" Thoughts come from outside the body!" - UG

UG , Dr. Subba Rao & Dr. Sreedhav

Till that momentous day in Chennai, I had never dared to interview UG or offer him any sort of medical advice whatsoever! UG had adequately forewarned me that all those who had interviewed him had ended up losing their jobs!

But destiny had its plans… 

On that fine morning in Chennai, I got to ‘formally’ interview ‘the Natural Man.’

The interview took place in my uncle Malladi Krishnamurti’s house. My dad Dr. Subba Rao, a senior medical professional also sat in attendance, privy to the entire proceedings!

All my questions were prepared carefully and written down beforehand!

UG was actually waiting alone outside on the lawn, with chairs neatly arranged in rows!

Before the interview began, being aware of UG’s renowned flair for ‘butchering’  the questions and the questioner, I, with great trepidation firstly extracted a promise from him that he would not shout me down (while I was playing the ‘devil’s advocate’). UG graciously agreed that he would not raise his voice against me ( that he never did, in the entire fourteen years of my association with him!)

Here was my first question to UG ,

"Sir, how do you know that the endocrine system has taken over the running of your body?”

He gently asked, "Why do you ask?"

I replied," Since you refuse to undergo blood tests, refuse biopsy of these swellings in our (planned) efforts to prove that they are indeed of Endocrine origin!”

UG, keeping his word ( not to shout me down) calmly said ,"You have to take my word for it!”

***

The second question was about his constant refrain on ‘conditioning from birth’! 

I started,

" UG, I have medical proof, contrary to what you are always emphasizing, that ‘the conditioning is from the moment we are born’  but the fact is it actually predates birth! In this context, I wish to narrate an incident, if you promise me not to interrupt."

UG, in a pleasant tone, "Go ahead sir!"

I recalled,

" When I was a House Surgeon, a pregnant lady was wheeled into our Casualty Wing, barely conscious and in labour! Ultrasound revealed that the baby inside had the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck, choking it slowly.

The lady was wheeled straight into the Emergency Operation Theatre, where we were forced to open the abdomen, the caesarean section, in order to save the child.

The procedure was a success, both the mother and child survived.

There was a minor problem though! The baby's  blood Glucose was very low! Fortunately, amidst our team we had a terrific paediatric surgeon, who wasted no time, and fashioning a wick out of sterile cotton, he dipped into an opened I.V. Glucose bottle and just touched the liquid to the baby's lips.

The baby instantaneously started sucking on the wick, with a slurping sound. The surgeon patiently repeated the process until the glucose levels returned to normal. The baby actually smiled, started breathing normally and finally slept off. Only then the paediatric surgeon got up!"

I paused at the end of the long narration, and then promptly shot my next question,

"Sir, where is that ' conditioning right from birth' that you speak of , as there is no way for the just delivered foetus to know what it was sipping, the baby smiled as if it knew the SWEETNESS in the Glucose wick, as a pleasurable, palatable taste? How could this be?”

UG sat there, throughout my narration without interruption and with total attention.

           UG now said,

"Your question will prove to be longer than my answer!

Don't think I am giving a clever reply! THIS CONDITIONING IS PRE NATAL !”

(I felt elated, " I finally got him…!")

I went for him,

"What exactly do you mean by prenatal? You reject the traditional Hindu concept of reincarnation!"

UG simply said, "It's GENETIC sir!"

I was like a terrier dog that morning!

I protested, " That's a geneticist's answer. Since you reject for support any authority, how can you say it's just genetic?"

His unforgettable response followed!

UG threw back at me a pointed question, "Has not the dormant poetic gene in you, surfaced at the right moment?” ( referring to my sudden transformation into a poet and the torrent of poems on UG that just seemed to flow from nowhere!)

"What you call, ‘knowledge’ carried over from last births is poppy cock and it is only these genes that surface, when need be!

In that child, Glucose was paramount for its survival and thus that sensory gene for identifying sweetness surfaced!

