U. G. Krishnamurti

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U.G. Krishnamurti
Born	July 9, 1918 Masulipatam, India
Died	March 22, 2007 Vallecrossia, Italy
Occupation	philosopher, public speaker, author

Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti (July 9, 1918 – March 22, 2007), better known as U.G. Krishnamurti, or just U.G., was a speaker and philosopher, often known as an "anti-guru" or as "the man who refused to be a guru"^[1].

Contents 1 Philosophy 2 Biography 2.1 Early life and India 2.2 London period 2.3 Early Swiss period 2.4 Calamity 2.5 Post-calamity 2.6 Death 3 Bibliography 4 Books on U.G. Krishnamurti 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Philosophy

I have no message for mankind.

This is how U.G. Krishnamurti often summed up his own proclamations, denying any value others may want to bestow them with. Yet in articulating this statement, he for all intents and purposes put forth an enveloping philosophy - one which prompted others to label him at various times as "anti-guru", "the nihilist of enlightenment", and "a spiritual terrorist".^[2]

In U.G.'s definition, "A guru is one who tells you to throw away all the crutches that we have been made to believe are essential for our survival. He would ask you to walk, and he would say that if you fall, you will arise and walk."^[3] He refused to be called a guru, vociferously opposed all notions of enlightenment and spirituality, and attacked all aspects of human thought and thinking. To that end he even defied his own utterances, denying them any importance. In the preface to his book Mind is a Myth, he wrote:

My teaching, if that is the word you want to use, has no copyright. You are free to reproduce, distribute, interpret, misinterpret, distort, garble, do what you like, even claim authorship, without my consent or the permission of anybody.

U.G. emphasized the impossibility and non-necessity of any human change, radical or mundane. He insisted that the body and its actions are already perfect, and he considered attempts to change or mold the body or its actions as pure and simple violence. The psyche or self or mind, an entity which he denied as having any being, is composed of nothing but the "demand" to bring about change in the world, in itself, or in both. Furthermore, human self-consciousness is not a thing, but a movement, one characterized by "perpetual malcontent" and a "fascist insistence" on its own importance and survival.

U.G. also maintained that the reason people came to him (and to gurus), was in order to find solutions for their everyday real problems, and/or for solutions to a fabricated problem, namely, the search for spirituality and enlightenment. He insisted that this search is caused by the cultural environment, which demands conformity of individuals as it simultaneously places within them the desire to be special - the achievement of enlightenment thus viewed as a crowning expression of an individual's "specialness" and uniqueness. Consequently, the desire for enlightenment is exploited by gurus, spiritual teachers, and other sellers of "shoddy goods", who pretend to offer various ways to reach that goal. According to U.G., all these facilitators never deliver, and cannot ever deliver, since the goal itself (i.e. enlightenment), is unreachable.^[4]

The articulation of this philosophy, at least in public, did not begin until U.G. was well into middle age, after his own life-long and fruitless search for, and about, spiritual enlightenment - and of people who may have attained it. Just prior to this public exposition, he underwent what he considered as a life-altering series of personal experiences, which he collectively termed "the calamity". (See sections below).

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and India

He was born on July 9, 1918 in Masulipatam, a town in coastal Andhra Pradesh, India, and raised in the nearby town of Gudivada. His mother died seven days after he was born, and he was brought up by his maternal grandfather, a wealthy Brahmin lawyer, who was also involved in the Theosophical Society. U.G. also became a member of the Theosophical Society during his teenage years.^[5]

During the same period of his life, U.G. practiced all kinds of austerities and earnestly sought moksha or spiritual enlightenment. To that end, between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, he undertook all kinds of spiritual exercise, determined to find out whether moksha was possible. Wanting to achieve that state, he had also resolved to prove that if there were people who have thus "realized" themselves, they could not be hypocritical.^[6] As part of this endeavor, he searched for a person who was an embodiment of such "realization".

He spent seven summers in the Himalayas with Swami Sivananda studying yoga and practicing meditation.^[7] During his twenties, U.G. began attending the University of Madras, studying psychology, philosophy, mysticism, and the sciences, but never completed a degree, having determined that the answers of the West - to what he considered were essential questions - were no better than those of the East.

