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| UG and Baby Sirisha |
UG staked everything - his fortune, career, family and reputation, in trying to explore the only thing that mattered to him in life - Brahman or Atma or Self or Reality or nature of existence!
We see such extraordinary, singular devotion in the lives of Ramana Maharshi, Buddha and a few others of the same ilk.
Once I queried UG, "Sir, what sport did you enjoy most when you were a kid?"
I received a lightning jolt from UG, " No sir! As a child, I had absolutely no time for games or sports ! I spent most of my time in mountain caves, in meditation, in chanting of mantras - several thousand times a day! I was put on a strict regimen and never got a chance to play games or sports like other kids!"
Such a lonely, regimented childhood!
Listening to this mind blowing account of his tender years, I momentarily felt a sickening pain in the pit of my stomach. But before I could even recover from the shock, typical of UG, he had segued on to yet another topic!
Unthinkable how a tender child could take on such severe penance! One is reminded of Ramana , Nityananda (Ganeshpuri) and that legendary Nachiketa - boy wonders who saw through the falsehood of our living and rejected the worldly life at such a tender age ! They belong to the league of precocious children with monstrous determination and phenomenal guts to plumb the depths of Reality, the only thing that mattered most in their lives!
Their search was devoid of any selfish motives or ego-centric ambitions, it was 'a search for the sake of search' ! We see pristine purity in their search. We see the qualities of abandonment and sacrifice as opposed to attainment and avarice, the selfish motives behind our spiritual quest !
Though UG personally underwent such harsh austerities on his part, he forbade others from taking up such practices and misadventures. He warned us in no uncertain terms, " You will only end up in a loony bin - singing loony tunes and merry melodies"
UG's characteristic disclaimer is a unique guidepost in spiritual wilderness!
Why was UG so concerned?
The devil perhaps lies in the purity or nobility in the intention behind such a pursuit. He repeated ad nauseum," What do you want? What is the single thing that you want in your life?" pushing us to the wall, as it were, to honestly take a look at ourselves and explore our hidden motives or intentions. In short, with these four words, he helped us to explore our hidden agenda! All our actions are tainted with hope, motivation and ambition leading to fear, hopelessness and despondency, sure-fire recipe for disaster and self-destruction !
What do you want? What a simple innocuous question and what serious implications !
Furthermore, UG spent a lifetime debunking spiritual undertakings of each and every kind. He relentlessly questioned the reality of such goals and exposed the futility of such pursuits to keep us away from traps and treachery, ripe in the spiritual bazaar!
I recall yet another anecdote of UG with regard to childhood and children.
Once while on a visit to our home, UG thoroughly enjoyed playing with my little baby daughter for a length of time. At one point, I proudly proclaimed that the little one was 'father's pet' and would never part with anything in her hands to anyone else except me - her doting father. UG wasted no time and right away challenged me and said that he would prove me wrong at every turn! The game started - every time I asked for the pen in her hands, she would turn away, ignore me and hand it over to UG sitting next to her! This happened so many times that I finally surrendered and conceded that I was the looser! UG, the magician, simply had charmed my infant daughter and proved me wrong!
Finding UG in a joyous mood that day, I took the opportunity and made a light-hearted remark," UG ! As I see it, you seem to thoroughly enjoy the company of children! But your saying ' children are monsters' and that 'you relish the soup made of new born babies' tongues' -this somehow doesn't gel with what I see!"
UG didn't mince words, " Sir! People don't know - I love children! I enjoy their company! Unfortunately, today there is no school or education system in any part of the globe, that can provide a curriculum to young children without corrupting their minds."
Behind UG's tough veneer, behind those outrageous remarks and statements, there lurked a gentle, tender spirit! One just needed to scratch the surface!
UG & all of us have nothing to do with any of this spiritual crap. :) Lets throw out this dirty word "spiritual" right now. Lets burn up " Ramana , Nityananda (Ganeshpuri) and that legendary Nachiketa" & lets blow up "Ramana Maharshi, Buddha and a few others of the same ilk" especially lets kill UG! Fuck him! :D He'd want it this way.
ReplyDeleteDear Doug, you will be indeed lucky, like UG, if you can make a bonfire of all that has been said before by every saint and sage. Then you will come into your own!, as UG reiterated. The Taoist sages like Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu said ," Discard knowledge ( cultural shit), Throw away sages" to let Life (Tao) operate freely and openly. Discarding knowledge and throwing away sages ( role models) is akin to catching fish and discarding the net. Wisdom is the native intelligence in human entities that unfolds when the accumulated knowledge, the psychological burden is flushed out. Again only a sagely soul could point out the absurdity of carrying the sagely wisdom. Taoism insists that , " Holding on to wisdom is foolishness". Knowledge is acquired where wisdom is innate or native intelligence. We are stuck with knowledge veiling our intelligence. In my personal opinion, if a sage mentioned 'spiritual', it is this Intelligence or Life energy that is perhaps highlighted. Anyways good luck tl you Doug!
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ReplyDeleteI would say that the selflessness that you speak off in these examples is the very same self in another form, another manifestation of the same disease, seeking attainment though abandonment, " I,m sure of one thing; the search has to come to a end before anything can happen" regards jon.
ReplyDeleteWhat you say is True! Anything we do is self-centric. UG spoke of Throwing in the Towel...a total abandonment with no end gain,,not in pursuit of anything, not seeking attainment,,we have such examples where many a sage walked out from society ( family etc.) without the thought of tomorrow,,even the next meal...any action with end-gain, any action whatsoever including selfless action is self-centred...True!
ReplyDeleteAny action we are aware of is like that. I think he said it well when he said a accident( intriguingly as not like winning the lottery) I always wonder what he meant when he said that you would never do away with yourself when people do commit suicide, I suppose that up until the moment when you die you are still there, in the case of suicide your there trying to escape. Don't worry I'm ok, just chatting. Regards jon
ReplyDeleteTrue Jon! UG did say ( one of our friends Dr. Sreedhav had shared on an earlier occasion) that suicide does not help one as one will again will find oneself in similar circumstances and it is better to go through all crises and deal with them open-mindedly and with grace! Regards Suresh
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