Press Articles 1981-1990

Jan. 4, 1981
Deccan Herald

“Thought …has now become the enemy of man….”

“Somewhere along the line, probably, thought was necessary, but it has now become the enemy of man. Your thoughts are not your own. There are only thoughts but one creates a counterthought – the thinker – with which one reads every thought. Maybe I can convince you not to waste a lot of time and energy looking for a state that does not exist except in your imagination…” U.G. as quoted in the Review.

Jan. 1981
Cine Blitz
Monthly

Interview with Parveen Babi
“U.G. has become a part of my life that I cherish dearly…”

U.G. helped me tremendously during the time of my illness. I regained my balance. I had the strength to embrace life in its entirety. So naturally from being the centre point of my existence, U.G. has become a part of my life that I cherish dearly.

April 1982
Stardust
Monthly

“U.G.’s a good friend….”

Smita said: U.G. is a good friend. He is a lovely person to be with. In spite of being an intellectual, he is very easygoing. He has many theories to reveal. His grasp on reality is amazing. He has a tremendous understanding of life. And it is the mutual exchange of thoughts and ideas that has helped me to build up my character, and [helped] in the spiritual development of my mind. I don’t go to U.G. because I am sick and unhappy, but because I feel happy when I meet him. He is a real

pleasure to be with.

Apr. 15, 1982
Times of Deccan

Biological Revolution …only way out…

Arthur Koestler in his Janus – a Summing writes: “At some point during the last explosive stages of the biological evolution of homo sapiens something went wrong: there was a flaw, some potential error built into our native equipment – more specifically, into the circuits of our nervous system, which would account for the streak of paranoia running through our history.” He believes

that the only way out of this could be through the combination of “benevolent hormones or enzymes” or by “inducing chemical changes in the human body”. Almost everything man has done has resulted in deepening his alienation and insecurity: The only way out of this “neurotic hiatus” could be, as U.G. says, through a biological revolution. But the ‘how’ of it has remained a big question. It appears to be far beyond the scope of contemporary biology. Yet our hope seems to lie in it, rather than in spirituality.

May 7–21, 1982
Bombay
Fortnightly

Firespewing seer….

Prophet U.G. Krishnamurti – firespewing seer – is in town. His estranged son Vasant – a brilliant copywriter credited with the ThumsUp jingle ‘Happy days are here again’, and producer of the first pop music show on Vividh Bharati, ‘ThumsUp Beat’ – is seriously ill in a local hospital.

July 4, 1982

Sunday Observer

An honest, muddled, minor voice….

The reviewer is critical of U.G.’s attainments as reported in the book. At the end he adds: “But this much in fairness needs to be added. In an age of manipulative slave masters whose true ‘avatar’ is Rajneesh, U.G. Krishnamurti constitutes an honest, muddled, minor voice, for whom we must be thankful.”

1982
National Herald

“…A rapist, a murderer, a conman, a thief has as much chance….”

This book (Mystique of Enlightenment) can and will do more to awe and alarm a wide range of people, especially those who are caught up in the treadmill of traditions, trapped in the currently fashionable teachings of J. Krishnamurti, and also those who are bamboozled by the sensational gimmicks of the gurus of today. What is our chance of getting into the Natural State? Not a chance, says U.G. In fact, a rapist, a murderer, a conman, a thief has as much chance, if not a better chance, than all the religious

aspirants put together.

Dec. 1984
Stardust
Monthly

Parveen Babi….

Where the doctors failed, U.G. Krishnamurti healed her, or so Parveen Babi and her family and friends had insisted, when she got back to her work after her first mental breakdown. A couple of years later, the very same people pointed an accusing finger at the Godman (he hates to be called that) when the Babi, after her second mental illness, disappeared from his fold, never to return. U.G. says: “I know where she is. She is very well. But I am not interested in satisfying the curiosity of the people and am much less interested in providing information to film magazines to fill their pages. If she wants to get in touch with any one of you, she’ll do so herself.”

Mar. 31–Apr. 6, 1985
Illustrated Weekly of India

Tempestuous association….

“Though he lacks the fame and cachet of his illustrious namesake, J. Krishnamurti, whose acolyte he once was before he rejected him and chose to walk alone, U.G. has found himself a faithful following.”—Mahesh Bhatt recalls his tempestuous association with the raging guru.

Dec. 29, 1985
Times of India

You feel the presence….

