Early life
U.G. Krishnamurti was born on July 9, 1918 in Masulipatam, a town in coastal Andhra Pradesh, India, and was 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. U.G. also became a member of the Theosophical Society during his teenage years.
During the same period of his life, U.G. practiced all kinds of austerities and earnestly sought spiritual enlightenment. To that end, between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, he undertook all kinds of spiritual exercises, determined to find out whether enlightenment was possible. Wanting to achieve that state, he also looked for enlightened people to check if they are genuine.
His time with Swami Sivananada
At that time, he spent seven summers in the Himalayas with Swami Sivananda studying yoga and practicing meditation.
Disappointment from Academic Studies
During his twenties, U.G. began attending the University of Madras, studying psychology, philosophy, mysticism, and 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.
Disappointment from the Meeting with Ramana Maharshi
In 1939, at age 21, he met 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".
The Theosophical Society Period
In 1941, U.G. began working for the Theosophical Society, in C.W. Leadbeater's library. Shortly, he began an international lecture tour on behalf of the Society, visiting Norway, Belgium, Germany and the United States.
Returning to India, he married a Brahmin woman named Kusuma Kumari in 1943, at age 25.
Disappointment from the meetings with Jiddu Krishnamurti
From 1947 to 1953, U.G. regularly attended talks given by Jiddu Krishnamurti in Madras, India, eventually beginning a direct dialogue with him in 1953.
The two had almost daily discussions for a while, which U.G. asserted were not providing satisfactory answers to his questions. Finally, their meetings came to a halt. He described part of the final discussion:
And then, towards the end, I insisted, "Come on, is there anything behind the abstractions you are throwing at me?" And that chappie said, "You have no way of knowing it for yourself". Finish -- that was the end of our relationship, you see -- "If I have no way of knowing it, you have no way of communicating it. What the hell are we doing? I've wasted seven years. Goodbye, I don't want to see you again". Then I walked out.
Lectures and the US period
After the break with Jiddu Krishnamurti, U.G. continued traveling, still lecturing. At about the same time he claims to have been puzzled by the continuing appearance of certain psychic powers.
In 1955, U.G. and his family went to the United States to seek medical treatment for his eldest son, and stayed there for 5 years.
Alone and penniless on the streets of London
He ultimately separated from his family and went to London where he lived a bleak existence, alone and penniless, wandering the streets, often depending on the charity of others for survival. While sitting one day in Hyde Park, he was confronted by a police officer who threatened to lock him up if he didn't leave the park. Down to his last five pence, he made his way to the Ramakrishna Mission of London where the residing Swami gave him money for a hotel room for the night. The following day, U.G. began working for the Ramakrishna Mission, an arrangement that lasted for a period of three months. Before leaving the mission he left a letter for the residing Swami telling him that he had become a new man.
Meeting Jiddu Krishnamurti again
About this time, Jiddu Krishnamurti was in London and the two Krishnamurtis renewed their acquaintance. Jiddu tried to advise U.G. on his recent marital troubles, but U.G. didn't want his help. Jiddu eventually persuaded him to attend a few talks he was giving in London, which U.G. did, but found himself bored listening to him.
End of Marriage
In 1961, U.G. put an end to his relationship with his wife, who had recently been suicidal (she later underwent shock therapy and died of an accident in 1963). Their marriage had been a largely unhappy affair, and by that time he described himself as being detached from his family emotionally as well as physically.
The Swiss period
He then left London and spent three months living in Paris and then went to Geneva.
After two weeks in Geneva, U.G. was unable to pay his hotel bill and sought refuge at the Indian Consulate. He was listless, without hope, and described himself as "finished" - he requested that he be sent back to India, which the consular authorities refused to do at the state's expense. At that time, he met a Swiss woman named Valentine de Kerven, who worked at the consulate. Valentine and U.G. became close friends, and she provided him with a home in Switzerland. It was the beginning of a life-long relationship.
For the next few years, the questions regarding the subject of enlightenment and spirituality did not interest him, and he did nothing to further his enquiry. But by 1967, U.G. was again concerned with the subject of enlightenment.
The Calamity Period
During that period U.G. once again attended a talk of J. Krishnamurti when the latter visited Switzerland. During the talk, Jiddu Krishnamurti was describing his own state and then suddenly U.G. felt as if it is now is own state described. Then he found himself wondering "How do I know I am in that state?".
The next day, on his 49th birthday, U.G. was again pondering the question with no answer forthcoming. Suddenly he realized the question had no answer and then experienced an unexpected physical, as well as psychological, reaction. It seemed to him like "a sudden explosion inside, blasting, as it were, every cell, every nerve and every gland in my body." Afterwards, he started experiencing what he called "the calamity", a series of bizarre physiological transformations that took place over the course of a week, affecting each one of his senses, and finally resulting in a deathlike experience. He described it this way:
I call it calamity because from the point of view of one who thinks this is something fantastic, blissful and full of beatitude, love, or ecstasy, this is physical torture; this is a calamity from that point of view. Not a calamity to me but a calamity to those who have an image that something marvelous is going to happen.
Upon the eighth day, he recounted:
Then, on the eighth day I was sitting on the sofa and suddenly there was an outburst of tremendous energy, tremendous energy shaking the whole body, and along with the body, the sofa, the chalet and the whole universe, as it were, shaking, vibrating. You can't create that movement at all. It was sudden. Whether it was coming from outside or inside, from below or above, I don't know, I couldn't locate the spot; it was all over. It lasted for hours and hours. I couldn't bear it but there was nothing I could do to stop it; there was a total helplessness. This went on and on, day after day, day after day.
The energy that is operating there does not feel the limitations of the body; it is not interested; it has its own momentum. It is a very painful thing. It is not that ecstatic, blissful beatitude and all that rubbish stuff and nonsense! it is really a painful thing.
U.G. could not, and did not, explain the source of the calamity experiences. In response to questions, he maintained that it happened "in spite of" his preoccupation with and search for enlightenment. He also maintained that the calamity had nothing to do with his life up to that point, or with his upbringing. Several times he described the calamity happening to him as a matter of chance, and he insisted that he could not possibly, in any way, impart that experience to anybody else.
In the introduction to Mind Is a Myth: it is stated that at age 35, U.G. started getting headaches and appearing younger, rather than older. According to that account, by the time of his 49th birthday, he appeared to be 17 or 18 years old, while after the calamity he started aging normally again, but continued to look far younger than his years.
Aftermath
After his calamity experience, U.G. remained primarily in Switzerland but often traveled to other countries around the world, holding discussions with small groups of people and with interested individuals.
Whenever people sought him for answers to their spiritual dilemmas, he emphasized that he had nothing to teach, and that no one can really learn about enlightenment by depending on someone else as an authority, teacher or guide.
He gave his only post-calamity public talk in India, in 1972.
On March 22, 2007 Krishnamurti passed away at Vallecrosia in Italy. He had slipped and injured himself, and was bedridden for seven weeks before his death. Friends, including Indian film director Mahesh Bhatt, and Larry and Susan Morris, were by his side when he died.