In 1939, at age 21, U.G. met with renowned spiritual teacher Ramana Maharshi. U.G. related that he asked Ramana, "This thing called moksha, can you give it to me?" - to which Ramana Maharshi purportedly replied, "I can give it, but can you take it?". This answer completely altered U.G.'s perceptions of the "spiritual path" and its practitioners, and he never again sought the counsel of "those religious people". Later U.G. would say that Maharshi's answer - which he perceived as "arrogant" - put him "back on track".^[8]

In 1941, he began working for the Theosophical Society, in C.W. Leadbeater's library.^[9] Shortly, he began an international lecture tour on behalf of the Society, visiting Norway, Belgium, Germany and the United States. Returning to India, he married a Brahmin woman named Kusuma Kumari in 1943, at age 25.^[10]

From 1947 to 1953, U.G. regularly attended talks given by Jiddu Krishnamurti in Madras, India, eventually beginning a direct dialogue with K. Jiddu in 1953.^[11][12] U.G. related that the two had almost daily discussions for a while, which he asserted were not providing satisfactory answers to his questions. Finally, their meetings came to a halt. He described part of the final discussion:

And then, towards the end, I insisted, "Come on, is there anything behind the abstractions you are throwing at me?" And that chappie said, "You have no way of knowing it for yourself". Finish -- that was the end of our relationship, you see -- "If I have no way of knowing it, you have no way of communicating it. What the hell are we doing? I've wasted seven years. Goodbye, I don't want to see you again". Then I walked out.^[12]

After the break with K. Jiddu, U.G. continued travelling, still lecturing. At about the same time he claims to have been "puzzled" by the continuing appearance of certain psychic powers.^[12] In 1955, U.G. and his family went to the United States to seek medical treatment for his eldest son, and stayed there for 5 years.

[edit] London period

He ultimately separated from his family and went to London where he lived a bleak existence, alone and penniless, wandering the streets, often depending on the charity of others for survival.^[13] While sitting one day in Hyde Park, he was confronted by a police officer who threatened to lock him up if he didn't leave the park. Down to his last five pence, he made his way to the Ramakrishna Mission of London where the residing Swami gave him money for a hotel room for the night. The following day, U.G. began working for the Ramakrishna Mission, an arrangement that lasted for a period of three months. Before leaving the mission he left a letter for the residing Swamiji telling him that he had become a new man.^[14]

About this time, Jiddu Krishnamurti was in London and the two Krishnamurtis renewed their acquaintance. Jiddu tried to advise U.G. on his recent marital troubles, but U.G. didn't want his help. Jiddu eventually persuaded him to attend a few talks he was giving in London, which U.G. did, but found himself bored listening to him.^[15]

In 1961, U.G. put an end to his relationship with his wife, who had recently been suicidal (she later underwent shock therapy and died of an accident in 1963). Their marriage had been a largely unhappy affair, and by that time he described himself as being "detached" from his family emotionally as well as physically. He then left London and spent three months living in Paris, using funds he had obtained by selling his unused return ticket to India, during which time he ate a different variety of cheese each day. Down to his last 150 francs, he went to Geneva.

[edit] Early Swiss period

After two weeks in Geneva, U.G. was unable to pay his hotel bill and sought refuge at the Indian Consulate. He was listless, without hope, and described himself as "finished" - he requested that he be sent back to India, which the consular authorities refused to do at the state's expense. At that time, he met a Swiss woman named Valentine de Kerven, who worked at the consulate. Valentine and U.G. became close friends, and she provided him with a home in Switzerland. It was the beginning of a life-long relationship.

For the next few years, the questions regarding the subject of enlightenment - or anything else - did not interest him, and he did nothing to further his enquiry. But by 1967, U.G. was again concerned with the subject of enlightenment, wanting to know what that state was, which sages such as Siddhārtha Gautama purportedly attained. Hearing that Jiddu Krishnamurti was giving a talk in Saanen, U.G. decided to attend. During the talk, Jiddu was describing his own state and U.G. thought that it referred to him (U.G.). He explained it as follows:

When I Iistened to him, something funny happened to me -- a peculiar kind of feeling that he was describing my state and not his state. Why did I want to know his state? He was describing something, some movements, some awareness, some silence -- "In that silence there is no mind; there is action" -- all kinds of things. So, I am in that state. What the hell have I been doing these thirty or forty years, listening to all these people and struggling, wanting to understand his state or the state of somebody else, Buddha or Jesus? I am in that state. Now I am in that state. So, then I walked out of the tent and never looked back.

He continues:

Then -- very strange -- that question "What is that state?" transformed itself into another question "How do I know that I am in that state, the state of Buddha, the state I very much wanted and demanded from everybody? I am in that state, but how do I know?"^[16]

[edit] Calamity

The next day, on his 49th birthday, U.G. was again pondering the question "How do I know I am in that state?" with no answer forthcoming. He later recounted that on suddenly realizing the question had no answer, there was an unexpected physical, as well as psychological, reaction. It seemed to him like "a sudden explosion inside, blasting, as it were, every cell, every nerve and every gland in my body." Afterwards, he started experiencing what he called "the calamity", a series of bizarre physiological transformations that took place over the course of a week, affecting each one of his senses, and finally resulting in a deathlike experience. He described it this way:

I call it calamity because from the point of view of one who thinks this is something fantastic, blissful and full of beatitude, love, or ecstasy, this is physical torture; this is a calamity from that point of view. Not a calamity to me but a calamity to those who have an image that something marvelous is going to happen.^[16]

