Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti, often referred to as U.G., was a thinker who questioned the state of spiritual enlightenment. He was born on July 9, 1918, in Machilipatnam, a town in coastal Andhra Pradesh, India, and raised in the nearby town of Gudivada. His mother passed away seven days after he was born, and he was brought up by his maternal grandfather, a wealthy Brahmin lawyer, who was involved in the Theosophical Society. U.G. also became a member of the Theosophical Society during his teenage years and inherited his association with the organization from his grandfather. It is worth noting that South Indian actress Gautami is a close relative of U.G.
During his youth, U.G. reportedly practiced various austerities and sought moksha or spiritual enlightenment. To that end, between the ages of 14 and 21, he undertook a variety of spiritual exercises to find out if moksha was possible. He spent seven summers in the Himalayas with Swami Sivananda studying yoga and practicing meditation. During his 20s, U.G. began attending the University of Madras, where he studied psychology, philosophy, mysticism, and the sciences. However, he dropped out of the Master's program with the idea that the answers of the West were no better than those of the East.
In 1939, at age 21, U.G. met with renowned spiritual teacher Ramana Maharshi. U.G. asked Ramana if he could give him moksha, 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. Later, U.G. would say that Maharshi's answer put him "back on track."
In 1941, U.G. began working for the Theosophical Society in C.W. Leadbeater's library. Shortly after, 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.
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, but U.G. felt that Krishnamurti's answers were not providing satisfactory answers to his questions. Finally, their meetings came to a halt.
After the break-up with Jiddu Krishnamurti, U.G. continued traveling and 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 five years.
Ultimately, U.G. separated from his family and went to live in London. While sitting one day in Regent's Park, he claimed to have experienced a devastating biological transformation on his 49th birthday, an event he refers to as "the calamity." 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 very basis of thought and negated all systems of thought and knowledge, explaining that his assertions were experiential and not speculative. U.G. emphasized that there was nothing to understand and that people should abandon the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment altogether.
March 22, 2007, in Vallecrosia, Italy, at the age of 88. He left behind a body of work that continues to be discussed and debated by philosophers, spiritual seekers, and those interested in the nature of human consciousness. Despite his rejection of spiritual practices and enlightenment, U.G.'s ideas have been influential in the field of nondual philosophy and have been compared to those of Advaita Vedanta and Zen Buddhism. His message, while often controversial, continues to challenge traditional ideas about spirituality and the nature of existence.