That's why I affirm that the human organism is tremendously intelligent and the incident you just narrated is just a proof of that!"

***

The interview flowed on,

"Sir, you say the human brain is an antenna at best, whereas newer and newer studies are proposing a more dominant role in the body! Why do you downplay the brain's role?"

UG, again calmly said, "I have never denied its ( brain’s) role in motor function and in the reception and translation of the SENSORY signals! But, you have to stop there!"

Thoughts come from outside the body! Brain is just the ‘antenna’ to receive signals from what I call 'the World Mind.'  Human brain is not the site of the 'MIND'. Western scientists are spending billions of dollars to locate the site of the mind in the Brain and they are bound to fail!"

I pressed on, "Sir, what about the Hypothalamus?"

UG, “ Though your neuro scientists consider hypothalamus to be part of the brain, it is in fact an ENDOCRINE GLAND!”

( It turns out that UG’s position now has a scientific basis. Please see the links below)

***

My final question to him that day, “ From where do you get all this information? "

UG (pointing his index finger up) said,

"The World Mind. I use that term for want of a better alternative. That's where the totality of human thought is constantly stored. 

Whenever I need answers, a channel opens and the necessary thoughts enter to supply the answer and later get ejected!"

The trepidation with which I started this interview ended with great relief at his unique answers !

This was a formal interview back in 2001.

Like all the others before me who had interviewed UG, I too had to face the consequences! I ended up losing my lucrative practice. In my case it was the chronic upper spinal issue, medically termed the ‘Thoracic Spine Disc Degeneration’ (intervertebral) that put an end to my medical profession!

With UG, there are no exceptions to the rule!

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrine_gland)

(https://www.hormone.org/hormones-and-health/brainy-hormones)

                                                                            Dr. Sreedhav, MD, Nellore, India

****

P.S.

I am thankful and grateful to Dr. Sreedhav for sharing his most personal encounter with UG, one of his best till date! This is nothing short of ‘stepping on the tiger’s tail!’

UG, at times, could be highly unwieldy and unpredictable! I commend Sreedhav’s sincerity, integrity and guts in going about the business of interviewing one of the toughest customers, despite the clear warning of 'personal risk to his own medical career!'

****

An aside:

I was once with UG at the boarding lounge at the Mumbai airport. As we sat there awaiting the boarding call, I noticed that UG was clutching something tightly in his right hand! I was curious but let that be, didn’t want to needlessly probe him.

There was very little verbal exchange going on between us. This was always the case. I simply let myself get soaked in an ‘ocean of silence and peace’ with a rare human being in whose company words were pure noise and clutter!

The final boarding call sounded on the PA!

UG bid me good bye and moved over to the Gate, and suddenly turned back and came hurriedly to where I was standing, unclenching his fist he revealed to me a piece of crumpled paper on which was written the words ‘Oxytocin’.

“ Sir, they talk of love, and I always say that it is nothing but a four-lettered word! Look here! It is nothing but chemically induced phenomenon!

(And pointing to the scribbled word)

“ They (scientists) seem to have now found out that 'this' is the chemical ( Oxytocin) giving rise to the sensation of ‘love’.

That is why I always maintain that it is all a mere  play of chemicals, nothing more!”

And quickly disappeared through the Gate!

I was left wondering about the twisted and distorted notions of ‘love’ and ‘life’ that we all carry, cherish, believe, defend and propagate! To UG, humans are no more than ‘fortuitous concourse of atoms’ – specks of stardust, recycled by nature, over and over again!

( As per the latest scientific findings, Oxytocin is the ‘love’ hormone produced by the

 Hypothalamus. UG was spot on! Today, Oxytocin is commercially popular. Companies

 spray oxytocin outside the showrooms to ‘seduce’ customers to increase walk-ins!) 

****

" You doctors know nothing!" - UG

UG and Dr. Sreedhav

February 1992, Madras (Chennai).

