Being

Yet another book on UG is now available:

Being
Essays on UG Krishnamurti and Other Topics
by Narayana Moorty

Free Download
beyondpoetry.com

“My aim in this book is to approach some of the issues without presupposing any religious or spiritual beliefs, taking a commonsense point of view and remaining always within the sphere of the known. The book should also demonstrate how I have translated, as best as I could, what I understand or learned from UG into my own life. Standing from such a ground of experience I have tried to chip away, as it were, bit by bit, at the unknown. Of course, you can never know the unknown. But what has been considered mystical or mysterious before could, at least to a minor degree, be unraveled. In my opinion, that was indeed what UG was trying to achieve as well.”
– Narayana Moorty
Seaside, California

Also visit some other recent books on UG on this site:
(1) Goner: The Final Travels of UG Krishnamurti, by Louis Brawley
(2) The Biology Of Enlightenment: Unpublished Conversations Of U. G. Krishnamurti After He Came Into The Natural State (1967-71)
Edited by Mukunda Rao
(3) A Taste of life: the last days of UG. By Mahesh Bhatt [link1] [link2]

UG is for life

UG friends and admirers gathered at ‘Hridaya Vihar’ – UG House – Bangalore on 22 Mar 2011 thanks to the splendid hospitality extended by Mrs. Suguna Chandrasekhar and Mr. K. Chandrasekhar Babu, to mark or make ‘the 4th UG Aradhana’ event; not for UG, but for the sake of UG friends themselves, so to say.

Meetings and manthans (churnings) are always the best parts of our life. It’s not just an occasion to pay our respects or remembrances to UG, which he never wanted to happen. At least as far as UG is considered, we may take it as an occasion to hit our backs as to see whether we are living our ‘life’ in its freshness and fullness. And that’s all that we may do to UG.

An interesting part of this gathering was the varied and candid exchanges of views on the newly published book, “My mission, if there is any, should be, from now on, to debunk every statement I have made. If you take seriously and try to use or apply what I have said, you will be in danger.”
– UG
[More]The Biology of Enlightenment: Unpublished Conversations Of U. G. Krishnamurti After He Came Into The Natural State (1967-71), edited by Mukunda Rao. [More about this Book] Even though a more common view is expressed there that now UG is more approachable and reachable, as in this book UG moves on a sanguine and sane way unlike his hardcore utterances of the later period – through 1980s, 1990s and till his death-bed statement in March 2007; but for those who have really read in between the lines of this rare new book, there is absolutely no different UG – it’s the same hardcore staring UG. Only the lingo may be a little traditional and not aggressively radical, otherwise it is the same UG.

This book may be considered as the ‘essence’ phase of UG; and the later period till the physical death of UG may be considered as the ‘enforcement of the essence’ phase, where the only focus of UG was to push an individual to the dead end of the hard wall so that there is no escape and he can directly stare into the very life force on his own. It is in this second phase that UG used his own inimical lingo of slang and extreme abuse. He used the worst possible kind of filthy language, only to make us healthy so that we may ‘see’ life directly here now and ‘free’ ourselves from the dead burden of the so called hell lot of the past holy heritage and knowledge shits.

It is absurd and may not be of any use to say that UG was either against or for the traditions or holy scriptures or gurus or religions. UG’s only focus is to see that there is no space or screen between you and your life. It’s so straight and simple. But the words may again spit and split – no end there.

Another point of discussion was as to whether UG proposes or gives any ‘technique’ for arriving at the natural state. Absolutely no ‘techniques’ we find in the utterances of UG there to hang on to it. Techniques and tools may never dare to touch ‘life’. We are left entirely naked and alone here now in the life. The so called gurus, hopes and techniques may only add to more and more hurdles and blocks to life there.

For all those of us who have had the continuous hardcore doses of the UG of the later period, this book may give a sudden little soothing touch; but the hardcore UG always remains in the forefront.

(On the other day, one best and aggressive contributor of this blog, Mr. Madhusudhan D. Rao (Madhu) has had a detailed exchange with me of his ‘way of seeing’ as to whether the hardcore UG is in anyway diluted due to this new book (The Biology of Enlightement). He firmly says NO. It is hoped that Madhu may be posting his way of perceiving this new book and UG out of his own trauma and journey of life, here in the pages of this site, shortly.)

UG “Aradhana” 22 March 2011, Bangalore, India: a view from
Mr. K. Chandrasekhar’s Photo Album [Link] 

Bodhidharma called Buddha a Barbarian

In the book, ‘Thought is Dead: Moving Beyond Spiritual Materialism’, we find some rare startling ‘fires’ of UG Krishnamurti, in full swing. Some selected excerpts from this book are reproduced here:

Spiritual Greed:

Greed. You preach against greed. I’m sorry to point out this to you, because you give discourses on how to be free from greed. Are you free from greed? No. Do you want to be free from greed?

Q: No [Laughter]

UG: No. Why the hell are you asking to begin with? I am sorry to spotlight you and put you in that spotlight. So you tell me. I don’t know if there is such thing as greed. If there is a greed it is operating here in this moment in you. I don’t like to use that word bastard, but you are the greediest bastard in this moment. I am using this only to drive it home for you. So you think that I have ‘something’, which you want. If there is money you can rob a bank and take the money. There is something there. But here, it is your ‘assumption’ that I have something, that I am functioning differently, that I am this, that and the other. You want to be like me. If that is not greed, what else is it? She is laughing.

Q: She knows I’m greedy. [Laughter]

UG: When are you going to be free from greed? When are you going to say, “I’m
greediest man”? Right? When are you going to be free from greed? When? Tell me.

Q: Tomorrow.

