U G Krishnamurti

Andy Dougharty suggested I read a little about U.G.Krishnamurti (not be confused with Jiddu Krishnamurti) and not surprisingly it turned out that there was a strong link between the subject of my previous post (Ramana Maharshi) and U.G.Krishnamurti. In the Wikipedia article about the latter, it says:

In 1939, at age 21, U.G. met with renowned spiritual teacher Ramana Maharshi. U.G. related that he asked Ramana, "This thing called moksha, can you give it to me?" - to which Ramana Maharshi purportedly replied, "I can give it, but can you take it?". This answer completely altered U.G.'s perceptions of the "spiritual path" and its practitioners, and he never again sought the counsel of "those religious people". Later U.G. would say that Maharshi's answer - which he perceived as "arrogant" - put him "back on track".

Many years later however, his final view of things was not all that dissimilar to that of Ramana who advised that the essential question to ask is "who am I?" until the sense of duality disappeared and the "I" dissolved completely. U.G. Krishnamurti says that self-realization is the realization that there is no self to realise. He also talks about the "natural state" of the body in very much the same terms as Barry Long and Eckhart Tolle:

"When the totality of mankind's knowledge and experience loses its stranglehold on the body, the physical organism, then the body is allowed to function in its own harmonious way. Your natural state is a biological, neurological and physical state."

It's clear that Ramana Maharshi, U.G.Krishnamurti, Barry Long, Eckhart Tolle, Osho and Meher Baba are all telling us the same thing in their own unique way. There is no goal and nothing to strive for. Only our thoughts prevent us from realising that. There is no need to do anything but simply stop what we are currently doing wrong by letting go of our attachment to thinking. As U.G.Krishnamurti says "We don't seem to realize that it is thought that is separating us from the totality of things". He goes on to say:

"The only way for anyone who is interested in finding out what this is all about is to watch how this separation is occurring, how you are separating yourself from the things that are happening around you and inside you. Actually there is no difference between the outside and the inside. It is thought that creates the frontiers and tells us that this is the inside and something else is the outside. If you tell yourself that you are happy, miserable, or bored, you have already separated yourself from that particular sensation that is there inside you." "The only way it can maintain its continuity is through the constant demand to know. If you don't know what you are looking at, the 'you' as you know yourself, the 'you' as you experience yourself, is going to come to an end. That is death. That is the only death and there is no other death."

The key is watching "how this separation is occurring". It's no use reading about or intellectualizing about it, it's an experiential thing and it's uniquely individual. No two minds are alike and nobody can get inside your head except you. You have to go in and sort things out. There are techniques that may be helpful but you need to be adaptable and pragmatic, using what works and tossing out whatever doesn't. Needless to say this is a totally subjective activity and I'm at the point now where I know what needs to be done or I should say undone.