It was 5 AM in the morning, I was on my morning jog on a road inside of the sprawling private Malladi Estate where I had my living quarters. 

As I was swishing past the Malladi Guest House (inside the Estate), out came Major Dakshinamurty (my uncle), and shouting across to me (as was his wont) beckoned to me, " Hey! UG is here! Come on in!"

Until that point in time, I had not even seen a picture of UG! I followed him into the house and stumbled right into a very handsome chap, dressed in trendy whites, seated on a sofa! Something inside of me told me, “Here is the Real McCoy!”

As is customary in this part of the world, I folded my palms and greeted him, "Namaste Sir" and UG too got up from his sofa and reciprocated!

The very first words that came out of him were, "Sir, though I am not a fatalist, I personally feel there is very little in your hands!" I was taken aback and felt a bit strange as what he uttered sounded totally out of context!

           During this first encounter, UG was focused on "demystifying" this whole business of Enlightenment! HE actually kicked off by saying, "The so-called realization is NOT a psychological phenomenon but a purely PHYSICAL change, where every living cell in the human body undergoes mutation. If it were in the realm of that dirty word "PSYCHE" anyone can claim to be enlightened, sir!"

****

On that game-changing day in my life, UG bared it all, and showed me the many physical changes that had occurred on his person, and they were all quite profound and visible. 

As a preamble to what was about to hit me, he began, " Sir, whenever a thought enters my head, the brain begins to tighten and ejects that thought from the top of the head and it goes up as a spiral (he gestured), I don't know where!"

UG then showed me two prominent swellings on both sides of his neck (supraclavicular fossae) above the collarbones and said, "These are the Thymic swellings!"

The Thymus is an endocrine gland which auto-destroys itself by the age of twelve! It secretes a hormone named Thymosin, the function of which is not fully understood by the medical science to this day.

What followed was a physical demonstration of the various peculiar bulges on his neck, forehead etc. UG clarified, "Since you are a doctor, I am showing you all these!”

UG threw the most amazing surprise when he pointed to a distinctly marked blue spot, and protruding veins on his forehead. He explained,

" Sir, this is your Ajna Chakra! Those ‘acid heads’ (Upanishadic seers) sitting in the jungles, drinking ‘soma juice’ also developed the same physical phenomena, but not knowing what exactly they were, misled you & everybody (else) by adding "mystique" to the whole thing!  These are the dormant endocrine glands showing up and taking over the running of the body!”

            UG then beckoned to me to move closer, and lowering the turtleneck collar on his shirt, and exposing the neck pointed to a clear blue spot, right at the base of the neck, (at the junction between the occiput (back of the head) and the cervical spine and calmly broke the thunderous news, "This is the entry point of that ‘shaft of light’ which hit me while entering the body, when I was seated on that bench, overlooking the Saanen Valley in 1967!”

****

Finally, holding up his palms, UG prompted me, "Sir, observe these protuberances in my palms (I ran my fingers across his palms. They were not visible on the surface but I could feel them, they felt quite firm to the touch!). He explained, “These too are endocrine glands!”

I had stumbled into a wonderland, of sorts. I was in the presence of a strange man, witnessing strange things. I had never encountered anything remotely familiar, in my practice!

Back then, I was a practicing medical professional, and to say the least, it was mind-boggling to witness the wonders of all those physical changes in UG, who clarified further, “These are the actual "chakras’ that your rishis (seers) spoke of!"

Eventually I snapped out of the wonderment, and burst out," You are the first one to show, tell and clarify to me that endocrine glands exist even in the palm of our hands. This is nowhere mentioned in "The Grey’s Textbook of Anatomy!"

UG wasted no time, got into his stride in a jiffy, and shouted me down, "You doctors know nothing!"

            

Benumbed, I sat silently observing UG! I naturally began prodding my own palms and neck for any bulges! Hey presto! I felt two rubbery bulges on my collar bone! They were akin to golf-balls and were quite palpable. In utter amazement, I showed them to UG, who ran his fingers over and said, "Yes sir! They are thymic bulges!”  (Apparently, they seemed to be natural occurrences, very pronounced in UG’s natural presence, and they normalised soon after.)

