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| UG with baby Sirisha, Mumbai 2003 (Courtesy: Trisha) |
Life provided me with great opportunities to interact with and
observe firsthand many a spiritual guide. But amongst all the gurus, UG stood
apart as the one and only one who wanted nothing from anyone whatsoever! He touched
many lives but was himself untouched by sentiments or gratitude. He remained fiercely
independent and allowed no relationship to sully his freedom and stuck to his
credo of “un-complaining, uncompromising self-reliance.”
As was his wont UG wanted an anonymous death and chose the
able Mahesh Bhatt to dispose of his physical remains without any ceremony or song.
And remained self-effacing to the very end!
In his relentless travels, discussions, interactions for
decades, with thousands of individuals, UG simply and matter-of-factly gifted
away his unique, extraordinary observations about Life whereas lesser mortals
would have founded a whole empire based on this wisdom!
UG’s talks and discussions were indeed a commentary on Life
and Society, on ‘problems of living’, on human saga, on hope, fear and expectation!
Deeply original and unburdening!
****
In my profession as a trainer, I sometimes enjoy the privilege
of hosting an interesting workshop, “The Human Factors in Aviation”. This is a tremendous
opportunity to cut through layers of baggage and meet people firsthand. Here we
interact freely discussing the various aspects of biology and psychology in
light of the latest findings from science. We work together to peek into the serious
limitations of biology that affect our functioning and performance while we
perform our jobs as airline crew and we also look at the various aspects of
psychology that affect our teamwork like misconceptions, prejudices and notions
imposed on us by culture and communities!
One of the questions that pops up very often during our
workshops is on empathy, “What is the greatest gift that you can give to a
fellow human being?”
Answers are aplenty…..love, advice, service, support and so
on! But inevitably, in every workshop, we unanimously agree that the greatest gift
to a fellow human is “Time!”
Giving time to someone is giving a piece of one’s
heart, nay it is giving oneself!
UG kept his doors always open to anyone who wanted
his time, round the clock, all round the year, wherever he stayed!
To borrow an IT phrase, UG was ‘platform-agnostic’ (pun
intended) and remained accessible to one and all! A sincere and earnest heart
was all that was needed to get his time!
****
Before bouncing into UG, my previous encounters with spiritual
guides exposed me to the frivolous nature of questions! My previous guru Rayaru
did help me to be firmly grounded rather than indulge in questions and answers,
the be-all and end-all of empty intellectual debates and discourses! Once my tenacious
relationship with Rayaru came to an end, thanks to UG, I was yearning to be a
normal, ordinary human all over again! I made every effort to stay away from
anything even remotely spiritual! I was ‘almost’ free from the greed of seeking
answers to questions on Life and God that had nudged me into the spiritual
realm in the first place!
Right at the very beginning, I made honest attempt not to repeat
my blunder- to make UG into my new guru, a new crutch, yet another perennial
dependency!
A few months after my first encounter with UG, I once left my
room to be with UG on learning that he was again in Bangalore.
Halfway into the journey, I was hit by a sudden thought, “Why
are you making UG into your new crutch? Is this the right thing to do? You are
beginning to embark on another guru-shishya relationship that you loathed all
this while? Why fall back on a new crutch, however noble and well meaning?”
I stopped my bike then and there, right in front of a coffee
shop and walked in for a cuppa! After a refreshing coffee, I felt lighter and
was about to scoot off to my room. Now an equally strong thought struck me hard,
“What is the problem now? You are clear that you don’t want to make UG into a
crutch! Fine, why not just see him for what he is? He has been so very kind and
courteous to you all the time! At least go say hello, why are you so stubborn?”
I changed my plan again and proceeded straight to Poornakuti.
UG was all affection as he welcomed me with his charming smile!
****
UG stayed in Santacruz West in Parekhji’s place during his
visits to Bombay. Since my workplace was in Santacruz East, I could spend time in
his company before and after my office hours. UG was stationed so conveniently
so I could see him as well as attend my office! Life it seems always conspires
to help you if you really yearn deeply! Sometimes I applied leave to be with
him for a few days at a stretch. At times I paid visits during my office hours
and spent the whole day with him. UG would immediately know this and jokingly
remark about my ‘French Leave’! There was hardly anything that you could hide
from this man!
That summer day was hot and humid! I had met up with UG in the
morning before proceeding to office.
Everything was fine till noon! Then out of the blue, something
hit me hard!
I suddenly began to feel restless! However hard I tried, I
couldn’t figure out why I had become restless!
“Why this restlessness, why this unease, this disquiet?” I
asked myself.
With UG constantly knocking off our ‘seeking’, seriously there
was no searching or seeking inside of me, I didn’t want anything at the intellectual
level at least!
Then why this unrest, this disturbance?
The question began to haunt me no end!
I resisted the idea of going to UG initially, but when the
restlessness became unbearable, I slipped out of office and started walking in
the hot summer sun towards UG’s place!
I had to walk several kilometers before reaching Parekhji’s
house, nothing mattered to me except the answer for my deep unrest!
As I knocked on UG’s door, Dr. Patel, a famous homeopath from Vile
Parle opened the door. There was Pratap Karvatji, the only other guest. The
house was quiet. Mahesh Bhatt called up to say that he was unable to visit till
late evening, UG replied, “Thank you mister for leaving us alone! We don’t
want any more people hanging around here!”
As I sat at a distance from UG listening to a discussion about
doctors and medicine, I felt deeply disturbed and restless for some unknown
reason!
There was now a long pause. Everyone sat silently!
I wanted an answer for my restless state and taking the
opportunity threw my question at UG. This was my first and only question to UG
in all of my fifteen years of association that was born of a genuine necessity
to solve a personal crisis! Others were routine questions, there was no real ‘hunger’
to seek solutions!
“Sir, why this restless(ness, when I don’t want anything)……? ”
UG pounced on it even as I started the question not even giving
me a half chance to complete it!
“You are restless because of the knowledge that
you have put in there! Knowledge is the garbage of centuries of human thought,
culture! Your knowledge is making you restless, knowledge is a disturbance to biology,
and it disturbs the tremendous inner peace!”
UG looked fierce! True to his fame as ‘the sage in rage’
continued on,
“Look here! If you want Brahman, you will be out
there on the street! You will be stripped of everything….Yes, everything will
be taken away from you! You will be left there like a beggar!”
The half-question had triggered off a torrential downpour. After
all, there was more to it than simple restlessness!
Seeking or quest obviously is a much deeper and sometimes unconscious
disturbance!
UG’s shock treatment not only highlighted the dangers of knowledge
but also of noblest of cravings including that of Brahma Jnan!
****
