“You can’t lose a friend you don't have!” -UG

“You can’t lose a friend you don't have!” -UG

Another hoax....Friendship Day 2017 driven by Commercial interests!

Difference between relationship and friendship?

“All relationships are mutual exploitations”, explained UG, a great friend indeed to all those who knew him!

Friendship....perhaps is the only interaction where we are not concerned, bothered or afraid to be our true selves.....where there is no agenda or axe to grind....no crippling or harmful expectations or obligations to fulfil.....where we can express ourselves unhindered, uninhibited!

Friendship means no pretensions, no fears, no need for hiding behind a mask or subjecting ourselves to ‘compulsive hypocrisy’.... a norm in society.

All greetings, cards, wishes ring hollow….they have become platitudes!

In a friend's company....you just chill....there is no burden of the past or future....no need to cover up silence with manufactured words…WHERE SILENCE IS PEACEFUL.

We just enjoy LIFE AS IT UNFOLDS IN A FRIEND’S COMPANY!

Note: The caption has been amended in light of feedback from UG friends. The blogger stands corrected!

Happy Birthday UG!

UG and Melissa

Happy Birthday UG!

The lure of music, magic and logic on humans is well known. 

The Trinity has played a powerful role in proselytization – in the spread of many religions, traditions including all sorts of cults. The three are deadly lures that give us a ‘high’, just like narcotic drugs that enslave people.

Music has been paramount to Bhakti or devotion or emotion in religious lore whether in Hinduism or Sufism or Christianity etc. 

Magic is akin to spiritual powers that are no more than the naturally endowed faculties, perceptions that are sometimes triggered in certain individuals but dormant in most. 

Logic or reasoning, is yet another trap, the exclusive domain of the intellect, it is the disease of polished minds that exhibits an overarching tendency to ignore what is essential or real.

Religions and traditions have resorted to some or the other form of music, logic or magic to impress upon people, and sometimes on all three to dominate, enslave and rule the human mind.

The appeal of logic and reason has swayed the best of brains, magic has confounded the masses. And music, with its universal appeal, has captured people’s minds and hearts and mesmerized one and all. 

Only a sagely soul like UG could debunk all the three and point to our excessive attachment, overarching tendency to be caught up in some of these golden traps. 

UG on numerous occasions reiterated that there is no difference between his talk and the barking of a dog, letting us be grounded and not place a premium on speech. He explained that for him, operating in natural state even the musical notes of the Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony were just a play of sound and interval. He summarily dismissed music as acquired taste, a mere interpretation, translation of sound by a trained mind! 

Similarly UG debunked all claims of magic, a powerful tool in the hands of market gurus– he used to relentlessly mock at the magic show of a famous Baba, the Walking God, the Miracle Man, Avatar from South of India who had global following, and who materialised imported Rolex watches out of thin air, but when Indira Gandhi imposed emergency, ended up in materialising local HMT watches! 

UG could see through the subtle influences of music, magic and logic on our minds, how we could turn them into our crutches, without our being even aware!

शब्दादिभिः पंचभिरेव पंचपंचत्वमापुः स्वगुणेन बद्धाः ।
कुरंग मातंग पतंग मीन भृंगा नरः पंचभिरंचितः किम् ॥ 

The deer, the elephant, the moth, the fish and the honeybee - these five meet death because of their bondage to one of the five senses. What then is the condition of a person who is attached to all five? 

Today is UG’s birthday, incidentally Guru Poornima, the Full Moon Day dedicated to Guru! 

Guru (personally speaking) is not a person, it is a Principle, a Universal Guiding Principle. It sets us free from illusions and delusions and all false notions! It is the Guiding Force that puts an end to all crutches, never becoming a crutch in the process! Guru can never be encapsulated and restricted to any form!

The Guru Poornima is also dedicated to Lord Dattatreya who summarily dismissed the misgivings of people that ‘Guru is only One’, by pointing out that he had as many as twenty one gurus – that He learnt from each and every form of life (animal and bird) around him! 

And UG emphasized, re-emphasised and over-emphasised: 

“A true Guru frees you from himself!” 

Happy Guru Poornima and Happy Birthday UG!

“What is the worst thing that can happen to you?” - UG

UG and Kamal in Lonawaala ( Sahara Lake City), 2003

Sometimes in life, we suddenly hit a ‘cul-de-sac’ or the metaphoric ‘dead end’ and are left with no options but to STOP! We then feel an utter sense of ‘being lost’! In those moments, thought suddenly stops and gropes in the dark, inducing a fearful state!

‘Getting lost’ perhaps has a benign side to it too – it perhaps signals the end of the tyranny of ‘the known’, only if we could dare stop looking for solutions!

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UG pushed people sometimes to abandon ‘hope and help’ and to deal with uncertainty or reality ‘as it is’!

Here is a piece of pragmatic advice to our pilot friend Kamal who took UG out in a hired taxi in London for his ‘constitutional’ (UG’s equivalent of a ‘walk in the park’)!

This ride, it turned out, held several lessons for Kamal.

Before even getting behind the wheel, let us see how UG firstly helped Kamal to get a fat discount from the car rental agency giving us a taste of his pragmatic approach to life!

When Kamal walked into the rental agency, UG too tagged along faithfully. 

When they reached the counter and Kamal was about to pay up, UG who had initiated a conversation with one of the ladies there began introducing himself, “I am UG Krishnamurti, perhaps you may have seen me on your BBC Channel. I give interviews on your TV. This is my friend Kamal here! I am with him and he is driving me around London today…… Is it possible that he could get a discount?”