UG: It is in operation here. The solution for the greed, if at all you are interested in freeing yourself from greed, is to allow that greed to fill the whole of your being. Every cell in your body, everything in that body should vibrate with that greed. By wanting to be free from greed, for whatever reason you want to be free from greed, you are destroying the possibility of freeing yourself from greed. Through greed you’ll be free from greed. Are you ready to accept it? It is the selfishness that will free you from selfishness, and not the preaching or practice of selfishness.

Spiritual Conmen:

UG: Those Zen bastards! They institutionalized meditation. Jokers! I was never attracted to Zen masters. Never! Because they were all the followers of Buddha and what Buddhism tried to preach to the world. So reject it. You all are them! They institutionalized the whole thing. They invented the techniques of meditation.

Q: The Hindus say that the Upanishads are much superior.

UG: Who? They have to because they are Indian.

Q: At least the Upanishads have not institutionalized those things.

UG: They created these metaphysics, the intellectuals. And what you find in Upanishads is not the people whom they are talking about, but the aspirations of those people who ‘want’ to be that state. That’s why Buddha had too much intellectual nonsense. That fellow didn’t have the guts, sir, to go to the end. And when he had this experience he said, as long as there is a single soul imprisoned in the veil of illusion I refuse to enter the gates of Nirvana. He never entered the gates of Nirvana – he refused for the sake of mankind; like the politicians talking of mankind, humanity, you know? And then for the first time in the history of mankind he introduced the element of conversion, proselytization. He created a sangha- he moved from place to place, followed by all these people, and he wouldn’t allow women to join his order for a long time. There were a lot of protestations. Finally he relented and admitted them also. Then came along – this is my reading of history, take it or leave it – an Ashoka, the King, and he used that as an instrument of power, very forcibly in this country. But then Jainism spread in the South, not Buddhism. That’s why you have so many Jain temples. The place where I grew up is called “the place of temples”. Not Buddhist temples, but Jain monasteries. A lot of prostitutes lived there, along with of course…they go together: prostitutes and spiritual teachers. It is not a religion.

Q: But what is the story that he refused to enter paradise?

UG: Who?

Q: Buddha.

UG: He didn’t have the guts. He stopped with some pretty little mystical experience, like anybody else. Like all these gurus you have in the market place. Even Ramana Maharishi stopped there. All of them. That prevents the possibility of these people coming out with something original. So they have to rely upon the authority of the scriptures, and then they interpret. How can a fellow that has written four volumes talk of enlightenment? Tell me. And claim that he is an enlightened man? He cannot do that. It’s a sales speech. They sell that stuff to the poor people. There is authority for them. The filthy word using – enlightenment. Sorry, sir.

Q: Buddha had authority?

UG: No, no, not at all. It was all political, the man, the King Ashoka. Otherwise, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam would have remained small cults. They became the instruments of power. They forced…of course, they didn’t use violence here in this country, but when Buddhism spread to Japan, particularly, the monasteries maintained armies – trained armies – and supplied them to the rival kings. That’s a trait of holiness. Sanyasins never existed in India. It is difficult to understand because you are all sanyasins. [Laughter]. Because you’ve made a business out of that.

Q: Do you say that Buddha is not at all original?

UG: Not at all. He pretended like J. Krishnamurti – original – by not using any authority that existed before. Because that is what the Upanishads said: it is an authority of its own, so I am “pramanya”, I think. Why should I quote that nonsense? I must wash my mouth. [Laughter]

Q: Buddha is very original.

UG: It is all intellectual nonsense. Not original, all saints do that, what did he do? No, sir. The monasteries supplied armies to the rival kings. The founder of Zen, the first fellow who went there, Bodhidharma, called Buddha a barbarian, and said that Buddhist teachings are nothing but toilet paper. He had the guts to say that in the 7th century! He is quoted there.

Q: The emperor asked him, what is the holy teaching of the Buddha? And he said, no holiness, just…

UG: Kill him, he said. If you meet Buddha kill him. Well, anyway, why do you need a Buddha? It’s the same as Christianity, the conversion – with violence! You may say Buddhism is not violent – Indians are cowards. You swallow anything! Hinduism is not a religion at all like Judaism. It’s social, political, economic, a lot of things put together. It’s just a way of life and way of thinking, nothing else. That is culture. It is not art, beauty, poetry, music – that is not culture. So that is part of your thinking. You think that you are superior to me because you are a swami. What have you renounced? You have not renounced anything. And the second thing is, they pick up a new job, a new language, use that and feel great.T that’s all. Use those words, Krishnamurti lingo.

“A truly religious person does not want anything for himself [laughter], but it is the responsibility of you all [laughter] to see that my teaching is ‘the’ teaching, and should be preserved for posterity in its pristine purity. So give liberally to my cause.” [Laughter]

Q: He uttered that?

UG: Sure, he said “cause”. You see, he was brought up in poor conditions. He didn’t have everything in his life. Here it is the other way around. Buddha was born a king. Anything I wanted I could have had. Anything, anything in the world, I has as a matter of fact, everything that one could reasonably ask for. If I wanted to buy a Rolls-Royce car, just in a jiffy…by writing a check on the Imperial Bank of India I could buy, so you see. Money was not, in that sense, a primary preoccupation. That is not my interest. See, I knew how you could make money. If I decided myself to money I would have been the world’s richest man – world’s richest! All the billionaires in America would be insignificant. That was not my interest. My only interest was to be certain that Buddha was a conman. These people around you, the claimants, are not really the genuine people. There is a dichotomy in their lives – what they said and what…

Some More Excerpts:

The fact of the matter is that when once you have everything that you can reasonably ask for in this world, when all the material needs are taken care of naturally the question arises, “Is that all?” And once you pose that question to yourself – “Is that all?” – a tremendous market for this kind of a business is created: a holy business. And they are exploiting the gullibility and credibility of people, not helping them to resolve the basic problem, the human problem. So you don’t want to be a normal person, you don’t want to be an ordinary person. That is really the problem. It’s the most difficult thing is to be an ordinary person. Culture demands that you must be something other than what you are. That has set in momentum this tremendous, powerful movement of thought which demands that you should be something other than what you are.

Every gland in my body, every cell in my body, has undergone a radical mutation. Why do I use the word mutation? Because I can’t think of a more appropriate word. Every gland has undergone a transformation because it seems to be functioning in a different way. The brain waves are incredible, and I would very much like to have the opportunity to use a brain wave machine. The electricity that goes out of my body is tremendous since there is no point inside of me. There is no space for me at all. Then it expands. The electricity that is generated in this body goes to the end of the universe, affecting the whole thing. When I come out of this state, whatever you call it, the whole body is filled with peace. It’s some kind of a substance like a white substance. The whole body is filled with this white substance. You can look at it and it shines like a phosphoresce. It’s the whole body.

 

About the Book:
‘Thought Is Dead’ is a unique selection of mostly unpublished and rare transcripts of U.G. Krishnamurti in dialogue, including a particularly rare discussion with renowned physicist David Bohm. U.G. explains how our desire for spiritual enlightenment is a greed, like any other, and that we are operating as a complex set of machinery. In addition U.G. details, in a step-by-step account, the mysterious process by which his consciousness underwent a complete transformation.
About the Author:
Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti (July 9, 1918 – March 22, 2007), known as U.G. Krishnamurti, or just U.G., was an Indian sage who spoke of his enlightenment openly. Although necessary for day to day functioning of the individual, in terms of the Ultimate Reality or Truth he rejected the very basis of thought and in doing so negated all systems of thought and knowledge in reference to It.
Book Details:
Thought is Dead: Moving Beyond Spiritual Materialism
By UG Krishnamurti
Paperback: 180 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (July 31, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1453709371
ISBN-13: 978-1453709375
This Book’s Link on Amazon

 

UG: ‘Yes, I shall maintain Sankara was a bastard! Mandukya is shit!’

His name was Chakravarti Ananthachar. As his name indicates, he was born in a Vaishnava family which followed the tradition of Vishistadvaita (qualified nondualism) taught by Sri Ramanujacharya. Although Mr. Ananantachar was profound scholar in Sankrit grammar and logic and an authority on Ramanajacharya’s philosophy, he was also a great admirer of Sankara and his Advaita philosophy. He lectures on Sankara’s Advaita Vedanta always drew large crowds and earned him a good standing in the spiritual circles of Bangalore. That is how several of my friends got to know of him. Once upon a time, my friend Krishnamurthy was very close to him and was attending his lectures almost every day.

One day in June 1998, our friend Venkata Chalapati spoke about UG to Anantachar describing UG as a “Jivanmukta”. Anantachar was impressed and expressed his interest in meeting UG. But UG dissuaded Venkat Chalapati: “Why do you want to bring him? You say that he is a scholar and professional speaker. Such people have an investment in the tradition they believe in. How can he listen to me?” But Venkat Chalapati’s eagerness prevailed.

At last, on Sunday June 21 1998, Anantachar walked into Major’s Farm house to meet UG. He was accompanied by Venkat Chalapati and Krishnamurthy.

UG respectfully offered a seat next to him on the sofa. Some of us on the floor and some on the available chairs. I wrote down the points of discussion between UG and Anantachar. Here is the text of the conversation that took place on that bright sunny afternoon.

Anantachar introduced himself as a theoretical Vedanta exponent, and a mere speaker and scholar on matters of Vedanta. He started his conversation with UG saying, “Those who are in the highest spiritual state are said to be in possession of several powers.”

UG made no comment.

Anantachar: Don’t you think that through meditation one can achieve great heights in spiritual life?

UG: Meditation should not be given any importance at all. That’s my feeling.

Anantachar: Then what shall we do?

UG: Nothing; do nothing.

Anantachar: [Smiling] In that case everyone becomes a yogi.

UG: I am not a yogi.

Anantachar: Anyway sir, you are a widely travelled person. Don’t you think it is possible to bring out a universal philosophy to end all conflicts?

UG: Universal philosophy as such doesn’t exist except as an idea. That goal has created the actual problem.

Anantachar: Do you mean to say that a universal life doesn’t exist? All the masters of all religions talked of the oneness of life.

UG: You are an expression of that life. The mosquito that is sucking your blood is another expression of that life. The garden slug out there is another expression. The problem is we want to understand life. We try to understand life. We try to understand. That attempt is bound to create conflict.

Anantachar: Advaita Vedanta talks about that life as anivachaniya, indefinable.

UG: In that case, why should they talk about it? [Now UG’s tone got sharper.] If there is anything as the “beyond”, it can never be captured, contained or given expression to. How can they describe it as bliss, beatitude and all that nonsense? If they know that it is anivarchaniya, they should have stopped right there.

Anantachar: As philosophers they wanted to postulate…

UG: What good is that to you sir? Philosophers as I know are lovers of wisdom. That’s what they are. Philosophy only helps to sharpen the intellect.

Anantachar: Sir, how to determine whether a man is wise or not?

UG: You have no way of knowing.

Anantachar: Sankara describes the characteristics of an enlightened man. Even in the Gita it is said…

UG: They are all empty words and empty phrases, sir! They mean nothing. What’s the use of all those words? You haven’t helped you. You are still asking the same question.