Much later, during one of my visits to UG at Bangalore, I met Chandrasekhar Babu. Babu showed me similar but much bigger bulges on both sides of his neck and explained to me that they appeared during Full Moon and New Moon days!

****

  
          There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than dreamt of in your philosophy (science) - Hamlet

                                                         ****                                                                             

                                          - Dr. Sreedhav, MD, Nellore, India

Note : The Thymus gland looks like a bunch of Grapes, extending up! No wonder, when it enlarges,it goes to both sides of the neck!The small Green beads you see in the picture are Endocrine glands,the function we don't know!

On that " revealing day" in Feb 1992, UG, actually lifted up his sweater to show blue bead like swellings on both sides of the mid-line on the abdomen!These blue bead like swellings extended right down to below the umbilicus in him!

                                                                                                                       (Dr. Sreedhav)

" Why do you ask people not to meditate?" - Dr. Sreedhav

UG

The very first question I put to UG in 1992, when I got lucky to meet him, was,

" Why do you ask people not to meditate?"

UG replied, "Those who truly meditate will not ask this question!"

My meditative efforts had started from the age of fifteen. I was thirty-one when I put this question to UG! 

On hearing UG's whiplash of a reply, my immediate thought was, " Oh, here goes sixteen years of meditation down the drain!"

My next meeting with UG happened in Yercaud, a hill resort near Salem in South of India.[1]

UG possessed this uncanny ability to turn the spotlight on our most closeted concerns.

In Yercaud, UG resumed the topic of meditation, all by himself,

" Sir, only two things happen to people who are serious about their search, either they go MAD or commit SUICIDE!"

He continued,

" In the Himalayan caves, I was meditating for eighteen hours a day, seven days a week. I took only one day off to go to Dehradun to rent a hotel room to prepare a cheese-based dish, the recipe given by my grandmother, to sustain myself in the near starvation situation in the caves!"

I was considered a madman for all practical purposes, as I walked the streets of Dehradun. This continued for seven years!"

On the instructions of Swami Sivananda, I was surviving on a diet of soaked rice flakes, washed in the icy cold waters of the Ganges, flowing close by the cave where I meditated. This dish too was strictly once in a day.”

I then ventured to ask UG," Sir, what actually happened during the 18 hours a day effort in that cave?"

His response literally blew me away!

UG said," Culture was getting flushed out of the system and all that man felt, thought and experienced got flushed out!"

UG continued,

"All those who stumbled into the Natural State were flushed out too. Here it was the opposite of 'all the saints went marching in'. Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Mahavir, Socrates, Akka Mahadevi and Allama and so many sages both from Orient and the Occident, just to highlight a few, all ‘went out’!"

The living room in uncle's (Major’s) cottage in Radha Estate was in a state of stunned silence!

He turned towards me and quipped,

" I could see them so clearly sir. Jesus was a clean-shaven man, Buddha was ugly, short, pot-bellied and Mohammed was so handsome that even men were falling for him!

How I survived those seven years of madness and regained enough functionality to survive in this world is anybody's guess!

That is why I affirm that whatever I say is from personal experience! I have wasted four decades of my life in a futile search. Only after the SEARCH ended and all questions stopped, did this ‘stumble’ happen!

That's why I maintain that the very search is the stumbling block to something happening there. Take it or leave it!"

                                               ( Dr. Sreedhav, Nellore, India) 

 Note: The kind write-up is a contribution by Dr. Sreedhav. Ever grateful for his time and effort. 

---

[1] (Major Dakshinamurti, incidentally Dr. Sreedhav’s uncle, had moved over to Yercaud to lead a life of quietude and solitude to pursue his ‘sadhana’ or ‘spiritual pursuit.’

Major was staying in the picturesque ‘Radha Estate.’  UG, on several occasions, visited him and stayed there.

