My Rustic Cousin

My distant rustic cousin was only a child when his father died, unexpectedly. Not having anticipated dying so early, their father had not made provisions for supporting his two sons and his wife.
Some complications also made sure that some property did not come their way, adding to the problem that they did not come from an an affluent family. Very respectable, yes. Affluent, no.

So, the newly widowed young mother had to support two school-going children, with practically no resources and with no education to get a job.

I am not very clear on how they got through that period of life - I was much younger to my distant cousins and I only heard various stories from people after I got older.
Some relatives helped them out as much as they could, even though they rarely asked for help.
The mother worked at people's homes - cooking for them to earn money. The only thing she knew was how to cook, and that is what she did.
The children sold newspapers. They also opened a cycle repair shop under a tree, where they would repair bicycle punctures and mend damaged bicycles, after school got over. Some relatives paid for their education, subsidizing it.

All throughout those trying times, my rustic cousin and his family maintained their dignity. They had irreproachable manners, etiquettes, and consideration for all - not just for those who helped them out.

As they grew up, the elder brother had to drop his education, while the other barely completed it. They did not really come from an intellectual background - their ancestors had been hardworking farmers - people who were simple, trusting, and happy, but not necessarily academically inclined.
Intelligence is something that is a lot more than only academic intelligence, or the ability to crunch numbers or data, as I have discovered in my life.

Eventually, they started a dabba service, operating from a single-room home. The mother would cook, and the boys would deliver the food and help cook, as needed. This worked out well - they did decently, well enough to get along now.

The boys were married off early to wives who were equally hard-working and dedicated. Their dabba service flourished and instead of spending the money in buying long-due luxuries and jewelry, they rigorously put aside some money to buy some land.

A few more days, and they managed to build a tiny cafe on that land and operated it successfully.

Eventually the cafe turned into a full-fledged restaurant with multiple storeys, with lots of hired employees.

My rustic cousin and his brother are millionaires today.

They live in a joint family - their wives and themselves and their mother co-exist happily in the same house. They don't wear very stylish clothes and my cousin speaks broken Angrezi with a dignity that is remarkable in a land which once considered speaking English as the symbol of sophistication.
Their mother no longer has to cook food at other's places to make a living anymore - she can live in as much luxury as she wants.
Yet their lives are minimal and happy - they seem to know something about life that most people do not, that happiness has no connection with money, that a beautiful home is not necessarily one that is packed with amenities.
They are able to send all their children to good schools and take care that none of their descendents will ever have to go without food and shelter again.

Since I grew up in a different city, I did not get fully acquainted with my rustic cousin till I had grown up.

When I met my rustic cousin for the first time, I took an instant liking to him. He needed to stay with me when he had to visit Mumbai for some purpose - I was an irresponsible bachelor in my early twenties, staying alone at that time.

My millionaire rustic cousin insisted on cooking all the food himself at home, tidied up my messy bachelor pad in my absence, and organized the entire kitchen. (I am lucky to have an adequate anti-embarrassment gene built into me, or I would have probably died of embarrassment on that day).
When I returned, he happily joked about what a lazy character I was, and popped open a couple of beer bottles.


My most memorable moment came when I visited my cousin later that year, in his home-town.
He happily received me and later showed me around his hotel, its various facilities and ambience.

Its not a very stylish hotel - I have seen better.
But I did learn something about a type of beauty that does not lie in interiors or architecture that day - a beauty that is brought about by sweat and blood and honesty and simple cleanliness.

My rustic cousin took me to the balcony and pointed to a spot under the tree in front of his hotel. He looked at me, smiled and said, "That's where we used to have a cycle repair shop. I used to pump air in bicycle tires for 5 paise there".

In front of the same spot that he was forced to sweat for 5 paise in the hot sun, my rustic cousin had erected his multi-storied hotel.

I do not believe my rustic cousin is a unique person - I have met other such exceptional individuals.

I have bumped into a multi-millionaire 10th standard-passed senior gentleman, who was a post-1947 bridge building pioneer in India. He holds a large pile of bridge-building patents today - starting as a mere mechanic in Mumbai.

And then, of course, you all know the Indian President, APJ Kalam, who has a similar story.

When I look at this nation, left in utter poverty by the blood-sucking phenomenon of imperialism, I am filled with awe and humility. How much do we owe to people like my rustic cousin, and the bridge-builder? To their dignity of labour, to their industry and perseverance?

This land is made rich not by its natural resources, nor by its foreign exchange reserves, nor by its sky-rocketing Sensex.

Its wealth is within the values that such people embody and live.

A wealth that has bloomed again, within only 50 years after being left penniless by foreign powers, in circumstances that were orchestrated to make sure that India would be permanently doomed to warfare with its newly created neighbours.

A wealth that is created by diligence and hardwork - not by invading other nations, or crime or drugs or immoral traffic or by stocks of natural oil reserves or by kow-towing to bully nations.

Truly...how rich is this land of my ancestors...


. . T a t. . . Sat . .

The Unexpected One - J. Krishnamurti

The story of Jiddu Krishnamurti is the stuff of thrillers and spicy hollywood movies.

It has every element that fascinates - international intrigue, occult, world-domination conspiracies, philosophy, wisdom and what-have-you.

And this fascinating roller-coaster ride of a story climaxes with the emergence of an unbelievably powerful teacher, the likes of who are seen very very rarely on this planet - Jiddu Krishnamurti.


The Background

Ever since the beginnings of mankind's search for God, people have tried to organize God, and make systems and methodologies and cults from this search.

And history is also a silent witness to the fact that such organizations and religions and creeds and systems have done nothing except divide humanity into various groups, and promoted animosity in the name of God.
Such groups have also been the most effective means of achieving authority and power, in the name of religion and God.

Hence, the creation of such systems of faith, the creation of gurus and messiahs/meshiachs and prophets and teachers and therapists has been a most lucrative activity - pursued diligently by various groups, in all parts of the world and in every era known to mankind.

One such powerful attempt was organized in the later part of the nineteenth century - an attempt which was as close to complete success, as close can be.

This is the story of that attempt...


The Story of the Emergence

In the beginnings of the 19th century, a mysterious international group of people decided that they would create a religion that was globally acceptable, that would merge the existing beliefs of the east and west and present the world with a teacher/guru/messiah that would be popular the world over.

A huge amount of money, resources and people were invested by this group to create the organization, its structure and principles that would draw from the various religions that were scattered across the globe.

This was such a huge project that its mere planning encompassed an entire generation - several decades.

The people who controlled this specific religion planned to eventually end up as a major player among world religions. If one seriously considers the kind of political power, money and respect that the leaders of a world religion control, one can begin to understand how big this entire venture was. In short, the group which initiated this venture did not cut any corners - they went all the way. This was the big one.

(Very charismatic mystics were chosen to spearhead this venture. A mystic of Russian origins, called Mme. Blavatsky, who specialized in mystical rhetoric, occult jargon and adept at the typical techniques of “mystic” influence, was chosen as the head.
She, in turn, later chose several other acolytes who were very powerful in abilities of influence and persuasion. Among them was a gentleman called C.W. Leadbeater who was an excellent speaker and a man who was almost fearless. He claimed great occult powers, merely the reputation of which made his persona a lot more formidable)

This cosy venture was initiated by founding the Theosophical Society in NY city in 1875 - founded ostensibly by H.P. Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge, etc.

As their structure, these cosy gang declared that they would form a universal brotherhood, that transcended all human boundaries, and that they would investigate the “psychic and spiritual powers latent in man”

They drew upon the eastern idea of a perfect messiah/avatar who was to be born again, akin to the Buddha. The idea of a divine soul who would descend into the body of a chosen human being was propounded. It was postulated that the same thing had happened with the Buddha, Krishna, Jesus and other such past religious figures. Thus, this new "messiah" would earn the loyalty of Christians, Buddhists as well as Hindus.

In order to make sure that they would always have control on this world religion, they
invented several mysterious and “ancient” disembodied teachers, who were supposed to exist in some vague astral plane that could not be accessed by ordinary mortals (other than the Theosophists, of course).
Thus, very conveniently, the Theosophists deadlocked the sole franchise rights to access these divine figures. (One of the Founders, Mr. Judge, was accused by the other founders of forging letters by the invisible occult Masters, who they also called mahatmas – hijacking an Indic concept).

Great care was taken to make sure that the existing priest of Christianity/Buddhism and Hinduism were not allowed to stake a claim to the benefits of the new religions. The theosophists openly scoffed at existing traditions of these religions, claiming that they were corrupted and completely misled.

The Theosophists very blatantly distorted eastern traditions and legends to force fit them into their doctrine. Mme. Blavatsky was quite fond of pointing out fictional similarities between Krishna and Jesus, both of who, according to her fraudulent sources, were crucified. She also upheld completely fabricated statements by quack authors such as the Egyptian ruins containing images of Indian Gods, Lord Krishna's father being a carpenter, etc. At that time, such lies remained unchallenged and were given a full benefit of doubt by easterners (who did not know much about western traditions), and by westerners (who didn't know much about eastern traditions). After all, nobody thought there was anything wrong with a doctrine that claimed that all religions were one, and that it was the very same divine spirit that had descended into Jesus, Lord Krishna, and Buddha.
This was a spin that would hold enormous appeal to any mind that even slightly believed in the occult or the supernatural, as well as appealing to those people who simply and innocently believed in religion and its hierarchies, as well as the universal brotherhood of man.

A most fascinating web of deceit, indeed!

Now came the matter of choosing the human vehicle of the coming world teacher.

This chosen person needed to have three qualifications - he had to have no existing allegiances, he had to be a mere mouthpiece who would do what he was told, and who completely believed in the great fraud that was being prepared.
Naturally, a child would have to be chosen, trained right from childhood into the concepts that the new religion propounded.

Thus, the theosophists decided that they would form a sub-society called "The Order of the Star in the East", which would prepare two children to take on the role of the messiah. At the correct time, upon reaching maturity, either one of the two boys would be declared as the chosen one, into who the spirit of divinity (aka the "Lord Maitreya") would descend. A very well thought out stratagem, with a lovely back-up plan.

Accordingly, CWL spotted an extremely vacuous looking and malnourished child on the Madras beach, who he thought was good enough to be trained for the role of being the messiah/mouthpiece.
(At the same time, another American boy was also trained as a backup - Hubert van Hook)

This malnourished child was the eighth kid of his poverty-stricken Telugu-speaking parents, who were only glad to have an extra mouth taken off their hands. In addition, to have him being taken care of by an international elite organization, prepared for a great purpose, was an irresistible temptation.

This child was called Jiddu Krishnamurti, and his vacuousness and naiveté was quite noteworthy - exactly what CWL was looking for. Since he would simply do what others told him to do, CWL pronounced him as a child who’s occult aura was most “unselfish”.

The Theosophists took him under their wing, fed him, clothed him, taught him various European languages and etiquettes, taught him to be a good orator, who would say what they wanted him to say, and had him hob-nob with the European elite society.

When the Theosophists took K under their wing they also took his younger Nitya, to provide K with company, since K would be away from India most of the time.


K was highly attached to Nitya, who was his brother, confidante and companion.

Thus, K grew up with Nitya in the choicest of societies, with no money and attention being spared for their upbringing.

K sincerely believed that the invisible occult masters of the Theosophists existed and that he could communicate with them via Theosophists like CWL, and that they guarded him, and that he was the one chosen to be the world leader. Under the careful tutelage of CWL and his cronies, K began to grow into the role that he was being groomed for. He became a good orator, saying what he was told to say, believing what he was told to believe.

Things really looked good for the plan of the Theosophists, who became confident enough to declare that K was the chosen one. They immediately dispensed off with their backup messiah, Hubert van Hook, without any second thought. There was apparently no further need to spend time, money and PR on him.



K obviously fitted the bill much better, with his authentic certified 100% pure Hindu vegetarian Brahmin pedigree – something that was exotic enough to make the standard god-stricken westerner fall to his/her knees.

As for the traditional Indians, K's being the eighth son of his parents, coupled with his name, “Krishnamurti”, would be quite enough to arouse feelings of veneration.

The rest could be managed by the excellent spin doctors deployed by the Theosophists.


And then, one day... