worldwide spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda...
. She teaches that the truth of who you are is already free and at peace, and that it can be discovered by simply ending one’s search.
“I invite people to just stop and be still. And in that you discover who you are, because once you discover who you are, you can stop fragmenting into pieces. I know that in any one day there are moments where there is nothing going on, but we link up what is happening from thought to thought without any space. We overlook the spaciousness that it is all happening in.”
In speaking with people Gangaji uses her own form of self-inquiry (or self-enquiry
Self-enquiry
Self-enquiry is a practice designed to rapidly bring about Self-realization, Self awareness, spiritual liberation or enlightenment, and is most commonly associated with its most famous modern advocate, Sri Ramana Maharshi...
), first associated with Ramana Maharshi
Ramana Maharshi
Sri Ramana Maharshi , born Venkataraman Iyer, was a Hindu spiritual master . He was born to a Tamil-speaking Brahmin family in Tiruchuzhi, Tamil Nadu. After experiencing at age 16 what he later described as liberation , he left home for Arunachala, a mountain considered sacred by Hindus...
, Papaji’s teacher.
“I use inquiry as a way of getting the mind to turn inward to the silence. It could be the question, “Who am I?” Or it could be “What am I avoiding in this moment?” Or, “Where is silence?” “What is needed in this moment, right in this very moment, what is needed for true peace?” “What is needed if this was my last moment on earth?” Rather than sending the mind outward to gather information or experiences, it is really sending the mind inward to question our basic assumption of who we think we are.”
In facing strong emotions such as fear and anger, or in dealing with traumas which keep people locked in personal misery and unable to experience freedom, Gangaji teaches “direct experience,” or meeting whatever emotion is present. For example she says, “Fear is about survival. When you drop under that and experience the fear without trying to change it, just letting it be, then it becomes still. When you open your heart to fear, rather than trying to fight it or deny it or even overcome it, then you find it is just energy."
Although Gangaji states that her realization and meetings are not part of any particular religion or philosophy, her teaching has sometimes been described as consistent with Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta
Advaita Vedanta is considered to be the most influential and most dominant sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and ; while the minor ones include Suddhadvaita, Dvaitadvaita and Achintya Bhedabheda...
.
Gangaji Foundation
Since 1993 Gangaji’s work has been supported by The Gangaji Foundation, a non-profit headquartered in Ashland, OregonAshland, Oregon
Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...
. Its mission statement states: “The Gangaji Foundation serves the truth of universal consciousness, and the potential for the individual and collective recognition of peace inherent in the core of all being. It is the purpose of the Gangaji Foundation to forthrightly and respectfully present the teaching and transmission of Gangaji, through the grace of Sri Ramana Maharshi
Ramana Maharshi
Sri Ramana Maharshi , born Venkataraman Iyer, was a Hindu spiritual master . He was born to a Tamil-speaking Brahmin family in Tiruchuzhi, Tamil Nadu. After experiencing at age 16 what he later described as liberation , he left home for Arunachala, a mountain considered sacred by Hindus...
and Sri H.W.L. Poonja.”
The Gangaji Foundation produces events, publishes books and videos, hosts a website and runs several outreach programs including a prison program.
Recent events
In October 2005, Gangaji's husband, Eli Jaxon-BearEli Jaxon-Bear
Eli Jaxon-Bear is an American spiritual teacher and author currently living in Ashland, Oregon. Before he met his final teacher, Sri H.W.L. Poonja in 1990, he was best known for his work with the Enneagram. Following his meeting with Poonjaji he continued to teach, carrying his teacher’s message...
, admitted to Gangaji that he had a three-year affair with an adult female student who was later employed as a teacher in his organization, the Leela Foundation. After a brief separation, Gangaji and Eli reconciled their marriage in December 2005. At the student’s request, the information about the affair was not made public at that time. In January 2006, Gangaji and Eli merged their foundations, continuing to teach together and separately.
In October 2006, Eli disclosed his extramarital relationship to the Gangaji Foundation Board of Directors and staff. Barbara Denempont, Executive Director of the Gangaji Foundation, explained the situation in an open letter approved by the Board. "What was initially seen as a matter between two adults is now recognized to be a betrayal of the teacher/student relationship and an abuse of power," She added,
"The repercussions of this betrayal are reverberating in ways that were never imagined, but are very painful. The deepest truths do not excuse or justify our failures and betrayals as human beings. Gratefully though, without minimizing or spiritualizing the damage done, love remains and sustains all. It is only in love that we can truly meet the pain that comes with being human. Ever more so, we can commit ourselves to the compassion that love provides and to tell the truth more clearly and honestly to others and ourselves."
