I feel very fortunate to have met U.G. Krishnamurti in 1983. He became enlightened in his late 40s and during the rest of his life he sought to demystify the myths that surround it.
U.G. was born in India but travelled widely before settling in Switzerland. He was not bound by traditional Hindu concepts and spoke clearly about what enlightenment is and isn’t. For U.G, as in many other first-hand accounts, the cause of enlightenment was stated as the death of Sense of Self. (See The Mystique of Enlightenment, a book of his collected talks.)
A common myth is that enlightenment requires intense spiritual commitment: One of the most renowned sages in India, Ramana Maharshi, was a normal high school pupil whose family were not particularly spiritual or religious. One day, while alone in his uncles house, he suddenly felt that he was going to die. He lay down on the floor and imagined his funeral as the Sense of Self spontaneously uninstalled. (See “The Complete Works of Ramana Maharshi”.)
UG pointed out that this spontaneous loss of the Sense of Self is not a spiritual awakening but a physiological event, and that a murderer or a criminal has just as much chance of becoming enlightened as anyone else. It is extremely rare that it breaks down, this is why U.G. considered himself to be “a reject on the production line of humanity”.
He explained that the Sense of Self is just a mental function that links moments together to create the experience of having a continuous existence. Without it only the body of U.G. was left – if you ask it a question it will reply, but there was no one present.
He said that we have only one instrument to understand with, and it’s the wrong instrument. Without a Sense of Self there is “nothing to understand” – all of our questions, desires, knowledge and instincts are just instances of the Sense of Self at work and have no reality except to our selves.
Grades A to B
U.G. said out there are two types enlightened teacher. Grade A’s are the genuine article that have actually lost the Sense of Self. Grade B’s may believe and experience that they are enlightened but have not lost the Sense of Self. He wasn’t being judgemental, only realistic about how extremely rare the Sense of Self breaks down.
Here’s what five Grade A’s said about the Sense of Self:
> Nisargadat called the Self an illusion.
> Doctor Sahib said “Until the ‘I’ has gone – Nothing!”
> U.G. Krishnamurti explained the Self is a mental function that creates the sense of a continuous independent existence
> Ramana Maharshi said when the Self vanishes our true nature is awareness.
> Anandamayi Ma considered individual identity to be a kind of spiritual disease: The disease of looking at yourself as a separate individual.
Spiritual enquiry
Stumbling into it
Some extras
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