Everybody laughs. Anantachar is visibly shaken. He asks for a cup of water and empties two cups, one after the other.]

Anantachar: We have to use words to communicate with each other.

UG: I say and maintain that no communication is possible and none is necessary.

Anantachar: But we have no other way to wisdom.

UG: Why are we not ready to accept that “wisdom” is a real block?

Anantachar looks the people around helplessly. He turns to Venkata Chalapti and says “I can’t understand what he is saying.” He then turns to UG.

Anantachar: You have gone a little above my head. I am not able to follow you. I have worked for several years academically…

UG: But I am an illiterate…

Anantachar: No. No. I can’t agree. You are an enlightened person. Only a few are gifted to be enlightened. An enlightened person is above everything. In my opinion, when a man forgets all his surrounding in the contemplation of the undivided Self, that state, according to Sankara, is the “Brahmi State”. My practice of meditation is very poor. I haven’t done any sadhana. But I want to. I am only a Jnanamaargi.

UG: I am not a scholar like you. But I studied Advaita philosophy. Prof. Mahadevan was our teacher of Advaita philosophy.

Anantachar: Sir, how can we understand the world?

UG: There is no need to understand the world.

Anantachar: Otherwise, how can we be in contact with the world?

UG: Do you think you are really in contact withy anything? Do you think you are looking at that man? Do you think you have ever looked at your wife even once? If you once looked at your wife, that would be the end of the whole relationship. You look at everything through the knowledge you have. It’s the knowledge about the things around that creates the world for you. You can not experience anything that you do not know. In that sense I say and maintain that there is no such thing as new experience at all. How can you have contact with the world?

Anantachar: As long as we breathe and live in this world we keep the contact.

UG: No, on no level can you contact anything.

[Ananatachar was disturbed with the rise in UG’s voice. He became fidgety in his seat next to UG. He asked for more water and Mohan gives him some.]

Mohan: [to Anantachar] Do you accept what he is saying, sir?

UG: How can he say anything? He is not in a position to say.

Anantachar started quoting the Mandukya Upanishad. “There is Para wisdom and there is Apara wisdom. When once you renounce Vritti Gnana, then Swarupa Jnana dawns on you. Ultimately, upasantoyam atma, as the instructions in the Mandukya indicate.”

At this point, UG suddenly flared up. He burst out saying that Mandukya Upanishad does not even have as much worth as toilet paper. He called Sankara a bastard for writing commentaries on Upanishads. He started his tirade on Gowdapada for writing the karika to Mandukya and called him also a bastard.

This was too much for Anantachar. He started trembling with anger. He could no longer sit in a composed manner. Mohan was trying to calm him down handing him more cups of water. “Drink more water sir, and sit comfortably,” Mohan told him.

Anantachar: [In an agitated voice, looking at the people around]. “This is too much, sir. He uses such uncivilised terminology. How can he call Sankar a bastard? How can an enlightened person use such foul language?”

Then UG again flared up.

UG: Yes, I shall maintain Sankara was a bastard! Mandukya is shit! It is his shit that is coming out of your mouth. What do you have to say? That is my question. Don’t repeat Sankara, Gowdapada and all that nonsense. You are just repeating. A tape recorder does a better job than you. What you say, does it operate in your life? You can teach fools from the platform and make a living. I have no objection. But it has not touched you. How can anybody describe that state a love and bliss? Love divides and separates. There is already division. How can there be love?

Anantachar stood up. He couldn’t take it anymore. He said, “I came here hoping to see an enlightened person. I never expected I would be meeting such a negative person instead.”

UG countered immediately saying, “You came to the wrong man. You can go now.”

Anantachar folded his hands as a mark of respect and walked out of the room.

The above excerpts are sourced from the book:
Stopped in our tracks: UG-anecdotes, comments and reflections (Second series). From the Notebooks of K. Chandrasekhar; translated by J.S.R.L. Narayana Moorty. Bangalore: Firsthand Publications, [2010].

Height of Wisdom

“Wisdom is not in the Vedanta shit, but in this very instant moment.“
– –

The Best of UG

In the height and heat of his flared up conversations with people around him, UG suddenly breaks a pause by waking up Robert Carr, calling him, ‘Bob, come on!’ UG’s pausing or High Moments of UG Gathering: [PhotoAlbum] (Bangalore 22 Mar 2010)balming bell in between his heated conversations with people around was his favourite call: ‘Bob!’ Yes, the other day (on 22 Mar 2010) the admirers and friends of UG from India and other parts of the world gathered at Chandrasekhar’s residence or rather ‘UG place’, in Bangalore. There I glanced at this guy – this Bob (Robert Carr) is really a ‘live bomb’, still living or looking like a 16 or 17 even in his 70s or more – one of the closest associates of UG from the US, now happily batting or living in Mumbai, it seems. At last Bob (Robert Carr) has paid a rich tribute to his ‘barking master’ by bringing out a DVD that contains mind-shattering conversations with UG Krishnamurti, which got released on this occasion with much applause.

About this DVD:
Title:
The Best of UG
Description:
‘This DVD contains mind-shattering conversations with UG Krishanmurti.’

In 1995, UG spoke with a variety of spiritual seekers, self-styled gurus, teachers and just ordinary people from all over the world. The collection of nineteen interviews presented in this DVD offers the viewer a unique look into UG’s insights into life and living. They have been edited in Mumbai, India in 2009.

And a UG quote:
‘Thought is the self-protecting and fascist in nature, and it will use every trick under the sun to give momentum to its own continuity. Thought controls, moulds and shapes our ideas and actions. Thought is not the instrument to help us live in harmony with life around us. That is why we create all these ecological problems such as pollution, possibly destroying ourselves with the destructive weapons that we have invented.’