Major had got UG’s nod to pursue his solitary life in the hills after a long-drawn ‘battle’. He had always sought and hankered for a life away from the ‘noise and din’ of society. After obtaining UG’s approval, he gave up his secure military career to embrace the solitary life in the hills. Currently he lives in a farmhouse in the outskirts of Bangalore.

https://ugunplugged.blogspot.com/2017/08/under-spell-of-ug-i-overcame-self.html)

“Don’t be surprised if the leopards start visiting you if I am going to stay in your place.” - UG

Leopards of Mumbai

UG chose middle-class households in India for his portals.

The Parekhs in Bombay or the Babus in Bangalore who hosted UG for several decades ensured that the portals remained warm, friendly and open to every eager visitor seeking to meet UG. Any fears or inhibitions were put to rest in no time, letting people feel at home and participate in free-wheeling discussions with UG and friends.

During the 90s, on many occasions, UG chose Bombay as his first port of call. We were fortunate to spend several days with the ‘raging sage’ on such visits.

On one such occasion, in 1998, after a hectic morning session with a large group of people, UG decided to take a break, suggesting a ride away from the crowds (UG termed this as his ‘constitutional’).  The ever-ready Kamal, near at hand, proposed a drive to the nearby Sanjay Gandhi National Park, a 150 square mile reserve (at the time) next to the bustling metro.

The National Park, a thickly wooded reserve is the habitat for some rare species of birds and animals including leopards. Located deep within the forest hills are the famous Kanheri Caves, the ancient Buddhist seminary-complex of rock-cut monuments dating back to the first century BC.

Kamal, a great nature enthusiast and an avid trekker suggested to UG, “Sir, we should visit the National Park, a beautiful place, thickly wooded, very scenic. Suresh stays next to the Park, his house overlooks the jungle.”

UG, “Kamal, where I live in the Swiss Alps, I keep my windows closed and curtains drawn. I am not particularly fond of nature or trees or hills. We should rather visit his home. I want to see his family.”

I was overjoyed. That was to be UG’s first visit to our place. I felt honoured to receive him in my humble, middle-class abode. In the half- dozen years that I had known him, it had never even remotely occurred to me that he would come over to my place!

UG, self and Neeraj Mehta set out to our place in Kamal’s car. 

I remember Neeraj mentioning to me in the car how lucky I was that UG had volunteered to visit our place.

Initially I thought of reaching out to my wife and letting her know of UG’s visit. But I let that be. I wanted to give her a surprise. More importantly, I felt that the meeting between the ‘sage and the housewife’ should be a direct affair, stripped of any formalities!

On entering our home, first thing UG wanted to know was whether I owned the place. When I replied in the negative, he inquired about the rental. When I gave the figure, he exclaimed that I was shelling out a huge amount and that I should instead go for an outright purchase. I was about to blurt out that it was beyond my means at the time, but I checked myself, and meekly replied, “OK sir!” Within a few months, I ended up owning the place. Everything happened quickly, smoothly and effortlessly!

In those days, our little apartment had a balcony that overlooked the National Park. There was an abandoned construction plot, right in front, built up to the stilt level, standing between our apartment and the fencing of the jungle. This gave us an open, unrestricted view of the thickly wooded reserve.

My little son was swinging in a hammock in the balcony and UG played with him for a little while. I joined him at the balcony and pointed to the jungle outside and said that there was a lot of wild life there including leopards. According to a survey at the time, there were about forty big cats roaming freely in the woods and the surrounding hills.

On learning about the big cats, UG remarked, “Don’t be surprised if the leopards start visiting you if I am going to stay in your place. Can you see the big tree there on that side of the jungle? The leopards will first climb onto that tree and then jump over to the tree on this side and jump to this tree branch inside your compound.”

Of course, the security guards in our sprawling residential complex spoke of occasional sightings of leopards but none of the residents had seen anything!