Upon the eighth day:

Then, on the eighth day I was sitting on the sofa and suddenly there was an outburst of tremendous energy -- tremendous energy shaking the whole body, and along with the body, the sofa, the chalet and the whole universe, as it were -- shaking, vibrating. You can't create that movement at all. It was sudden. Whether it was coming from outside or inside, from below or above, I don't know -- I couldn't locate the spot; it was all over. It lasted for hours and hours. I couldn't bear it but there was nothing I could do to stop it; there was a total helplessness. This went on and on, day after day, day after day.^[16]

The energy that is operating there does not feel the limitations of the body; it is not interested; it has its own momentum. It is a very painful thing. It is not that ecstatic, blissful beatitude and all that rubbish -- stuff and nonsense! -- it is really a painful thing.^[16]

U.G. could not, and did not, explain the provenance of the calamity experiences. In response to questions, he maintained that it happened "in spite of" his pre-occupation with - and search for - enlightenment. He also maintained that the calamity had nothing to do with his life up to that point, or with his upbringing. Several times he described the calamity happening to him as a matter of chance, and he insisted that he could not possibly, in any way, impart that experience to anybody else.^[16][17]

[edit] Post-calamity

According to U.G., his life-story can be separated into the pre- and post- calamity parts. After his calamity experience, U.G. remained primarily in Switzerland but often travelled to other countries around the world, holding discussions with small groups of people and with interested individuals. However, whenever people sought him for answers to their spiritual dilemmas,^[18] he emphasized that he had nothing to teach, and that no one can really learn about enlightenment by depending on someone else as an authority, teacher or guide. He gave his only post-calamity public talk in India, in 1972.^[19]

His unorthodox non-message/philosophy and the often uncompromising, direct style of its presentation, generated a measure of notoriety and sharply divided opinions. At the extremes, some people considered him "enlightened" (U.G. always refused the label), while others considered him nothing more than a charlatan. The clamor increased as books and articles by, and about, U.G. and his newly expounded philosophy, continued appearing.

Several of his group discussions and interviews have been published in books, or/and are carried verbatim in various websites. There is also a variety of audio and video documents available online.

[edit] Death

On March 22, 2007 U.G. Krishnamurti passed away at Vallecrosia in Italy. He had slipped and injured himself, and was bedridden for seven weeks before his death. Friends, including Indian film director Mahesh Bhatt, and Larry and Susan Morris, were by his side when he died.^[20] In February of 2007 he had dictated his final piece of writing, "My Swan Song".^[21][22]

He had asked that no rituals or funeral rites be conducted upon his death; also, he did not leave instructions on how to dispose of his body. U.G.'s body was cremated by Bhatt the next day.^[23] True to his own philosophy, U.G. did not want to be remembered after his death.^[24] He was survived by two daughters and a son, and their respective families.

[edit] Bibliography

• The Courage to Stand Alone: Conversations with U.G. Krishnamurti, 2001, Smriti Books. ISBN 8187967064.
• The Mystique of Enlightenment: The Radical Ideas of U.G. Krishnamurti, 2002, Sentient Publications. ISBN 0971078610. Also published as The Mystique of Enlightenment: The Unrational ideas of a man called U.G., 2005, Smriti Books. ISBN 8187967099.
• Thought is Your Enemy: Conversations with U.G. Krishnamurti, 2002, Smriti Books. ISBN 8187967110.
• The Little Book of Questions, 2003, Penguin Books. ISBN 0140299386.
• Mind Is a Myth: Conversations with U.G. Krishnamurti, 2003, Smriti Books. ISBN 8187967102.
• No Way Out: Conversations with U.G. Krishnamurti, 2005, Smriti Books. ISBN 8187967080.
• The Natural State, In the words of U.G. Krishnamurti, 2005, Smriti Books. ISBN 8187967773.
• The Penguin U.G. Krishnamurti Reader, 2007, Penguin Books. ISBN 0143101021. (Mukunda Rao, Editor)

[edit] Books on U.G. Krishnamurti

• Mahesh Bhatt, U.G. Krishnamurti, a Life, 1992, Viking. ISBN 0140126201.
• Shanta Kelker, The Sage And the Housewife, 2005, Smriti Books. ISBN 8187967749.
• Mukunda Rao, The Other Side of Belief: Interpreting U.G. Krishnamurti, 2005, Penguin Books. ISBN 0144000350.
• K. Chandrasekhar, J. S. R. L. Narayana Moorty, Stopped in Our Tracks: Stories of UG in India. 2005, Smriti Books. ISBN 8187967765.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• U.G. Krishnamurti.org
• U.G. Krishnamurti resource site
• Mahesh Bhatt's Diary: 30 days with U.G.
• Video: U.G. Krishnamurti's Parting Message