Acknowledgements:
Over the past twenty years, several persons have worked selflessly and silently to record UG’s conversations with people in different parts of the world. I wish to thank the following friends: The Late Terry New Land, Raj Mehta, Julie Thayer, Andy Neddermeyer, Narayana Moorty, Kunal Sharma, Abhishek Sharma, Ghanashyam (Sam), Mahesh Bhatt and Paul Arms for their help in this production. The recording sessions were unrehearsed and spontaneous, resulting in a reflection of UG’s natural state.

Produced and directed by Robert Carr
Editing and video enhancement by Abhishek Sharma

Exclusively Manufactured, Marketed and Distributed by Mandar Productions, A-805 Oberai Park View, Thakur Village, Kandiwal (East), Mumbai – 400101
Visit: http://bestofug.com
*This DVD video is also now available on face book there:Watch Best of UG DVD

A new book titled Stopped in our Tracks – Second Series by K Chandrasekhar also got released on this occasion.

About the Book:
Title: Stopped in our Tracks – Second Series
(UG – Anecdotes, Comments and Reflections)
From the Notebooks of K. Chandrasekhar
Translated from the Telugu by
J.S.R.L. Narayanamoorty
Publisher:
The Firsthand Publications
Bangalore (India)
bali@firsthand189.com

Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘foreword’ to this book:

Whether it is happy or unhappy, hopeful or devastating, the ending brings the story to what it itself is … the inevitable, the complete end.

On a quiet afternoon of March 14, 2007, in Vallecrosia, a quaint town in Italy, on the coast of the Mediterranean, Babu Chandrsekhar’s guiding light and the love of life, UG Krishnamurti, shouted out an order, “Leave now and get on with your life,’ said the light. “I want to die the way I lived … all alone, with no one looking over me.”

Babu Chndrasekhar was devastated, but he has also sensed that the end was near. Thus, he began the process of wrenching himself away from his own heartbet. He prepared himself to break away from someone with whom he had spent more than three intense decades of his life, and who was not only the basis of his very existence but was also enshrined in his heart.

I still remember vivdly what Babu did after hearing UG’s command. He broke into Sanskrit shlokas, sat down at UG’s feet. Then touchng his feet, Babu prostrated his entire being before him as only a true devotee or lover would do. When he got up he looked closely at UG as if he were absorbing him completely in that one long look. Then turning his heel, Babu left the room where his master lived, never to return again.

As I led Babu out of the villa, where UG spent his last days, I can clerly recall the words I spoke to him, “This is death Babu, the end of your love story …” but little did I know that a love story like theirs never ends. I am not sure why, but whenever I think of the love story of Babu and UG I am reminded of Abu Bakr and Prophet Mohammed.

The story goes that when Abu Bakr saw the Prophet of God lying dead, he uncovered the mantle of the Yamani cloth that covered the Prophet’s face and, kissing his forehead, said, “You are dearer than my father and mother. You have tasted the death which God had decreed, but oh Mohammed, a second death will never overtake you. You will never die again.” And how right he was, because the emptiness which was created in the life of Abu Bakr with the passing away of his Master, could only be filled with the evangelistic fervour with which he went about spreading his word.

Stopped In Our Tracks, Series Two, originates from the same impulse. In this fascinating document, K Chandrasekhar has spun honey out of his encounters with UG. Whenever he was overwhelmed with UG’s crazy wisdom or became shattered by his own sheer subversive behaviour, he documented it in a diary, which he has now generously made available to all of us. Indeed, this book to savour and read over and over again, because it is from the heart of a man who has bent low enough to hear the voice of his God.

Also the following new books have been released on this occasion:

(1) A Book on UG in Bengali by Dr Guha, a close associate of UG.
(2) Hindi version book of Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘A Taste of Life’
(3) Another book got released on this occasion: ‘Self Realization: With Special Reference to UG’ by Mr. Satya Simha*. [Note:* The late Satya Simha had in fact been doing the Ph.D. on UG from Mysore University, and had worked half way till his (Satya Simha) untimely death that happened in 2008; so the present book is the outcome of the works he had done in this regard, not necessarily the completed work, and is brought posthumously.]
(4) The German Book of UG’s ‘Mind is A Myth’, tranaslated by Daniel (Note: A copy of this new book was sent all the way from Germany to K. Chandrasekhar just to get released on this unique occasion.)

Biology of Enlightenment:

Another interesting happening is that Mukunda Rao has taken great pains and drilling works to dig into the tapes of UG conversations (of 90 plus hours duration altogether) that were for decades remained stranded or locked up with some UG friends. Now the tapes got unlocked and thanks to Mr. K. Chandrasekhar’s concern and siren, Mukunda Rao has successfully completed the ‘transcription’ work of these rare UG tapes recorded some where down the lines and the recorded words of UG in those tapes have gone into a metamorphic process in the unbiased scholastic hands of Mukunda Rao and soon the resultant book titled, ‘The Biology of Enlightenment’ may hit the lights of the world now. May more and more UG ghosts haunt the world there!

Thanks to Mrs. Suguna and Mr Chandrasekhar – they never stop or feel tired of spreading the ‘fragrance’ they received from the very ‘monster mouth’ of that God.