Call it coincidence, soon after UG’s first trip to the complex, leopards suddenly seemed to cut loose and started to appear all over the place, even during broad daylight!

 

In what was one of the very first sightings, it was my immediate neighbor who ran into the big cats. He was returning home after a late night flight. As he reached our building, he heard some noises in the darkness, alerting him to the danger. He was shocked to see three little cubs playing on the grass just a few feet away from the gate, right in front of our balcony. He immediately jumped inside the gate and secured himself. Suspecting that there could be some adult leopards in the vicinity, he pulled out his new digital video recorder with night vision. As he peered into the darkness around the half-constructed plot, he was shocked to discover three adult leopards perched on top of the eave keeping a watch on the cubs playing below.

Next day morning, the whole community was abuzz with the big leopard story.

The leopard video footage was played in our Club House to alert all residents to the dangers of nocturnal visitors. The real estate developers of our complex were alerted. Soon the jungle fencing was raised another ten feet, bolstered and barbed.

But nothing was high enough for the agile cats!

Not long after, the leopard sightings began to make headlines.

Some of the daylight visits by the creatures took residents by surprise and in some unfortunate incidents people were attacked. An army of forest rangers were on call and pressed into service round the clock. They shot the beasts with tranquilisers, captured and removed them to distant jungles across India.

Our residential complex, Raheja Estate, had become the favourite destination for TV crew who shot live captures of leopards.

UG always held that we have no right to complain about animals or snakes as we are the ones encroaching into their territory and not the other way round.

****

Today incidentally is UG’s Death Anniversary!

Mahesh Bhatt was the first one to wish UG “Happy Death Day” in Vallecrosia, on the final morning of his earthly sojourn.

“How could you bring yourself to say such a thing to UG?”, I once queried Mahesh.

Mahesh, “This is what UG wanted! Remember, I was just doing what my master wanted me to do! UG wanted to go, I was summoned to pack him off, and I was just doing his bidding. I consider his wish as the mission of my life!”

“ Also remember UG wanted me to dispose off the corpse without any song or ceremony. If he really wanted an elaborate funeral service or rituals or ceremonies, he could easily summon an army of priests from India or could even choose to die there. He wanted none of these.

Why did he choose me of all people to do the job? I really don't know! I am not a Brahmin. I know nothing about Hindu rituals or ceremonies. UG just signed a piece of paper and handed over his body to a ‘mlechcha’ like me! 

My mission was to ensure that he died the way he wanted, silently and peacefully.”

****

Tao of UG

UG and Chuang Tzu

“Your rishis (sages) can’t hold a candle light to those giants from China.” - UG

This was way back in 2002.

I was at the boarding lounge in Mumbai airport awaiting departure call for my late evening flight to Bangalore. Mother had been seriously ill for a while, she was to be operated the next morning.

I was flying in to join my brother and family members. My mission was to relieve them during night long vigils. Given the nature of surgery, it could be a long stay at the hospital.

As I waited at the lounge, a small bookshop at the gate beckoned to me. I lumbered in looking for something that could keep me busy during my night shifts at the hospital.

Nothing in the shop seemed to catch my attention.

As I lazily sauntered, the gentleman behind the counter abruptly came up to me, holding a small book, “The Art of War”. He accosted me saying that the book was a smash hit with marketing and business execs and was in great demand. I excused myself gently and moved over to the next shelf.

Given my mission tonight, the last thing I ever wanted to explore was the world of business or war. The title was a dead giveaway! The world has seen vicious corporate wars, they could be deadly. No wonder, the title seemed to hold much promise for corporate warmongers.

I found nothing interesting in the shop and, as I turned to leave, the shopkeeper again made his appearance. This time around, he seemed more determined. Strangely, in a pleading tone, he began to explain to me that it was the last copy in the store, and that he had carefully tucked it away from the public eye. For some reason, he felt that I should read the book! I patiently told him that I was not a businessman and had nothing whatsoever to do with marketing, but he would have none of it!

