UG Krishnamurti- The Cosmic Naxalite
India is a land of vast spiritual and religious traditions. Many spiritual masters have lived and preached in India and made a deep impact on spiritualism across the globe. Names like Mahavir Jain, Kapila, Buddha, Adi Sankara, Ramana Maharshi, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Osho are very well known not only in India but in every corner of the world. Though all of these spiritual masters differed in their approach to spirituality, the fundamental object of their teachings was same- attaining enlightenment. They all taught man must liberate himself from the clutches of the ego and attain a higher state of consciousness or what Buddhists call Nirvana. The concept of a state of enlightenment where all sufferings, hate, envy, anger and greed become non existent is common to all spiritual traditions. Among all the spiritual gurus who were teaching enlightenment to mankind, there is a man who stands alone, rejecting the existence of any kind of enlightenment and in whose own word was not a teacher at all- UG Krishnamurti.
Uppluri Gopala Krishnamurti was born in 1918 in the town of Machllipatanam, in coastal Andhra Pradesh, India. His parents died in his childhood and he was raised by his grandparents. He belonged to a wealthy Brahmin family who were adherents of the theosophical society which had quite a large following in India, particularly in south at that time. UG joined the theosophical society in early childhood and during his adolescence practiced several spiritual traditions in order to find what people called moksha. At one point in his life, he was so determined to find enlightenment that he almost decided to become a sanyasi. However, he continued his studies of philosophy and psychology but never completed his degree. By the time he dropped out of university of Madras, he was convinced that neither oriental mysticism nor occidental philosophy had satisfactory answers for the essential questions of mankind. Eventually, he not only rejected mysticism and spiritualism but also called the discipline of psychology a fraud and philosophy useless.UG's life was so adventurous with so many ups and downs that it would require volumes of books to cover his entire life. So, I would restrict myself to discussing his ideas and some very important events of his life.
One of the most important events of UG's life was his meeting with the saint of Arunachala, Ramana Maharshi. When UG aggressively started his spiritualism and religious bashing, some friends advised him to see Ramana. After having some conversation on spiritualism, UG asked Ramana "This thing called enlightenment, can you give it to me?" – to which Ramana Maharshi replied, "I can give it, but can you take it?". This answer completely altered Krishnamurti's perceptions of the spiritual path and its practitioners, and he never again sought the counsel of those religious people.
UG gradually became one of the most radical thinkers of his time, denying almost every social, religious and spiritual value. He would call Buddha a conman for he being deluded himself, deceived a large number of people. He spent 12 years with J Krishnamurti but later said Jiddu was "the greatest hoax of 20th century spiritual market". UG was convinced that the very desire for enlightenment and liberation was the actual cause suffering. There was nothing to be free from, he believed and therefore nothing to be taught. All teachings, therefore, according to UG are useless and futile. He proclaimed "I have no teaching. There is nothing to preserve. Teaching implies something that can be used to bring about change. Sorry, there is no teaching here, just disjointed, disconnected sentences. What is there is only your interpretation, nothing else. For this reason there is not now nor will there ever be any kind of copyright for whatever I am saying. I have no claims."
Another important event which transformed UG's life was what he called "the calamity". UG was reflecting upon the natural state of the body and asked himself "How do I know if I am in that state?". Suddenly he felt 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. Swellings appeared on his body exactly at the spots where spiritualists believe the chakras exist. Yet, UG refused to make any spiritual interpretation of this experience. He described his experience purely in physiological terms. UG described it in following words "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." When words spread of his so called spiritual transformation, people from all over the country started visiting him. But UG kept dismissing them all, describing the transformation as physiological and in terms of activation of dormant glands in the body. UG never exploited the gullibility of people and always kept dismissing all claims of divinity and spiritual enlightenment. When the priest of Chamundi Devi temple installed UG's picture in the temple premises, UG himself visited the temple to get it removed.
Another crucial aspect of UG's beliefs was his rejection of mind or the self. He questioned the very existence of mind when he was studying psychology. Man, according to UG is not a mind or a soul or psyche or self as the psychologists or the spiritualists preach. UG very famously said "Man is just a memory. You understand things around you by the help of the knowledge that was put in you. You perhaps need the artist to explain his modern art, but you don't need anybody's help to understand a flower. You can deal with anything, you can do anything if you do not waste your energy trying to achieve imaginary goals." Mind is a myth and thought is your enemy, UG would say. UG held radical views about almost everything from morality to psychology, religion to spirituality and politics to philosophy. He rejected every established norms, ideas and values, rebelling against all foundations of the society thus claiming of being the Cosmic Naxalite.
UG was a very unusual personality and ridiculously rebellious. He destroyed every social norm that has become unquestionable dogma in our society. Throughout his life he never took any medication and never saw any doctor. When complimented for his good looks in old age, he would respond "its because I don't eat healthy food and vitamins". He did not want to be remembered after his death. He never wrote any book, never compiled his teachings, never held copyrights of his lectures.
What makes UG's life and ideas important is the way he rejected the status quo, his refusal to abide by the established social norms, his denouncing of all philosophies and his complete destruction of social framework thus building new ground for the birth of an individual. Our contemporary societies have become too dogmatic with ideologies and isms.Social values have become unquestionable dogmas. In these times, UG at least provides us with scale for measuring the sickness of the society if not with the cure.
Let me conclude this post with some wise words from UG.
Uppluri Gopala Krishnamurti was born in 1918 in the town of Machllipatanam, in coastal Andhra Pradesh, India. His parents died in his childhood and he was raised by his grandparents. He belonged to a wealthy Brahmin family who were adherents of the theosophical society which had quite a large following in India, particularly in south at that time. UG joined the theosophical society in early childhood and during his adolescence practiced several spiritual traditions in order to find what people called moksha. At one point in his life, he was so determined to find enlightenment that he almost decided to become a sanyasi. However, he continued his studies of philosophy and psychology but never completed his degree. By the time he dropped out of university of Madras, he was convinced that neither oriental mysticism nor occidental philosophy had satisfactory answers for the essential questions of mankind. Eventually, he not only rejected mysticism and spiritualism but also called the discipline of psychology a fraud and philosophy useless.UG's life was so adventurous with so many ups and downs that it would require volumes of books to cover his entire life. So, I would restrict myself to discussing his ideas and some very important events of his life.
One of the most important events of UG's life was his meeting with the saint of Arunachala, Ramana Maharshi. When UG aggressively started his spiritualism and religious bashing, some friends advised him to see Ramana. After having some conversation on spiritualism, UG asked Ramana "This thing called enlightenment, can you give it to me?" – to which Ramana Maharshi replied, "I can give it, but can you take it?". This answer completely altered Krishnamurti's perceptions of the spiritual path and its practitioners, and he never again sought the counsel of those religious people.