UG: ‘Never Make Me A Religious Man’

The last thing UG wanted to happen is: creating a ‘religious UG’. He bombarded, he begged even in his death bed that‘Your body is interested only in two things – survival and fucking (procreation), and the rest is your culture shit or accumulated knowledge shit.’
-UG he should never be painted with any ‘religious shits’. UG lived it, UG stood for it even in the face of his death. In an otherwise sense of paradox, UG stands rather, for ‘Useless Guy’ as well as ‘Undoing God’. The essence of UG is as simple as that. UG always used to blast the whole deceptions of ‘religions and A sage is like a raging fire that burns everything and it knows not what is god or good or bad, and the ‘life’ stands there untouched and naked, roaring with all force.sermons’ with one sarcastic but very true line: ‘your body is interested only in two things – survival and fucking (procreation), and the rest is your culture shit or accumulated knowledge shit.’ There may be a pool of a bunch of scholastic twisters or a simple bunch of religious soldiers to relate and collate UG with / to Vedanta and such other holy religious ghosts – but UG never fits there and again it is an act of creating a ‘holy persona’ of UG, which the world has been doing from generation to generation. Hope, it should never happen with UG. UG always stands there naked. No one has a right to paint him. Naked UG is more beautiful than a painted UG.

A sage is like a raging fire that burns everything and it knows not what is god or good or bad, and finally or firstly Naked UG is more beautiful than a painted UG.the ‘life’ stands there “I am blocking every escape. Each outlet has to be blocked to put you in a corner. You must be choked to death, as it were. Only a real teacher can find that out and tell you, nobody else. Not those people who interpret the texts; all that is totally unrelated. Only such a man can talk. And such a man never encourages you because he knows that if this kind of thing has to happen to somebody, that person will not need the help of anybody. In spite of everything it will happen.”
– UGuntouched and naked, roaring with all force. UG never fits into any ‘descriptions’. UG is neither a theist nor an atheist. UG never fits into any labels or frames, rather he is an undefined flame. Even if we paint UG, a ghost of the species of UG is bound to create more havoc and holocaust there from that frame. UG is just UG. May the naked UG remain there to be watched by the generations to come. If it is not possible to ‘destroy’ or ‘demolish’ UG, the least and best thing to do is to keep the ‘naked’ UG there, not the painted one.

Nityanandas and Mythyanandas: Sexploitations

Our Nityanadas and Mythyandas preach spirituality and moksha bliss3000 Sex Abuse Cases by the Catholic Priests
The cases of sex abuse or sex scandals are not unusual and they are the very ‘born cousins’ of almost all of our religions and the institutions. For example, a recent Vatican News reported that over 3000 sex abuse cases, including child molestation cases, have been reviewed by the Pope in the past nine years, some cases dating back even 50 years. Of course, this is the ‘vatican officially’ reported case figure; God alone knows how many of His Catholic Priests indulge or indulged in sex abuse ‘blissful’ acts. An interesting article on ‘Catholic Sex Abuse Cases’ there on Wikipedia.  in day light and as the night comes they indulge into the reality of their bliss source: sex. Better these phoney Nityanandas and Gurus start preaching that sex is the only solace and sex is no sin. Have they ‘guts’ to do that? No. Under the holy shadows of Bible, Quaran, Gita, Veda, Vedanta, Upanishad, these so called pretending to be ‘enlightened’ gurus try to satiate their ‘sex’ greed. These gurus are really misleading and derailing the precious life of our gullible people, in the name of ‘turia’, ‘enlightenment’, ‘eternal bliss’, ‘samadhi’ and many other false sacred shits, which never existed in the first place. Through this ‘spiritual business’ these gurus earn themselves an easy but undeserved respect, holy soul status, name and fame, money and luxury, serving followers and disciples to carry their glory even after their death. What else is needed?

UG puts it in an interesting way:
‘Prostitutes are the only people who deliver the goods’ and the ‘Holy business is the only business where you can get away without delivering any goods’.

The recent sex scandal news of one Swami Paramahamsa Nityanda [LINK] is in fact no news at all – now a days it has become so routine and frequent; and it is time to relook and re-reflect on God and Spirituality. Many comments were made on this site, even earlier also on this so called enlightened guru: Swami Paramhamsa Nityanda. All the comments made elsewhere on this site are listed here for an easy access:

(1) Gurus and Massage Parlours
(2) Hybrid Gurus
(3) Paramahamsa Nithyanada on Bill Boards in Bangalore
(4) Enlightenment: Nithyananda’s Play Toy
(5) Call Gurus
(6) Sex Purana of Nityananda
(7) Nityananda lands in sex scandal
(8) GAIDS (Godly acquired immuno deficiency Syndrome)

Some of the interesting blogs on the recent sex episode of Swami Paramahamsa Nityanada (or Nithyananda):
(1) View Video: nadunudi.wordpress.com
(2) nvijays.wordpress.com

“God is in the Vagina” – Sri Ramakrishna

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836 – 1886) is considered as one of the most respected spiritual masters of the modern time in India. The story or saying is that he attained the highest ‘nirvikalpa samadhi’, state. He empowered Swami Vivekananda as his most powerful disciple in the 20th century. He experienced ‘trances’ at the age of six. He was born to a poor but pious family in a village in Bengal, India. He never bothered to learn even to write his name, such an implicit ‘illiterate’ he was. Ducked and bunked the ordeals of school learning. He was a true ‘rebel’, but still remained rooted in the tradition of the soil and time. He took over the priesthood profession for his livelihood to worship Goddess Kali. He revolted against the senseless caste and class discriminations, in his own ways. He was initiated to other religions also – Islam, and Christianity. He has no qualms about the religions. Initially he was initiated into ‘tantra’ tradition by Bhairavi Brahmani, an orange-robed, middle-aged female ascetic; later on initiated into non-dual meditation and Vedanta. This is the briefest description that is given here just as a reminder about his holy personality.