Not to be discourteous to the man, I took hold of the book. It was ‘The Art of War’ by Sun Tzu. It was an exposition on war by a ‘sagely’ military general, who had lived in China nearly three thousand years ago!

Sun Tzu had quipped, “The greatest General is one who wins a war without a battle!” His position was that the wars could be won through strategy and tact, without the need for fighting a battle or even spilling blood.

I decided to check out the Introduction to see if it was worth my time. That was my first ever reading of a Chinese Classic. Just a couple of paragraphs into it, I was simply blown away by its content.

In the introductory pages, the author had generously quoted the likes of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, extraordinary figures from the Taoist lore. The genre, the originality of content and expression of Taoist wisdom remains unparalleled to this day. Unlike volumes that fill entire libraries, the short, powerful, pithy statements of the Chinese sages drive home the very essence of life.

It was a déjà vu   moment! 

As I read on, I was stunned by the sagely observations. They looked utterly familiar. Their profound revelations, it appeared, had always been part of my essence, my very being. Every passage there was facile and fluid, expressing the innermost, subtlest stirrings of my heart, nay, of every human heart! They suddenly seemed to find a voice in the sagely remarks!

The uncanny wisdom and sagacity of the Taoist sages flowed on effortlessly and majestically, in utter simplicity and naturalness!

Here perhaps was the distilled wisdom of the ages and sages, the very essence of life minus any embellishment or trappings. It was simple and flawless exposition on life with no ado, no sophistry or ceremony.

No wonder, the smallest Wisdom Book – ‘Tao Te Ching’, the Chinese Classic with less than 5000 characters (not words!) remains the second most popular book in the world, after the Bible.

The little book became my introduction to the great Taoism (pronounced ‘Daoism’) of ancient China.

****

At the hospital, I discovered that the only place with good illumination, fit for any serious reading, close to mother’s ward, was a bench bang opposite the casualty wing.

The place remained awake through the night with people wailing over the dead at random intervals. This formed a sombre backdrop for my initiation into Taoist literature. Night after night, I sat on the bench digging deeply into the Art of War and other Chinese Classics. I had managed to assemble a tiny library, the very next day after my arrival. Mother too began recuperating slowly after the surgery.

The Art of War, personally, was a revelation to me on how to lead one’s life sanely and tactfully in a self-contradicting, volatile and treacherous social environment, full of existential threats. To me, this was the subtext of the Classic - it doubled up as a personal guide to life as much as a celebrated text on military strategy .

The sage general, Sun Tzu, professed peace over war but also handed down a pragmatic guide to deal with the myriad hazards that could threaten our safety and security!

This extraordinary practical advice from Sun Tzu led me to explore more of the Chinese Classics. Lao Tzu’s ‘Tao Te Ching’ and the ‘Inner Chapters’ of Chuang Tzu followed suit. Then there was the outstanding Wen Tzu and many others.

By now, I was in awe of the great Taoist sages.

****

Tao or ‘the Way’  (as opposed to a dead, static path) points to the fundamental dynamic principle of our universe. Tao points to the deep interconnectedness between human and the animal, the earth and the heavens, the sentient and the insentient.

The whole of life is in an eternal dance born of cosmos that is in a flux, pulsing every moment. Life pulsates, and everything responds and pulsates with it. Everything is interconnected and hence affected by everything else in the universe.

Whether it is the human or plant or animal or earth or sun or moon, everything operates in cycles individually and in resonance with the collective. There is ‘yin’, there is ‘yang’, there is growth, there is decay, there is waxing, there is waning, there is life, there is death, there is day, there is night, there is male, there is female, there is summer, there is winter, there is activity, there is rest, there is light, there is darkness. The binary aspect of life or nature is a reality, but its essence is unary, just like the two sides of the same coin!

In a fundamental departure from all known spiritual traditions of the world, Taoism stands apart like a colossus, seeing no difference between the spiritual or the mundane, the contemplative or the practical aspect of life. It rejects all artificial divisions and the needless compartmentalisation of life.

