Uppaluri Krishnamurti - A Lifestory

A person, often called U.G. Krishnamurti, was hard to put in a box when it came to Hindu holy people and teachers. Unlike many spiritual leaders who gave clear ways to find understanding, he strongly said no to all ways of thinking, believing, and doing. He did not want followers; he actually told them to go away. Born in 1918 in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, his life changed a lot in 1939 after spending seven summers with a well known theosophist, Annie Besant. This meeting, though it had an effect at first, later made him doubt the base of organized spiritual belief. He said he went through a "calamity" in 1967, a big change that he said was not a moment of understanding, but a normal body process. He spent the rest of his life traveling the world, sharing his special view, which was often called extreme and against the rules. U.G. did not preach, teach, or give advice. Instead, he asked people to doubt what they had been taught and to say no to looking for answers that others give. His message, if it could be called that, was about how there is nothing to get, nothing to turn into, and that looking for understanding is what stops you from living life as it is. He was not a normal teacher giving wisdom; he was someone who caused trouble, a thinker who went against the flow and told everyone to find their own way, even if it meant finding no way at all. He died in 1999 in Vallecrosia, Italy.