Birthday of UG – Talk with GG - 2

He had arrived earlier than expected. He was about the same age as my son. After the initial formalities, our conversation started.

I asked, “Where do you live?”

He replied: “Near Karkhana. I work in Defence as an auditor”.

Me: “Are you married?”

Him: “Yes. And I have a two-year-old daughter”

Me: “How did you develop this spiritual attitude at such a young age? From when did you observe these tendencies?”

Him: “Right from my childhood”

Although I was well aware how these thoughts would begin, I enquired: “How did it start?”

He said, “I had read the books of Swami Vivekananda when I was young. While practising pranayama techniques mentioned in the book ‘Raja Yoga’, few people warned me that such exercises should not be done without the supervision of a capable Guru, or they may turn adverse. So, I moved on to books by Osho. When I was almost done reading his works, I realized that he contradicted his own words at many places. There was confusion at many places. I doubted if he was speaking the truth. So, I researched among his critics and came across Jiddu Krishnamurthy. Jiddu commented “Why does he need so many Rolls Royce cars?” about Osho. Osho differed with Jiddu as well. I started reading Jiddu’s works. After a few years, I realized that Jiddu was no good. He quotes big terms like “choiceless awareness”, etc. but lacked content. One would not gain any knowledge even after reading all his works. In that sense, Osho had an edge over Jiddu. At least, his followers were allowed to follow “Tantric sex” and experience a little joy. They lived in a state of euphoria. But Jiddu turned out to be just vaccum. So, I researched once again on the critics of Jiddu and came across UG. UG claimed that Jiddu was a big cheater, a spirit medium and nothing more.

UG resorted to Ramana Maharshi when he was young, after long penance in the Himalayas. He went to Ramanashram expecting miracles and out of the world experiences but found nothing. He was very disappointed staying there. 

UG asked Ramana Maharshi, “Give me what you have”. 

Ramana Maharshi replied, “I can give you. But can you take it?” 

UG was angered at these words, “I have done years of sadhana. If not me, who else is eligible to receive it? Can’t he judge if I was eligible or not? Why is he asking me in return? What kind of a saint is he?” and retreated from the place. 

Before he could continue any further, I interrupted him, “As per the Gregorian calendar, today is the birthday of UG”. 

He was astonished. “Really? I was not aware of it.” 

I asked him to continue. 

“I had two questions right from the beginning. Ramana Maharshi always said ‘The heart is on the right side of the body’. How can this be true? This was one of my questions. Two years ago, I stayed in Arunachalam for eight months. I rented a room outside and meditated in the ashram. One of those days, while meditating, for a split second, I felt a current shock on the right side of my chest. I understood that the spiritual heart exists on the right of the body. My question has thus been answered.”

The second question was – “Is everything pre-destined in nature? For instance, a person named Mudaliar posed the same question to Ramana Maharshi. Maharshi replied with a firm “Yes”. Mudaliar moved a coffee cup a little further and asked if this small incident was pre-destined as well. Maharshi again replied with a ‘Yes’. I couldn’t comprehend this scenario at all.” 

He stiooed in between and asked, “Do you know Ekkirala Bharadwaja and Vedavyas?” 

I smiled and said, “Yes. I know them. Please continue.” 

He continued. Vedavyas tutored a boy for a while. One day, he asked the boy- ‘You can predict the future, right?’ 

The boy denied. Vedavyas asked him firmly, ‘Look, I know you have the ability. Speak the truth’. 

The boy agreed – ‘Yes. I can predict the future.’

Vedavyas further enquired – ‘How accurately can you predict?’

The boy asked for a paper, scribbled something on it and placed it inside a cover. He sealed the cover and requested it to be opened on a particular date. Vedavyas, being an IAS officer, went on a foreign trip. By the time he returned, it was past that date. He sat on the sofa and was about to rip the cover open when his pet dog bounced onto his lap. He opened the cover and started reading the paper. 

‘You would miss the date of opening this cover because of a foreign trip. After your return, while you are about to open the cover while sitting on the sofa, your pet dog would bounce on your lap’ – this was the content.

 I asked for the boy’s name. 

He replied – “His name is Sri Ram sir”. 

I had heard about him. 

He said – “He stays here in Hyderabad, in Madhapur”. 

I further said- “His disciple Aditya promotes him in whatsapp groups, right?” 

He confirmed: “Yes. Sri Ram sir has many followers but Aditya promotes him mostly”. 

I asked him if he follows Sri Ram sir. 

He replied negative: “No. I met them both a couple of times.” 

I asked, “His followers propagate Sri Ram sir as the incarnation of Lord Venkateswara?”

 He confirmed that a few do believe so. 

I asked: “I have a question as well. When Veda Vyas realized that Sri Ram sir had divination capability, why did he not accept him? Why couldn’t he announce the truth to the world? Moreover, Vedavyas proclaimed himself as Lord Venkateswara among his devotees. Why did he do so?” 

He replied – “I do not know. May be his ego was too high to accept the facts. But during the above incident, Ekkirala Bharadwaja, the younger brother, asked Sri Ram sir – ‘How far into the future can you see?’. 

Sri Ram sir replied – “I can give you the headlines for every newspaper for the next ten days right now. If you can give me enough supply of stationery, I can enlist every incident that will take place until all eternity”.

Bharadwaj was angered at this reply and said – “You are not a Brahmin. How can you hold such talent?”. “After listening to this incident, I understood that Bharadwaj had high spiritual ego”, said Venkat. 

I smirked and said “There is no spiritual here. Only ‘ego’ exists. In my opinion, the Ekkirala brothers damaged real spirituality in Andhra Pradesh very much. EK was slightly better amongst them.” 

Venkat further said – “You commented something else about Bharadwaja – ‘He did a mistake leaving Jillellamudi amma after staying with her for such a long time’. I liked this comment of yours as well.” 

I said, “I had explained why he left Jillellamudi.” 

Venkat continued – “From this incident with Sri Ram sir, I understood something – ‘Everything is predetermined in this universe. The first script of God is the last script’. Every incident in a person’s life has been set in stone and cannot be changed. Even Sri Ram sir agrees with this.” 

Me: “So, what? What value addition has Sri Ram sir done to this? All this has been mentioned in our scriptures long ago.”

 He continued- “I meant that even our thoughts are pre-determined according to this principle. It was hard for me to digest this fact. I went crazy thinking about this. If everything from daily activities to our thoughts and thought process has been pre-decided and scripted, then why do we exist? What does life mean? What does it mean to lead an individual life with free will? I was aghast with these thoughts.” 

This questions still linger in me. I approached you hoping to get an answer to this. 

Among the great saints and seers that we know of, I found Ramana Maharshi and UG to be slightly accurate. But everybody criticizes UG. He is short-tempered. He shouts and bad-mouths everyone. How can such a short-tempered person be a realized soul? Only you in your blog, mentioned him on a positive note. I guess you have written about eight posts on UG and discontinued in between. That is the reason I mailed you and wanted to meet you.” 

In the meantime, Murthy and his wife Sandhya came over and I introduced them to Venkat – “This is Murthy, Secretary of Panchawati Foundation, India and she’s Sandhya, his wife. Both are noble hearts born for a noble purpose.” 

Based on his words, I understood that he was an avid reader and an aspirant in search of a real spiritual path. I sympathized with him and wanted to explain him in detail.

 We all stayed silent for more than half an hour. 

I broke the silence and started explaining. 

(To be continued…)