In Taoist approach, the external search for meaning of life is failure on our part to see life’s operation in and around oneself.

There is no God or guru in Taoism! A master or teacher is considered to be more sensitive, more mature, more open, receptive pupil of life, a little ahead in the journey of life, a little down the road! Fundamentally and essentially, the teacher (‘adept’ in Taoism) is not different from the disciple who has just set out on life’s journey. Similarly, for the Taoist, there is no God or Agency standing away or apart from life and orchestrating its operations. There is only life and its cycles, the eternal universal dance with its own rhythm and order.

Taoism, like its counterpart Vedanta in India, touched and influenced every aspect of medieval life in China - art, music, literature, architecture, culture, medicine, farming, state affairs, commerce, economics, justice, the art of self- defence etc. Each realm imbibed the spirit of Taoism and evolved into its finest, most refined form. 

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Among Taoists, perhaps UG comes closest to Chuang Tzu. UG’s brilliance and depth are matched by the wit and wisdom of Chuang Tzu.

Here are some gems from Chuang Tzu, the ‘butterfly’ philosopher:

The perfect man has no self, the holy man has no merit, the sage has no reputation.

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We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. And yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.

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Life has a limit, but knowledge is without limit. For the limited to pursue the unlimited is futile. To know this and still pursue knowledge is even more futile.

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Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamed I was a butterfly flying happily here and there, enjoying life without knowing who I was. Suddenly I woke up and I was indeed Chuang Tzu. Did Chuang Tzu dream he was a butterfly, or did the butterfly dream he was Chuang Tzu?

(Courtesy: http://www.eheart.com/TAO/CTchapters-small.pdf)

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Mother was discharged from the hospital, and I left for Bombay carrying back with me a small collection of Tao books.

I now eagerly awaited UG’s next arrival into Bombay. I was curious to know what he had to say about Taoism, my latest discovery.

I began to wonder if UG had ever come across these Taoist Masters.

When UG came over, at the first opportunity, I asked him if he had ever read Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu. He replied,

“Sir, I know all about Taoism and its sages Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu and Mo Tzu. In my younger days, I had read all those books in libraries of Calcutta. Those libraries have some of the finest and rarest collection of books anywhere in the world.

The Chinese sages were extraordinary. Your rishis in India can’t hold a candle light to those giants from China.”

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Several Chinese University professors became attracted to UG after reading his recorded conversations, ‘Thought Is Your Enemy’, ‘The Mystique of Enlightenment’, ‘Mind Is A Myth’ etc. They turned into his admirers. They arranged some of his visits to China and took him around places and organised meetings with friends.

UG spoke highly about China.

The professor friends felt that there were great similarities between UG and the ancient Tao Masters.

UG admired the pragmatic approach of the Chinese and considered it as a powerful nation with superior military prowess. 

His favourite line was, “That country has produced so many business women, there are more than million millionairesses and even some billionairesses. I want to meet one of the billionairesses on my next visit.”

On his next visit to China, UG was invited by a billionairess to her mansion for a personal meeting. When he turned up at the appointed time, she courteously asked him to join her for a meal. UG excused himself saying that he consumed very little food and had already finished his meal at the hotel. Nevertheless, she invited him over to the table saying he could keep her company while she lunched.

UG was amused at the variety of foods served by her retinue of servants, “It was a fifty-four-course meal, and they went around the huge table and kept on bringing varieties of food to the table.”

At the end of the meal, she got up and used crutches to walk over to where UG was seated. UG inquired about her age and was shocked to know that she was still in her early sixties. She was curious to know UG’s age and couldn’t believe that he was decades older to her but hale, hearty and nimble. She couldn’t hold back her curiosity, “What’s the secret of your health, UG?”

UG, “I eat less, I eat fast and I eat standing! The reason for all your health problems is your fifty-four-course meal that you just had, the body needs only a little food for survival. Eating, in your case is a pleasure movement.”

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