The Raging Sage

A single post wouldn't do justice to a man like U.G. I tried to condense some information about him to give you the sense of what U.G Krishnamurthy is about. Please excuse if you find this post not fully informative

Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurthy (UG) was born in India. After his mother passed away when he was a child, his grandfather brought him up. During his early years, he practiced all kinds of austerities and started his quest for spiritual enlightenment. He practiced all kinds of meditation and Yoga. He also attended University, studying psychology, philosophy. The quest for enlightenment led him to meet many spiritual leaders in India. He met J.Krishnamurthy, Ramana Maharshi and many other spiritual leaders, but none could satisfy him.

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Calamity: a sudden transformation.

During his 49th year, after endless quest for enlightenment and questioning about the need for enlightenment, UG says he experienced an unexpected and sudden physical transformation which he calls calamity. He says the experience that he went through is not any blissfull state so he calls the process that he has gone through a calamity.

UG about his experience.

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.
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.

After the calamity UG says he started living in a “natural state”. He says that there is nothing mystical about the natural state, UG says that he is just free from the stranglehold of thought.

A Philosopher without a philosophy : Some of U.G's thoughts.

On Uniqueness of life:

UG always believed human organism is unique. U.G emphasized the uniqueness of life. No other organism is like it. It is unparalleled in nature. UG maintains that the body is a tremendously intelligent organism capable of living in the world without any help. It does not need any of our knowledge, education, goals, pleasures and happiness. It does not care to achieve anything or to improve itself. The only needs of the body are survival and reproduction. The body has no need for transformation or liberation.

Thought is your enemy :

U.G denounced all religious and scientific theories as imaginary constructs of mind.

Mind or thought is not yours or mine. It is our common inheritance. There is no such thing as your mind and my mind (it is in that sense mind is a myth). There is only mind, the totality of all that has been known, felt and experienced by man, handed down from generation to generation. We are all thinking and functioning in that thought sphere just as we all share the same atmosphere for breathing.

In UG's conversations, we can see that, for him, thought is somewhat akin to memory. Thought, memory and knowledge are all ways in which our past experience operates on the present "input", including recognizing, interpreting and comparing data. These processes create our sense of time and also our sense of the self.

"Where do memories or thoughts come from?" UG
Answers it as follows:
“Where does thought come from? Is it from inside or outside? Where is the seat of human consciousness? So, for purposes of communication, or just to give a feel about it, I say there is a thought sphere. In that “thought sphere” we are all functioning, and each one of us probably has an “antenna”, or what you call an “aerial” or something, which is the creation of the culture into which we are born. It is that that is picking up these particular thoughts.

Human nature is basically violent, because thought is violent. Anything that is born out of thought is destructive. You may cover it up with all wonderful and romantic phrases: ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself.’ Don’t forget that in the name of ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’ millions and millions of people have died, more than in all the recent wars put together. But we now have come to a point where we can realize that violence is not the answer, that it is not the way to solve human problems. So, terror seems to be the only way. I am not talking of terrorists blowing up churches, temples, and all that kind of thing, but the terror that if you try to destroy your neighbour you will possibly destroy yourself. That realization has to come down to the level of the common man.

U.G On Gurus, Death, Rebirth, Genetics :

UG calls gurus as con-men selling shoddy goods (spiritual advice) in the marketplace.

A guru is one who tells you to throw away all the crutches that we have been made to believe are essential to our survival. He would ask you to walk, and he wouls say that if you fall, you will arise and walk.

UG does make some startling statements about genetics, rebirth, disease, and so on. Some of these statements are hard to make sense of, because our present-day science has not investigated them, or they may sound false, because science sometimes seems to conflict with them. Examples of such statements are:

For those who believe there is such a thing as rebirth, there is rebirth; and for those who do not believe in it, there is no such thing. However, “Objectively speaking” there is no rebirth -- for what is there to be born again? ...
All chronic disease is genetic.
(Here he seems to believe in some kind of physiological karma - there is nothing you can do about it, except bear with it and, if necessary, temporarily palliate it.)
To experience pain you have to link one (momentary) sensation with another through memory and thought. Pain is necessary to the healing process -- if you let it be, the body will find its way of absorbing or integrating it.

UG never established any institutions to preach his philosophy neither he wanted any disciples around him. U.G said that a real guru would not make you dependent on him or his teachings. He had a unique way of communicating his philosophy.