Candidate for controversy


Mid-Day, Books Special, May 10, 1982

By Leena H. Singh


U. G. Krishnamurti in The Mystique of Enlightenment is certainly the most suited candidate for controversy. “My teaching,” he says, “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.”


In no equivocal terms he then goes on to blast every known cliché on truth, life and religion.


A ‘realised’ man, U.G. is widely known both in Europe and India as one who speaks with great authority. The book is presented in interview form and answered with remarkable slicknesses by Krishnamurti – an old hat at restructuring questions and throwing them back at the interviewee. His talks are always informal, his arguments deceptively simple. There is no such thing as enlightenment, U.G. advocates, only the “natural state” which can be explained in purely physiological terms. When man is completely free of culture, religion, conditioning and intellect, when he ceases to be burdened by guilt, morals, worry and thought, only then can the body with its “extraordinary intelligence” free the human being to be in that state – a state of feeling, a state of not seeking, a state of being where the questions are not there any more.


U.G. has, however, evolved less a means to achieve the natural state than a technique to explode the religious myth attached to it. He clings obsessively to his belief in the uniqueness of every individual – as he says feelingly, “I don't give a hoot for Buddha or Jesus Christ…they deluded themselves and everybody else. There is no power outside of man…man has created God out of fear, so the problem is fear not God.” Blasphemous perhaps, but U.G. does a good job of supporting his proposition.


In true iconoclastic tradition, he hits out rhetorically – if religion can provide all the answers, why are we asking all the questions? If it can solve our material problems how do we justify the existence of slums, Harijans, etc? U.G. himself has no answer to give nor is he interested in finding one.


He dismisses J. Krishnamurti (whom he hastens to add is no relation of his) as being in the “Guru business” for profit – scoffs at Freud who he regards as “the biggest fraud of the 20th century” – brushes aside Sai Baba as a mere miracle-maker – asking to be taken as nothing if not different. He is unique in the sense that nowhere does he proclaim to be a saviour. Refutation of dogma is not his aim, nor is it to liberate mankind. If he talks it is solely with the intent of saving those people bent on pursuing a religious path – a lot of wasted time and effort.


If in parts the book fails to convince it is because U.G. does not trivialise his philosophy with rationalisations. The natural state happens (as it happened to him on his 49th birthday) when the past ceases to interfere with the present. Anyone can attain the state though it is not in his hands. Once the state is achieved, the means cannot be taught, as it differs from person to person. “I cannot help you” is the message U.G. flashes to his followers. If it all seems illogical it can be put down to its being a complete reversal of accepted thinking – every man is encouraged to be what he is, as opposed to the perfect man society is trying to create.


The Mystique of Enlightenment is not a book for a reviewer to describe. It's emphasis is more on sensation than thought. It is nevertheless an invaluable account, a frank exposé of a man who turns the holy business inside out. U.G. effectively rolls man out of his reverie to the shocking revelation…that there is no revelation. As U.G. epitomises, “Self-realisation is the discovery for yourself and by yourself that there is no self to discover.” Totally unconventional, the book is designed to throw one's thoughts completely out of gear, which is just as well, as U.G. believes it is not the thought that counts.

Popular posts from this blog

Self-realisation with special reference to U.G. Krishnamurti

Image
By Satya Simha The Unrational Philosophy of U.G. Krishnamurti Advaita on Self-realisation Maya and Spiritual Experience U.G. on Realisation The Physics and Biology of Enlightenment Comparative Study of J.K. and U.G. On the Law of Nature University of Mysore Department of Studies in Philosophy Dr. M. Ramachandra Professor and Chairman Manasagangotri Mysore 570 006 Dated: 25-11-2009 Foreword I have the great pleasure of writing a foreword to this beautiful book of my beloved student, Sri Satya Simha, who unfortunately could not submit his Thesis for the PhD Degree to the Postgraduate Department of Philosophy, Mysore University, MGM due to his untimely death. The book pertains to the philosophy of U.G. Krishnamurthy, popularly known as U.G., who created revolution in the philosophical world. The author has made a deep study of U.G.'s philosophy and has based his study mainly on his personal interactions with U.G. He has also referred to other authentic sources. Though U.G. himself wan
Read more

Dangerous Friend

Image
By Larry Morris The Unknown Nowhere to Go One Moment Unfathomable U.G.'s Enlightenment Absorption U.G.'s Grace Silent U.G. Top of the World Somewhere In Between In the Forest Peace-Ride Total Permission Undone Beginnings Love's Barrier Apocalypse Ultimate Good The Monastery No-Way Crescendo Dissolution Destiny What Next? World-without-End The Unknown Once the ancient inchoate Primordial vision personified into a human being. He walks and he talks just like you and me. But who he is we can never know. Something hidden, secret, a wonder— no one hardly sees him in the shops or malls. He moves across the earth almost invisible. Nothing touches him. But once he touches your heart, look out. Why would anyone want what U.G. gave us? It was the strangest life anyone could imagine, to be with this human dynamo that could so intensely affect you moment to moment. To travel to see him in Europe, Susan and I would leave on Sunday after holding two church services just to arrive a littl
Read more

India's Greatest Minds

Image
U.G. Krishnamurti ( 1918–2007 ) Anti-teachings Aphorisms This incident took place sometime in 1969. One evening, when his friends had gone out and U.G. Krishnamurti was alone in a coffee estate near Chickmangaluru, Karnataka, he heard a wild wailing of a child coming from the backyard and was drawn to the outhouse there. He went in and saw a woman beating her child. She hit the child so hard that the child almost turned blue. He could not intervene, because he simply could not move. There was no way he could stop the mother, for he felt a continuous movement inside of him, which embodied both the anger and frustration of the mother and the pain and suffering of the child. Later that evening, when his friends returned and he told them about the incident, one of them asked why he did not intervene to stop the mother from beating the child. He showed them the marks of the beating on his back and said: ‘You are the child and you are the mother, which one you are and for which one the heart
Read more