H.W.L. Poonja, popularly known as Papaji, was a disciple the greatest Hindu mystic of modern times, Sri Ramana Maharshi. Papaji was a well-known teacher of advaita (non-dual) Vedanta, the loftiest spiritual philosophy in the Hindu tradition. He attracted many Western followers, especially after the demise of the infamous Rajneesh/Osho. Given Papaji's stature and philosophical orientation, I was quite surprized to discover that he practiced gopi bhâva, envisioning himself as a girlfriend of Lord Krishna. Even more surprizing is the fact that he wore women's dress while practicing gopi bhâva, much as Sri Ramakrishna and others have, for the sake of strengthening his devotion.
Sri H.W.L. Poonja, lovingly referred to as Papaji, was born on October 13, 1910, in a part of the Punjab that is now in Pakistan. He had his first direct experience of the Self at the age of nine. He met his Master, Sri Ramana Maharshi, in 1944. Shortly afterwards he realized the Self in the presence of his master.Being a householder, he continued to work and support the many members of his extended family until his retirement in 1966. After extensive travel Papaji settled down in Lucknow, India, where he received visitors from around the world. He died on September 6, 1997.
[In satsang (informal dialogue), Sri H.W.L. Poonja described his practice of gopi bhâva while he served as an officer in the army.]
"Life in the army meant keeping up an outer front of normality and military sobriety. Open exhibitions of love for a Hindu god would have been frowned on to such an extent that they would have jeopardized my career. This caused me to lead a dual life. By day I played the officer-sahib, complete with stiff upper lip. At night, behind locked doors, I would transform myself into a Krishna gopi."
"I would dismiss my orderly, telling him not to disturb me with the usual 5 a.m. cup of tea. That gave me the whole night with my beloved Krishna. I was not content with doing japa of His name, or with worshipping an inanimate picture or statue, I wanted Krishna Himself to appear before me, as He had frequently done when I was young, so that I could pour out my love to Him directly."
"I pretended I was Radha, the consort of Krishna, because I thought that if I imitated her in every way, Krishna would come and appear before me. I dressed myself in a sari, decorated my body with bangles and women's jewellery, and even put make-up on my face. I got into the bhava that I really was Radha, pining away for her divine lover."
"It worked. Krishna would appear and I would pour out my heart to Him. On the mornings after Krishna had appeared to me my face would be lit up with the happiness of divine love. One of my superior officers mistook my state for drunkenness and gave orders to the barman in the mess that I should not be given more than three small drinks a day. He was told by the barman, quite correctly, that I never drank at all, but he didn't believe him. He simply couldn't understand how someone could look so radiantly happy without having had any alcoholic stimulants." (Full article available here .)
Resources:
Wikipedia includes a brief article on H.W.L. Poonja.
H.W.L. Poonja, popularly known as Papaji, was a disciple the greatest Hindu mystic of modern times, Sri Ramana Maharshi. Papaji was a well-known teacher of advaita (non-dual) Vedanta, the loftiest spiritual philosophy in the Hindu tradition. He attracted many Western followers, especially after the demise of the infamous Rajneesh/Osho. Given Papaji's stature and philosophical orientation, I was quite surprized to discover that he practiced gopi bhâva, envisioning himself as a girlfriend of Lord Krishna. Even more surprizing is the fact that he wore women's dress while practicing gopi bhâva, much as Sri Ramakrishna and others have, for the sake of strengthening his devotion. 
"