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| UG Krishnamurti |
Many books, gurus, teachers have
spoken about Life. But the certainty with which UG spoke about Life and how It operates,
carried a force and strength that has very few parallels. UG breathed ‘fire’!
His words carried clarity and certainty that is indeed rare!
UG 'died' on his 49th
birthday and somehow revived. Did this ‘death’ trigger the certainty?
UG has taken great pains to describe the physiological processes that were set in motion by the ‘Calamity’ on his 49th birthday. To his credit, Douglas Rosestone seems to have made the epic telephone call that somehow revived life in UG and triggered the cascading physiological changes.
We also have heard or known many a
strange anecdote where people declared ‘dead’ by doctors, somehow revived and came
back to lead normal lives. Obviously, ‘death’ in their case
was not the Calamity that UG spoke of, and certainly it made no difference to
the functioning of these people. They resumed their familial relationships and
moved on with their ‘old’ lives.
The strange Calamity (or ‘death’)
that wiped out the identity called 'UG' in this sense is quite unique!
UG’s oft-repeated line was, “The chance that this might ‘hit’
you …. is one in a billion.”
****
UG was ‘certain’ that he somehow ‘stumbled’
into that state which is nothing but the primordial or primal state of operation
of every natural human being.
There were two occasions when UG
drilled this into me personally, thrusting his index finger into my chest. The first
time, “Look here! There is no difference between you and me. We function in exactly
the same way but you are preoccupied and I am not!” Second time, “There
is no difference between you and me. Only thing is you are in conflict with
society but I am not!”
UG repeated these statements endlessly,
almost every day and with so many people.
UG brushed aside all ‘sadhana’ or
preparation or methods or techniques to ‘regain’ the natural state. All of these implied ‘will’. But in case of UG, we see the complete withering away of the will before Calamity.
In short, this is not a ‘wilful’ thing at all, rather its complete or total absence!
Post Calamity, UG in his natural
state, lived in a ‘state of wonderment.’ His
words, when uttered, exposed the social ‘lie’ about our unreal psychological
existence, our fictitious identity, our fabricated autobiographical self.
UG spoke with great certainty and
pointed to the natural functioning of the entity that is fully endowed with tremendous
intelligence and resources, essential for survival and operation in the natural
environment.
It is this certainty or authenticity
that sets the sage apart.
****
There is a very interesting episode
in the life of Kalidasa, who is hailed as the greatest Sanskrit poet ever, that
sheds light on the quality of certainty and authenticity.
The story goes like this!
The Emperor Vikramaditya, in
whose court Kalidasa reigned as the Poet Laureate, was in awe of his greatness
and held him in high esteem. In fact, there were many brilliant poets in his
court. Among them there was one other great poet whose expression exactly matched
and resonated with that of the great Kalidasa. Their expressions were so
similar that it was impossible to tell the difference.
The Empress unlike her husband, felt that both Kalidasa
and the fellow poet were of the same calibre and strongly advised the Emperor to
treat both on par.
The Emperor was convinced that
Kalidasa was unparalleled and wanted to demonstrate this truth to the queen. He
hatched a secret plan that would prove the greatness and authenticity of
Kalidasa to the queen. According to the plan, the Emperor and the queen were to
enact a public drama!
Before the drama began, the
Emperor summoned his messengers and sent out a word to all his poets that a
beggar had approached him with his wife and the corpse of his only child. The beggar
had earlier prayed to the Lord to restore his child’s life and the Lord had appeared to
him in a trance and assured him that he would restore the child’s life on
completion of a small task. The beggar, incapable of fulfilling the task had now surrendered
to the Emperor to help him out in completing the task and revive his child.
In the dream, the Lord, it seems, had uttered an
incomplete quatrain (a poem with four lines) with only three lines. The Lord had promised that upon completion
of the quatrain, that is, by supplying the missing line, the child would raise
from the dead!
The Emperor wanted to help the poor man and announced a great
reward for anyone who could complete the quatrain and restore the life of the
child.
As per plan, at the appointed
hour, the Emperor and the Empress put on the garbs of beggars and along with
their infant child appeared in front of the palace. The lady sat on the ground with
the sleeping baby on her lap, covered with a cloth, and started wailing out loudly
as advised by the Emperor.
All the poets including Kalidasa
and the great poet made a beeline to the palace. One by one, each of them made
an attempt to complete the poem and revive the dead child.
The first poet came and sang the quatrain
supplying the missing line. The beggar went over to his wife, uncovered the
child and found the child lying motionless and came back nodding his head in disappointment.
The poet announced, “Perhaps there is a better way of completing the verse and wake
up the child”, and walked away in dejection, giving way to the second poet, then to
the third and so on….
Now it was the turn of the poet
who was as great as Kalidasa. He too went up to the beggar couple and uttered
the missing line. The child did not get up!
Finally, Kalidasa took his
position and uttered the missing line. The beggar again went over
to his wife, uncovered the child and came back announcing that the child still did
not wake up!
Unlike the previous poet who had accepted
his helplessness and walked away, Kalidasa stood his ground and asked the
beggar to repeat what the Lord had instructed in the dream. The beggar
repeated that the Lord had promised him that upon completion of the missing
line, the dead child would get up!
Then Kalidasa ended
the high drama with these words, “True!
The dead child
will get up… and if the child does not get up, the child is not dead!”
Kalidasa and the other great poet
had in fact uttered the same missing line. This was exactly the same line , word for word, the exact replica! What lacked with the other man was
the certainty. He was a great poet and a great wordsmith but singularly lacked
the confidence and certainty of Kalidasa!
****
In the Upanishads or Vedanta, the sage is categorised as Brahma
Nishta, as the One rooted or grounded in Brahma or Natural State whereas a Brahma Jnani
is said to be aware and knowledgeable about the Natural State or Sahaja Sthiti but
not grounded.
Jnani howsoever subtle and harmless still denotes the ego!
This subtle difference between
the Jnani and Nishta was highlighted by the great sage of yore, Yagnavalkya, in no uncertain terms!
The certainty or authenticity is
the hallmark of a Brahma Nishta.
To paraphrase UG’s words, “(A Jnani)
may have seen ‘the sugar cube’ but not tasted it (like the Nishta)!”
****
