The Natural State

This book, an anthology of U.G.'s conversations, taken from many sources, offers some of the most startling and penetrating of U.G.'s words in short, easy to read paragraphs. The overall effect of the book can stun the reader into a recognition of the futility of many of his deepest-held convictions about life. Even if one is familiar with U.G.'s way of seeing things, this book offers a comprehensive overview that provides a useful clarification. If you have newly discovered U.G through this book, be prepared to experience something so unusual that it cannot be placed in any category of human thought.

Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti (1918-2007), better known as U.G., was an Indian speaker who questioned the state of enlightenment as a real thing. Instead of using the word 'enlightenment', he used 'calamity' and 'natural state' to describe an event in his life. He claimed that the return to the natural state is a rare, a causal, biological occurrence, an event which he referred to in his own life as 'the calamity'. Because of this, he discouraged people from pursuing the 'natural state' as a spiritual goal. He rejected the very 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.'