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Mar. 21, 2006 An Internet friend suggested that I read Mahesh Bhatt's biography and commentary on U.G. Krishnamurti posted at the website http://www.well.com/~jct/ugbio/ugbtitle.htm and so I did this recently. I must say that U.G. is a tall glass of water and you can't swallow him in one relaxed and easy gulp. I had to sleep and dream to produce the following comments concerning U.G.. These are only my opinions. Like the weather they are subject to change without notice. Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti clearly was an intellectually gifted young man who for decades had no financial worries. Later he found a devoted lady named Valentine and she supported him. To survive the man didn't have to satisfy the unrelenting demands of a regular job. U.G. was not a mercenary. He didn't have to market himself to prospective employers. As a student he even stood up against his philosophy professors and didn't obtain an advanced degree. Even as a boy U.G. had been a free agent. As an older man U.G. suffered from a total engrossment in his own bodily sensations revolving around his ultimate demise. U.G. stayed trapped in his own very specialized brain, his own sensitive body, and his own traditional culture. He wanted to break free of that confinement but he could not. This is my opinion. To some extent U.G. Krishnamurti reminds me of Socrates... a brilliant and charismatic conversationalist who attracted other brilliant and charismatic conversationalists. Such persons are very specialized and focused in their brain activity. Aside from being brilliant, however, U.G. dwelt upon what many skeptics dwell upon, the dark side of religious people, the imperfections of personal characters including the fact that certain holy yogis occasionally may eat a pickle and certain spiritual masters occasionally get caught performing some act that is considered a lot more sinful than eating a pickle. This focus on the dark side causes U.G. to miss the main point. In my opinion the main point is something bright and light that a spiritual genius has, the brightness and inspiration that creates the very core of the new culture that arises from a spiritual genius... But this new culture arises not from the Buddh but from the Fruit that the Buddh ultimately grows into after it's swelled up and burst into a flower and become fertilized and plump and seed-laden. Generations of seminal disciples produce the new culture of the Buddh. The Buddh's venerable Image and/or venerable Text is retained as a popular Image. What was first a cult has become a culture. The next human culture is the culture of innovation and brain integration. This revolutionary culture will come as scientific geniuses and spiritual geniuses meet and gifted scientists determine exactly what the brain of a spiritual genius is doing in relation to what traditional cultures train bright and light young brains to do. The abundant joy that comes from consuming very little and doing a lot with what you've got will become more popular as humans become more numerous on space ship Earth and as reserves of easy-to-obtain natural resources run out. The lesson of being thrifty and ingenious and living in peace and harmony will become a required study. Furthermore, since brain integration and related playfulness feels so youthful and so good, people won't resist the new culture the way U.G. resisted the traditional culture. But U.G. simply didn't get the big picture. Even as a young man he picked away at nits. He didn't ever integrate. This is just my opinion. You are free to disagree. We can discuss this subject further. Over the years I have read quite a lot of the more famous Jiddu Krishnamurti, who was often a target for U.G. Krishnamurti. Both these men were great conversationalists. They both had a verbal genius and a charisma. They both suffered physical pains a great deal. They both began in traditional India and both were badly treated as young boys. Both were saved from the usual preoccupations and labors of men. Both spent much of their time in contemplation and in conversation. Osho Rajneesh was rather like this also. These men attracted a large number of followers who wanted to learn from them and be like them. The old culture trains a boy to venerate a hero and a teacher and a father and a mother. The new culture is different, and cultures children differently. The new culture is the culture of integration, playfulness, level-headedness, and level playing fields. In this culture of leveling you are a teacher, I am a teacher and we are both students also. In schools as well, this balancing rule of leveling the playing field is followed. Each school's funding is based on the school's valuable work: helping each child integrate and demonstrate his or her special gift(s). This is very different from a traditional culture because the traditional cultures all put social pressure on boys to imitate and venerate some heroic figure... the lady killer, the football star, the seal bearer, the big man with the big smile or the big stick, the rich man who has deep pockets. And if a boy can't imitate the venerable role model, then the boy gets abused by the teacher and by the loyal followers of the teacher. The new culture is different. The new teacher is different. In the traditional school you are encouraged to strive to arrive at the right answers, but you aren't encouraged to strive to arrive at the right questions. In fact Thomas Edison was whipped by his teacher because he didn't stop asking questions. It's no accident that the new culture of recycling, thrift, peace, and happiness is the culture of questioners and innovators. In examining U.G.'s conversations one encounters flat-out denials of realities commonly accepted, such as the reality of creative intelligence... the habit of actively solving problems in an original way. U.G. asserts that creativity is an illusion. One then wants to know what original works U.G. has produced. He evidently didn't even produce a master's thesis, let alone original songs, poems, and other inventions. His attention-getting device was his handsomeness and his uncommonly negative and cynical point of view. U.G. apparently couldn't shift from this dark side and he argued very rapidly and very skillfully, and he influenced many gullible people. But U.G. was comparable to a vain man who denounces swimmers without ever learning to swim... a "sour grapes" person. Human problem-solving is no illusion. A serious historical study of science and technology shows many impressive examples of problem-solving. Strong creativity solves hard problems. This positive problem-solving habit has been termed "Yankee ingenuity," but no modern nation lacks innovators. In my opinion every serious philosophy undergraduate should study U.G. Krishnamurti after first studying Socrates, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Osho. After studying those luminaries comes a study of Nietzsche’s Superman and the legion of contemporary comic book superheroes and rock and roll stars. In due time a young philosopher may innovate himself or herself and become a luminary. U.G. Krishnamurti is an example of a modern person who took that step and lived to tell the tale. ------------ About the author: John L. Waters is an amateur psychologist and independent researcher on self-healing, integration, and problem-solving. John has created art, music and songs, prose and poetry, and helped people solve a difficult problem. For more information, read: John's letters of recommendation: http://members.tripod.com/johnlwaters/recommendations about John's self-healing and integration: http://members.tripod.com/johnlwaters/index.html about John's independent research: http://www.humboldt.edu/~jlw47/index.html about John's seeking an agent or a publisher: http://www.writers.net/writers/39295 Email: blueguntwo@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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