He denies everything. But when you are with him, you feel the presence of a man who has qualities that are ascribed to enlightened men.

Jan. 26, 1986
Midday
(Mahesh Bhatt)

Demolishes all stereotypes….

He has no interest in converting people to a specific way of life or new ideas. He demolishes, without compromise, all the stereotypes without fashioning new theories. None before him has attempted to present the state of enlightenment as a neurobiological state of being. What he says is unacceptable and how he says it is revolting. Yet never have I met or seen a man who is so certain about what he is saying.

Apr. 24, 1986
Kannada Prabha

Selfishness is the only reality….

“Selfishness is the only reality. The other [reality] is a myth. God is your creation. He is born out of your fear.” —U.G. as quoted in the Review.

 

May 25, 1986
Illustrated Weekly of India

….Begins where J. Krishnamurti ends….

Those who are evaluating the contribution of the two Krishnamurtis to mankind maintain that U.G. Krishnamurti begins where J. Krishnamurti ends. Does it mean that one era has faded out and the new one is fading in?

Sept. 4, 1986
Patriot

Teaches without claiming to teach….

U.G. helps without helping and teaches without claiming to teach anything. The ease one feels in the company of U.G. is incomparable. In his presence you can be absolutely naked without any defences. This sense of feeling is not a selfprotected one, but an objective energy experience. One can ride on it, swim in it, play with it, or waddle in it without any purpose.

Jan., 1987
Society
Monthly

Androgynous appeal….

The Godman business doesn’t need looks, but U.G. Krishnamurti has an androgynous appeal.

Oct. 7–21, 1987,
Bombay City Magazine
Fortnightly

Friend, philosopher and guide….

Mahesh Bhatt
Mahesh is quoted: “If I could play Hanuman for an hour, I’d put the torch to U.G. Krishnamurti. He is my friend, philosopher and guide. But he is like the lizard on my wall, a part of my life. He is the only person in my life who arouses a heightened emotion of rage, despair, of helplessness. My dependence on him is the dependence of a cripple on his crutch. And he evokes a gutlevel
emotion. I hate my dependence on him, my urge to be constantly in touch with him. I dread what would become of me if he were to die. And the fear is so great that it would be a relief to be done with him forever.”

Mar. 4, 1988
Statesman

Rejects everything….

He [U.G.] rejects everything, all the models, values, and theories of the collective conscious heritage that humankind holds so dear, and he does so with the confidence of a man who has seen through it. [He says of J. Krishnamurti] “We have given him a stamp. We have all licked it, and stamped him out of existence. What you are left with is empty words and empty phrases.” “Every individual is a saviour, not collectively. If he can find out a solution for his problem,
maybe there is some hope for mankind as a whole,” says U.G. done with him forever.

Mar. 4, 1988
Statesman

Rejects everything….

He [U.G.] rejects everything, all the models, values, and theories of the collective conscious heritage that humankind holds so dear, and he does so with the confidence of a man who has seen through it. [He says of J. Krishnamurti] “We have given him a stamp. We have all licked it, and stamped him out of existence. What you are left with is empty words and empty phrases.” “Every individual is a saviour, not collectively. If he can find out a solution for his problem,
maybe there is some hope for mankind as a whole,” says U.G. done with him forever.

Mar. 27, 1988
Times of India

“The ‘how’ is absent for me….”

“Thought is violence because it is trying to protect itself. There is a basic contradiction in what the body demands and the movement of the thought which is interested in selfperpetuation. There is no such thing as you and me. The totality has created you and me. You have no isolated existence. The demand of being an individual is the real cause of suffering. The ‘how’ is absent for me. The ‘hows’ dished out in the marketplace are not for me. The one who is living doesn’t ask how to live.” —U.G. as quoted in the Review. “My hunger has not been satisfied by anything offered by teachers alive or unborn. I have stumbled into a situation where the very demand to be free isn’t there.” —U.G. as quoted in the

Review.

Mar. 11, 1989
Sunday Weekly

Ardhanari….

Khushwant Singh

U.G., whose teaching was described as destructive as Siva in his role of a destroyer, became veritably an “Ardhanari”.

Mar. 19, 1989
Sunday Observer

Robs the average man of the illusions of his life….

“He who buys and reads this book must be a damn fool,” said U.G. when I asked him about his own impressions about the book, Mind is a Myth …You are not a very nice man, U.G., you know. If you rob the average man of the illusions of his life, you rob him of his happiness at one stroke.