The lady at the counter understood and smiled, she did not have the heart to say no to the charming man and straight away declared a 25% discount.

Was this cheap and vulgar ‘self-aggrandisement’ by UG? That too at a rental agency? Was UG seeking any benefit for himself? 

UG was far more pragmatic than many who pride themselves for being worldly-wise! 

If his chipping in could help lighten Kamal's bill, UG was prepared to go an extra mile! UG constantly chided his celebrity friend, the Bollywood Director Mahesh Bhatt, “What is the use of flaunting your name or fame or celebrity status if you can’t translate that to do something useful, beneficial for people?”

Not only did UG help Kamal get a discount using his ‘ BBC fame’, but now he was working on a 'strategy' to maximise the discount, he now gently nudged Kamal, “Hey Mister, tell them you are an Air India pilot and ask them if they give special discounts to pilots, show them your ID. Also tell them that you fly to London very often and you will be able to give more business  in future and that you will introduce them to all your friends!” 

A practical lesson on hard-selling oneself in the cruel 'money minded' world!

The lady once again did not disappoint, She smilingly obliged with a new flat discount rate of 50% on the car rent! 

UG effect was tangible!

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UG’s ‘constitutional’  started! The rubber hit the road, as they say! Kamal, not particularly familiar with the dreaded traffic maze of London suburbs, wearily started driving.

{ An aside! 

Seems London suburbs present the most intricate traffic challenge to drivers. It is a well-known phenomenon endorsed by the brain surgeons that London cab and bus drivers have enlarged hippocampus (a seahorse-shaped section in the brain that facilitates long-term memory storage in the occipital brain as well as helps in spatial navigation.) Surgeons and brain scientists who have operated on the brains of London taxi drivers have concluded that the enlarged size of the hippocampus is due to extensive training involved and the memorizing of nearly 25,000 streets of the metro!

}

Many close friends of UG have tasted his shenanigans while driving, while seated next to him! 

To negotiate the unfamiliar entries and exits on the Motorways, Kamal kept constantly glancing into a printed copy of the A-Z road map on his lap! Back in early 90s, GPS was still to make its foray into automobiles in a big way!

Kamal admits that he was not doing well trying to cope up with the road as well as the map at the same time! At one point, UG irked by this inane act simply snatched away the map from Kamal and flung it into the back seat, “Hey Mister! Use your eyes, and not maps! Look ahead in front of you! Just read all those signposts, follow the directions and just keep driving! That is good enough!”

Kamal had no choice but to adapt to the new found driving style, that too on the fly! 

After several turns and twists, UG finally motioned Kamal to stop the car at some place in the city and got out asking Kamal to carry on.

As UG slammed the door shut, Kamal shedding all his inhibitions let out a cry, “UG, I am completely lost! I do not know my way around here!”

UG came around to the window and looking into Kamal’s eyes spoke, “Hey mister, just go on ! You say that you are lost! What is the worst thing that can happen to you? Just keep going! Good luck! ” and walked away without looking back!

Kamal, simply clueless prodded on for some more time…………eventually he hit upon a familiar street, closer to where his cousin lived and he heaved a huge sigh of relief!

Says Kamal, UG’s “What is the worst thing that can happen to you?” serves him as a guidepost to this day and gives him the strength to ignore the vagaries and uncertainties of life and carry on! 

****

Another famous UG short one-liner was, " What next?" 

Major Dakshinamurti had a car break-down while driving UG from Bangalore to Chennai. They were in a No Man's Land! There was no hope of reaching a mechanic or finding a garage anywhere nearby. 

When UG learnt of their plight, he seemed to have asked," What next?" pushing Major to work on the next possible line of action. 

Major excused himself and went about looking for help while UG stayed back in the car. After a length of time when Major returned to the car after managing to secure some help in the form of a mechanic , he was shocked to see UG in a deep, peaceful slumber right in the middle of nowhere! 

Left to himself, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to be done, UG just did what was the best thing to do....he fell asleep! 

UG's " What next?" was a gentle reminder to many of his friends who had been hit by life and suffered some kind of loss including death of near and dear ones. 

When UG's son Vasnath died of cancer, UG asked his son's girlfriend, a Christian girl who was religiously holding on to the urn carrying his son's ashes for immersion in the river, " What next?" asking her to forget about the dead man and pushing her to carry on with her own life, find a new life partner and settle down instead!

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“YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE FREE FROM FEAR!” - UG

"The Religious Prostitute ( Market Guru) is not offering you anything...." -UG

The Lure of the Religious Prostitute 

"CLARIFICATION (of thought) strengthens and fortifies the very thing that you want to be free from!" - UG.

UG discussing with friends ( Gstaad ) Courtesy: Julie Clark Thayer

The autobiographical 'self' perhaps is concretised through clarification, ideas, belief and conviction.

There is no doubt clarity is essential in matters of function and operation of the living entity within the framework of society (social environment), to learn a technique and to earn a livelihood and in all technical matters and for purposes of survival.

But clarity of thought in 'matters of mind' (psychological domain) could be dangerous as it only hardens the person (the autobiographical self), perpetuates dogmas, doctrines and ideologies….sowing the seeds of division and destruction.

Everyone's clarity is unique and coloured by his or her background and hence collective clarity is a myth!

Sagely life seems like instant action born of situation and not premeditated or clarified or coloured thought....as explicated by UG.

“You are restless because……” –UG

 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!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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