U. G. Krishnamurti

Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti (9 July 1918 – 22 March 2007) was an Indian 'anti-guru' who questioned the search for enlightenment. Having pursued a religious path in his youth and eventually rejecting it, U.G. clarified that he had experienced a devastating biological transformation on his 49th birthday, an event he referred to as 'the calamity'. He emphasized that this transformation back to 'the natural state' is a rare, acausal, biological occurrence with no religious context. Because of this, he discouraged people from pursuing the 'natural state' as a spiritual goal. He rejected the basis of thought and in doing so negated all systems of thought and knowledge. Hence he explained his assertions were experiential and not speculative – 'Tell them that there is *nothing* to understand.' He was unrelated to his contemporary Jiddu Krishnamurti, although the two men had a number of meetings because of their association with the Theosophical Society and U.G. has, at times, referred to him as 'his' teacher in spite of having ultimately rejected his teachings as well as the idea that anything could or should be taught in any spiritual context.