Sri Ramakrishna was also known as a ‘tantrik’; he worshiped even his wife Sarada as Goddess. It is not unknown that many a class spiritual masters go eccentric and erratic (or erotic or mystic?) in their utterances, gestures and teachings. It is told that Ramakrishna used the most rustic, colloquial, classic, gross Bengali language to communicate or abuse with his disciples and people – in the larger mission of spreading the spiritual consciousness. He often used filthy, sexy words to convey the message of clarity. These masters or mystics often reveal ‘Vedanta’ in the very ‘vagina’, so to speak. They know not what is holy or unholy. It’s the middle class mortals and minds that drum beat and blow the siren of morals and holiness; and our Gurus make good ‘harvest’ out of it. Otherwise, God knows no bounds of morals or sermons. It seems, the morals are for the mortals, never for the immortal ones.

The teachings of Ramakrishna are preserved in the work called ‘Sri-Sri-Ramakrisna-Kathamrta’ compiled in Bengali by his house-holder devotee, Mahendranath Gupta. This book is more realistic and less filtered, it seems. But the English translation of this book was never a true translation or rather the translation was made to depict the Personality Ramakrishna as an ‘avatar’ and ‘holy’ person; or rather it was impossible to translate the ‘original’ as it is due to the best kept reasons or impulses.

All the above paragraphs I scribbled just after incidentally reading a passage from the book, ‘Stopped in Our Tracks’ (third series, on UG) originally compiled in Telugu by K. Chandrasekhar, a close long associate of UG, (translated in English by Narayana Moorty). There may be several scholarly great books available on UG, but my favorite passion is always, Chandrasekhar’s ‘Lost in Our Tracks’ (First series ; Second series ; and Third series), an informal inner circle open chit-chat or tidbits on UG and in UG’s own informal spontaneous words too. Many instant diamonds of wisdoms we may strike there in the jungle of informal UG journey in these books (first, second, and third series).

The random passage I got in this book (‘Lost in our Tracks: third series’) reads:

“God is in the Vagina” – Sri Ramakrishna

The other day, Guha was reading the Bengali original of Sri Ramakrishna Bodhamrtam, translating it into English for us. “I will remove all my clothes and dance before the women; what do you care about it?” Sri Ramakrishna had scolded one of his disciples. Guha continued, “God is in the vagina. God lets me see him in the copulation of two dogs.” Ramakrishna had used much more obscene and vulgar language [than this] in his conversations. But Nikhilananda, in translating, had corrected all that, changing it so that people would be presented with the image of a holy man to hold in their minds.

And another passage I happened to get from Chandrasekhar’s ‘Stopped in Our Tracks’ (first series) reads:

“The source for both God and sex is the same. As long as you think of God, there is always sex in its shadow,” says U.G. I now understand the value of this saying. But in those days I was very confused. “Why am I so deluding myself? The mind which freed itself from so many attractions, why is it pining so much for such a trifle? Is this a test? O Lord, please give me strength. Please get me out of this mire.” Just as I was praying thus, I felt that I was sinking deeper into the mire.

Some of the interesting passages taken from the article [Wikipedia] on Sri Ramakrishna are reproduced here:

The Bhairavi initiated Ramakrishna into Tantra. Tantrism focuses on the worship of shakti and the object of Tantric training is to transcend the barriers between the holy and unholy as a means of achieving liberation and to see all aspects of the natural world as manifestations of the divine shakti.

In 1866, Govinda Roy, a Hindu guru who practiced Sufism, initiated Ramakrishna into Islam. Ramakrishna said that he “devoutly repeated the name of Allah, wore a cloth like the Arab Moslems, said their prayer five times daily, and felt disinclined even to see images of the Hindu gods and goddesses, much less worship them—for the Hindu way of thinking had disappeared altogether from my mind.” According to Ramakrishna, after three days of practice he had a vision of a “radiant personage with grave countenance and white beard resembling the Prophet and merging with his body”.

At the end of 1873 he started the practice of Christianity, when his devotee Shambu Charan Mallik read the Bible to him. Ramakrishna said that for several days he was filled with Christian thoughts and no longer thought of going to the Kali temple. According to Ramakrishna, one day when he saw the picture of Madonna and Child Jesus, he felt that the figures became alive and had a vision in which Jesus merged with his body. In his own room amongst other divine pictures was one of Christ, and he burnt incense before it morning and evening. There was also a picture showing Jesus Christ saving St Peter from drowning in the water.

According to Malcolm Mclean, the principal source for Ramakrishna’s teaching is Mahendranath Gupta’s ‘sri-sri-ramakrisna-kathamrita’. Kripal calls it “the central text of the tradition”. The text was published in five volumes from 1902 to 1932. Based on Gupta’s diary notes, each of the five volumes purports to document Ramakrishna’s life from 1882–1886.

The main translation of the Kathamrita is The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Nikhilananda. Nikhilananda’s translation rearranged the scenes in the five volumes of the Kathamrita into a linear sequence. Malcolm Mclean and Jeffrey Kripal argue that the translation is unreliable. Philosopher Lex Hixon writes that the Gospel is “spiritually authentic” and “powerful rendering of the Kathamrita”

Ramakrishna’s explicitly sexual language shocked 19th-century Westerners, even scholars Max Müller who were otherwise his admirers. Müller wrote that his language was at times “abominably filthy”. He admitted however that such direct speech was natural to contemporary hindus, “where certain classes of men walk stark naked”, and should not be considered intentional filthiness or obscenity. Citing examples of classical poems like Bhartrihari, the Bible, Homer, and Shakespeare, Müller felt that few of the sayings would have to be bowdlerized.

