Tribute to U.G. Krishnamurti

 I had the good fortune and blessing to have traveled and spent several years in the company and presence of U.G., and it has made an everlasting change in my life.

 Our first meeting was in 1998, in Palm Springs, California, and it lasted three days. Over the next several years I would see him a number of times as our paths crossed in various places around the world. Following 9/11/2001 , when I lived three buildings from the World Trade Center in NYC, my life took a decisive turn. And, in 2002, having left my friends, my partner, my family, my work, my apartment, my practice and my belongings, I traveled to Gstaad, Switzerland, joined U.G. there, and I stayed in his company until the end of his life. It was a profound experience. 

Uppaluri Gopala (U.G.) Krishnamurti was born July 9th 1918 in Machilipatnam, India, and died March 22nd, 2007 in Vallecrosia, Italy. In between these dates he lived both a normal life full of struggle and strain and then exploded into a "natural state", free flowing and evolved beyond the "strangle hold" of thought. He would say then that his life was that of "a man in the natural state" and that anything that is imposed on the body, to include thoughts, serve as a distraction from the peace and harmony which already exists.

He rejected the very basis of thought and in doing so negated all systems of thought. The articulation of his insights, at least in public, did not begin until U.G. was well into middle age. According to U.G., despite his lifelong efforts to bring about spiritual enlightenment, he underwent a life altering series of bodily experiences which he collectively referred to as the "calamity".

According to U.G. "The so called self-realization is the discovery for yourself by yourself that there is no self to discover. That will be a very shocking thing because its going to blast every nerve, every cell, even the cells and the marrow of your bones."

"No teaching, nothing to preserve. Teaching implies something that can be used to bring about change. Sorry, there's 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 am forced by the nature of your listening to always negate the first statement with another statement. The second statement is negated  by the third and so on. My aim is not some comfy dialectical thesis but the total negation of everything that can be expressed."

Throughout my time with U.G. the lessons of his teachings were constant; he used every circumstance in a way that shared his unique and inspired awareness with those around him, exactly suited for their unfolding experience. For me, these lessons remain fresh and current and continually reveal the power and depth of his words.

I am humbled and honored by my experience and continue to grow in respect and in ever expanding love for U.G. Krishnamurti.