U.G. Krishnamurti
| U. G. Krishnamurti | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
9 July 1918 Machilipatnam, India |
| Died | 22 March 2007 (aged 88) Vallecrosia, Italy |
| Occupation | Philosopher |
| Children | 3 |
Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti (9 July 1918 – 22 March 2007), known as U. G. Krishnamurti, was an Indian philosopher who questioned enlightenment. Although many considered him an "enlightened" person, Krishnamurti often referred to his state of being as the "natural state". He claimed that the demand for enlightenment was the only thing standing in the way of enlightenment itself, if enlightenment existed at all.
He rejected the very basis of thought and in doing so negated all systems of thought and knowledge. Hence he explained his assertions were experiential and not speculative – "Tell them that there is nothing to understand."
He was unrelated to his contemporary Jiddu Krishnamurti, although the two men had a number of meetings.
Krishnamurti was born on 9 July 1918 in Machilipatnam, a town in coastal Andhra Pradesh, India, and raised in the nearby town of Gudivada. His mother died seven days after he was born, and he was brought up by his maternal grandfather, a wealthy Brahmin lawyer, who was also involved in the Theosophical Society. Krishnamurti also became a member of the Theosophical Society during his teenage years and mentions having "inherited" his association with the Theosophical Society from his grandfather. South Indian actress Gautami is his very close relative and model Soumya Bollapragada is his great grand daughter.
During the same period of his life, Krishnamurti reportedly practised all kinds of austerities and apparently sought moksha or spiritual enlightenment. To that end, between the ages of 14 and 21, he undertook all kinds of spiritual exercise, determined to find out whether moksha was possible. Wanting to achieve that state, he had also resolved to prove that if there were people who have thus "realized" themselves, they could not be hypocritical. As part of this endeavour, he searched for a person who was an embodiment of such "realization".
He spent seven summers in the Himalayas with Swami Sivananda studying yoga and practising meditation. During his 20s, Krishnamurti began attending the University of Madras, studying psychology, philosophy, mysticism, and the sciences, but never completed a degree, having determined that the answers of the West – to what he considered were essential questions – were no better than those of the East.
...
Wikipedia