The Life of Mooji – Biography of an Advaita Zen Master
Last updated on June 20th, 2024 at 10:50 am
Live by the light of your own heart, but make sure this heart is silent and empty. – Mooji
Born as Anthony Paul Moo-Young, in Port Antonio, Jamaica on January 29, 1954, Mooji is a spiritual teacher of Advaita. He gives spiritual talks, conducts retreats and says that his teachings are an easy path to enlightenment. People all over the world come to him to seek answers to their questions about life and find peace. During his satsangs, people ask questions, turning his talks into interactive question and answer sessions. Devotees compare him to Jesus. The Guardian described Mooji as someone who focuses on you, and lets you feel that you really matter. Popular among his followers who span different nationalities, Mooji is quite an unusual guru who has devoted his life in service of those who are seeking true and lasting self-realization. Let’s take a peek into his life and work in this biography of Mooji.
Life Story of Mooji
Early Life
Mooji was raised by his father Enos Moo-Young and his mother’s cousin Eunice who later was his father’s lover and they had children. When Mooji was just 1 year old, his mother Euphemia Hamilton moved to the UK as part of the windrush generation (people who migrated to North America and Europe after WWII). At a tender age of eight, his father died, after which he was looked after by a strict uncle. During his teenage, he moved to London to stay with his mother. In his twenties, he completed college in Waterloo. Later, he started working as a street artist, preparing charcoal and pastel portraits of people. He married and had a child. In 1987, an interaction with a Christian named Michael sparked Mooji’s interest in spirituality, and in 1993, he came to India to attend satsangs of Papaji, an Indian Guru.
Family Facts
- Mooji’s brother Peter is a famous table tennis player from Jamaica.
- His sister was Cherry Groce, whose death led to the 1985 Brixton riot, when she was shot during a police raid on her residence. It is said that Mooji’s journey as an artist stopped abruptly after this incident.
- Eunice is known to have taken care of Mooji, like her own child, and Mooji as well, regarded her as his mother.
- Enos is believed to have been a very good father, and a highly respected individual in his town.
- Mooji’s son died of pneumonia in 1994, due to which he returned to England from India, but continued shuttling between India and Brixton and served as a spiritual guru.
Mooji’s Inclination to Spirituality
Michael, the Christian he happened to meet, is believed to have had a great influence on the spiritual journey of Mooji. It was with Michael that Mooji had his first deep conversations about the life and philosophy of Jesus Christ. These discussions are said to have played a crucial role in drawing Mooji to seek the ultimate truth. When Mooji asked Michael to pray for him when he would pray the next time, Michael insisted that they could pray right then. Mooji prayed, after which, he says, he experienced lightness and peace; deep inner peace, which, according to him, has remained in him thereafter. His meeting with Michael can be called a life-changer for Mooji, as it led to his first awakening about the reality of God. According to Mooji, a feeling of blissful detachment arose in him and since then he has been perceiving life as if sitting in the lap of God. The sense of time was vanishing, he was inclining inward and gaining more and more focus on the love of God.
A book titled The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, was another turning point in Mooji’s spiritual journey. After seeing this book, he traveled to India to visit Ramakrishna’s house and temple. One day while walking up from the Ganga river, he met three people who were followers of sage Sri Harilal Poonja. They introduced him to Harilal Poonja, also called Papaji, who would later be Mooji’s spiritual guru. He regarded Papaji as a living Buddha, with whom, he gained greater self-awareness.
Mooji’s Teachings
- Interestingly, when Mooji used to go to London after attending satsangs in India, he would sell tea and incense and give away ‘thoughts for the day’ rolled around straws from McDonalds.
- A group of seekers took his studentship in 1999, and started releasing books, CDs and videos of his teachings. That marked the beginning of Mooji as a spiritual teacher.
- Mooji delivers Satsangs at different places across the globe that are attended by thousands of people from fifty different nationalities.
- He conducts meditation sessions that are mostly week-long and attended by about 800-900 people.
- He has a 30-hectar property in the Alentejo region of Portugal where he has built an ashram called Monte Sahaja. 40-60 people are staying permanently in the ashram, and various spiritual activities are conducted there.
- A follower had described Mooji’s teachings as spiritual food that is neither esoteric nor difficult to comprehend.
- As per BBC, Mooji’s satsangs are 5-hour spiritual question-answer sessions, where people can ask how to find spiritual contentment.
- As per Outlook, Mooji’s philosophy is based on the search for ‘I am’, and is not aligned with any particular religion or political ideology.
- Mooji is known to introduce the seekers to a direct path to freedom through self-inquiry and through the process of proving to be an effective aid for true and lasting self-realization.
- Through his profound knowledge that is rendered to the seekers, with openness and a tinge of humour, Mooji inspires his followers and helps them attain peace.
To his followers, he comes across as someone with a unique clarity of thought, great wisdom, deep compassion, and simplicity in expression, which is a reason why people can understand his teachings and apply them in real life.
Some of the Mooji bestseller books:
Vaster Than Sky, Greater Than Space: What You Are Before You Became
White Fire: Spiritual Insights and Teachings of Advaita Zen Master Mooji
Before I Am: The Direct Recognition of Truth
Currently living at Monte Sahaja in Portugal, Mooji continues to draw several seekers from around the world, who wish to meet this wise teacher and spiritual master to get answers to their questions on life, spirituality, self-realization and inner peace. His life and work continue to inspire many and he is among the very popular spiritual gurus of the modern times.