Many great thinkers including Max Müller, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sri Aurobindo, and Leo Tolstoy have acknowledged Ramakrishna’s contribution to humanity. Ramakrishna’s influence is also seen in the works of artists such as Franz Dvorak (1862–1927) and Philip Glass.

Indologist Heinrich Zimmer was the first Western scholar to interpret Ramakrishna’s worship of the Divine Mother as containing specifically Tantric elements. Neeval also argued that tantra played a main role in Ramakrishna’s spiritual development.

Philosopher Lex Hixon writes Ramakrishna was an Advaita Vedantin. Postcolonial literary theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak wrote that Ramakrishna was a “Bengali bhakta visionary” and that as a bhakta, “he turned chiefly towards Kali.” Amiya P.Sen writes that “it is really difficult to separate the Tantrik Ramakrishna from the Vedantic”, since Vedanta and Tantra “may appear to be differ in some respects”, but they also “share some important postulates between them”.

The dialogue between psychoanalysis and Ramakrishna began in 1927 when Sigmund Freud’s friend Romain Rolland wrote to him that he should consider spiritual experiences, or “the oceanic feeling,” in his psychological works. Romain Rolland described the mystical states achieved by Ramakrishna and other mystics as an “‘oceanic’ sentiment,” one which Rolland had also experienced. Rolland believed that the universal human religious emotion resembled this “oceanic sense.” In his 1929 book La vie de Ramakrishna, Rolland distinguished between the feelings of unity and eternity which Ramakrishna experienced in his mystical states and Ramakrishna’s interpretation of those feelings as the goddess Kali.

Christopher Isherwood who wrote the book Ramakrishna and his Disciples (1965) said in a late interview,”Ramakrishna was completely simple and guileless. He told people whatever came into his mind, like a child. If he had ever been troubled by homosexual desires, if that had ever been a problem he’d have told everybody about them.(…) His thoughts transcended physical love-making. He saw even the mating of two dogs on the street as an expression of the eternal male-female principle in the universe. I think that is always a sign of great spiritual enlightenment.”

Some scholars of Indian religion, including Narasingha Sil, Jeffrey Kripal, and Sudhir Kakar, analyze Ramakrishna’s mysticism and religious practices using psychoanalysis, arguing that his mystical visions, refusal to comply with ritual copulation in Tantra, Madhura Bhava, criticism of Kamini-Kanchana (women and gold) reflects homosexuality.

Jeffrey Kripal’s controversial Kali’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna (1995) argued that Ramakrishna rejected Advaita Vedanta in favor of Shakti Tantra. In this psychoanalytic study of Ramakrishna’s life, Kripal argued that Ramakrishna’s mystical experiences were symptoms of repressed homoeroticism.

Other scholars and psychoanalysts including Romain Rolland, Alan Roland, Kelly Aan Raab, Somnath Bhattacharyya, J.S. Hawley and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak argue that psychoanalysis is unreliable and Ramakrishna’s religious practices were in line with Bengali tradition.

In his 1991 book The Analyst and the Mystic, Indian psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar saw in Ramakrishna’s visions a spontaneous capacity for creative experiencing. Kakar also argued that culturally relative concepts of eroticism and gender have contributed to the Western difficulty in comprehending Ramakrishna. Kakar saw Ramakrishna’s seemingly bizarre acts as part of a bhakti path to God.

 

A Taste of Life: the Last Days of UG

Yes, the new book A Taste of of Life: the last days of U. G. Krisnamurti by Mahesh Bhatt is being released from the publisher, Penguin Books India. [Imprint: Penguin Books India, June 2009]. The Publishers brought out the Information Sheet of this release and it briefs lucidly the following text:

Penguin Books India
is proud to announce the publication of
A TASTE OF LIFE
Last days of U.G. Krishnamurti
by Mahesh Bhatt
The final days that well known film-maker Mahesh Bhatt Spent with U.G. Krishnamurti

‘Those who talk about death don’t want to die. I don’t want to go and I don’t want to stay.’
– U.G. Krishnamurti

U.G. Krishnamurti famously described enlightenment as a neurobiological state of being with no religious, psychological or mystical implications. He did not lecture, did not set up organizations, held no gatherings and professed to have no message for mankind.

Known as the ‘anti-guru’, the ‘raging sage’ and the thinker who shuns thought’, U.G. spent his life destroying accepted beliefs in science, god, mind, soul, religion, love and relationships – all the props man uses to live life. Having taken away all support systems from those who came to him, he refused to replace them with those of his own; always insisting that each must find his own truth.

And when U.G. knew that it was time for him to go, he refused all attempts to prolong life with medical help. He let nature, and his body, take their course.

On the afternoon of 22 March 2007, U.G. Krishnamurti passed away in Vallecrosia, Italy.

A bare, intensely personal account of bedside vigil with the dying, A Taste of Life records the final days that well known film-maker Mahesh Bhatt spent with U.G. Krishnamurti. It
narrates how, in death, U.G. shows the author and us a way to live life.

About Mahesh Bhatt:

Mahesh Bhatt began his journey in the film industry in 1973. He broke new ground with, and received critical and commercial acclaim for Arth. He followed Arth with Saransh, Janam, Daddy, Sir, Tamanna and, finally the national award winning Zakham. Today he does not direct films but is still involved in the industry and has written screen plays for many movies, directed several documentaries and has anchored and hosted for Sahara television Haqueeqat, a show on human right violations, as well as Imaging Science, a show telecast on Doordarshan.

Mahesh Bhatt wrote U.G. Krishnamurti: A Life which has been translated into several languages. He contributes regularly to newspapers of national circulation in English as well as in Hindi. He also compiled, edited and wrote the foreword for a book of quotations of U.G. Krishnamurti called The Little Book of Questions.

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