For a time Jaxon-Bear stopped teaching. Both the Gangaji Foundation and Eli held open meetings with the stated purpose to heal whatever wounds that may have been experienced in their spiritual community. In addition, Gangaji and later Gangaji and Eli together held retreats on the subjects of disillusionment, betrayal, and relationship.
In 2007 Eli was diagnosed with multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma , also known as plasma cell myeloma or Kahler's disease , is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell normally responsible for the production of antibodies...
, a severe form of blood cancer. After undergoing extensive treatment he made a partial recovery. In January 2008, Eli reestablished the Leela Foundation and resumed teaching on his own and with Gangaji
Books
- "You are That!" (1995), ISBN 0-9632194-3-X
- "Freedom and Resolve" (1999), ISBN 1-887984-01-1
- "Just Like You, An Autobiography" (2003), ISBN 0-9646999-2-3
- "The Diamond in Your Pocket: Discovering Your True Radiance" (2007), ISBN 1-59179-272-X
- "Hidden Treasure: Uncovering the Truth in Your Life Story" (2011), ISBN 1585428876
Articles and Chapters
- Ed Shapiro, Deb Shapiro. Be the Change: How Meditation Can Transform You and the World, Sterling Ethos (2009), ISBN 1402760019
- Brent Kessel. It's Not About the Money: Unlock Your Money Type to Achieve Spiritual and Financial Abundance, HarperOne (2008) ISBN 0061234060, pp. 39, 77, 155.
- Rita Robinson. Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Wisdom: The Feminine Face of Awakening, O Books (2007), Language: English, ISBN 978 1 84694 068 2, pp. 209–231.
- Science of Mind (July 2005), Media Review of The Diamond in Your Pocket
- LA Yoga (March 2005), “Sitting Down with Gangaji”
- Mail Tribune (Medford/Ashland, OR, Dec. 31, 2004), “New Age Haven Attracts Gangaji”
- Sacred Pathways (June/July 2004), “Uncovering Self-Betrayal on the Way to Serve Love and World Peace”
- Pathways (Washington, DC, Spring 2004), “The Awakening Power of Two Simple Questions”
- New ConneXion: Journal of Conscious Evolution (Portland, September/October 2003), “Already Immortal”
- Spirituality and Health (Summer 2001), “Satsang with Gangaji”
- The Light Connection (San Diego, January 2001), “The Choice is Yours”
- Albany Advertiser (Albany, NY, March 30, 1999), “Interview with Gangaji”
- Southern Crossings (Australia, March/April 1999), “Satsang with Gangaji”
- Utne Reader (July/August 1998), “God with a Million Faces”
- Nova Magazine (Australia, December 1998), “True Romance: The Relationship with Truth”
- Science of Mind (April 1998), “Your True Self: An Interview with Gangaji”
- Evergreen Monthly (Seattle, June 1997), “The Limitless Nectar of Being”
- The Sante Fe Sun (March 1997), “From Trance to Self: Interview with Gangaji”
- Yoga Journal (May/June 1994), “A Conversation with Gangaji”
- Caduceus (Issue 47), “The Search for Happiness”
Audio/DVD Compilations
- A Love Secret Spoken, CD, ISBN 1-877984-06-2
- Being In Peace, CD, ISBN 1-887984-32-1; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-50-X
- Beyond Practice, CD, ISBN 1-887984-38-0; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-51-8
- Facing Death, CD, ISBN 1-887984-11-9; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-44-5
- Freedom & Desire, CD, ISBN 1-887984-60-7; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-59-3
- Innocence, Trust and Self-Betrayal, CD, ISBN 1-887984-56-9; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-63-1
- Laughing All the Way Home, DVD, 7-81887-0500-3
- Love & Gratitude, CD, ISBN 1-887984-68-2; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-67-4
- Open, Unprotected, and Free, CD, ISBN 1-887984-23-2; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-46-1
- Revealing Strategies of Ego, CD, ISBN 1-887984-17-8; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-47-X
- Spiritual Traps, CD and DVD
- Standing In The Truth Of Who You Are, CD and DVD
- Still In Awareness, CD, ISBN 1-887984-56-9; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-55-0
- The Findhorn Retreat Set, CD and DVD Set
- The Gift of Retreat, CD, ISBN 1-887984-26-7
- The Heart Broken Open, CD, ISBN 1-887984-08-9
- The Invitation, CD, ISBN 1-887984-20-8
- The Jewel in Disillusionment, CD Set,
- The Moment of Choice, CD, ISBN 1-887984-29-1; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-52-6
- The Truth Alive in You, CD Set, ISBN 1-887984-43-7
- The Ungraspable Offering, CD, ISBN 1-887984-35-6; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-49-6
- Unraveling the Knot of Suffering, CD, ISBN 1-887984-14-3; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-48-8
- Untouched By Any Power, CD, ISBN 1-887984-41-0; DVD, ISBN 1-887984-53-4