April 1989
Society
Monthly

Review of Rajiv Mehrotra’s TV interview

“There is nothing to say”….
…U.G. Krishnamurti in a recent interview. What he was trying to say, we think, was that there is nothing to say really.

April 9, 1989
The Week

“God is irrelevant….”

“How can you call me a Godman when I am saying God is irrelevant? I don’t want to debase myself by accepting the label… I have no interest in saving people. Much less the world.”

May–June, 1989
Mountain Path
Quarterly

A fullfledged knockout….

U.G. has no following, gives no public talks, writes no strictures, and offers no solutions to man’s mounting problems. He is a private citizen living in a house by the side of the road, talking informally with those who appear at his door. A book of vibrant talks with a babe bellicose in its innocence. A standpoint that has still to include rejection itself in its ambit of sweeping acceptance. And so, a halfbaked ‘Ribhu Gita’, but still a fullfledged knockout.

Dec. 18, 1989
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin

U.G.’s message is more radical, more controversial, more hopeless….

U.G. and J.K. have similar messages, only U.G.’s is more radical, more controversial, more hopeless. Categorising U.G. is not easy. He has been called a guru, as well as the “unguru”. Some see him as a philosopher, while “antiphilosopher” may be more to the point. Words such as cynic, nihilist, and iconoclast could also be used to describe this disarming, charming, alarming little

man. U.G. Krishnamurti is the Don Rickles of religion. He makes Madelyn Murray O’Hare, the infamous atheist, look pious. What we call religion, U.G. said, began somewhere along the evolutionary process when humans – unlike the rest of the animals – began feeling selfconscious and separate from nature. Humanity, he says, long ago started down the path of total annihilation

and absolutely nothing can be done to save it. Have a nice day.

Dec. 24–30, 1989
Sunday Mail

The last of the nihilists….

U.G. – the last of the nihilists, debunks God, religion, even culture. “There is nothing like enlightenment, so stop searching,” he says, recommending a Natural State where the intelligence of the body takes over sans the stranglehold of thought.

Dec. 29, 1989
Patriot

“I am not running a clinic for mentally disturbed people….”

“I am not running a clinic for mentally disturbed people….” U.G. is reported to have said: “She is not mad. You have a Bhagwan living in Pune. He announced to the wide world and is still repeating the nonsense that the President and the Attorney General of the United States poisoned his food. Why do people swallow all that? Why don’t they call him a loony and put him in a loony bin where he should be singing loony tunes and mad melodies? This woman says that Amitabh Bachchan poisoned her food. You call her mad… I am not running a clinic for mentally disturbed people. She should go and see some psychiatrist if she is in trouble.”

Jan. 7, 1990
Sunday Observer

“Has spiritual energy of demonic proportions….”

What irritates U.G. is that despite his denunciation of religion and godmen, a growing number of religiously inclined men and women hang on to every word he says and regard him as a modern messiah. According to him, the cause and effect theory was fallacious and operated within the religious framework. While he agreed with me that death was a full stop to consciousness, he

holds that our atomic existence continued in a different shape. That also I could not comprehend. I gave up the battle – He had too many words in his armoury for me to contend with. He has spiritual energy of demonic proportions.

Jan. 7, 1990
Indian Post

Doesn’t want the stigma of a religious teacher….

“U.G., why are you going public? Why this change?” “I don’t want to be stigmatised as a religious teacher. Life is fire, it does not tolerate anyhing dead. Your ideas are dead. They falsify life. …I say, drop the crutches. You may fall, but I know you will rise. I will not give you a helping hand. …All relationships are based on mutual gratification. The whole thing springs from isolation. We are isolated from the rest of creation, from the rest of life around us.”

Feb. 5, 1990

Deccan Herald

Money high on agenda….

“To call me a Godman is an insult not just to me but to God also,” says U.G. Money is high on his agenda and he makes no bones about it. For a Godman, U.G. is incredibly downtoearth. He walks down to the Basavanagudi post office to buy stamps, hitchhikes to Gandhi Bazar to buy a mosquito net and loves instant coffee.

Dec. 29, 1990
Illustrated Weekly of India

Cosmic Naxalite….

Undeniably, the most revolutionary master of our times, he has rightly been described as a “Cosmic Naxalite”. Extremely informal, he heads no organisation and does not believe in the personality cult or in a following. He wants mankind to be saved from the socalled saviours. He is convinced that the messiahs have created the mess that the people find themselves in.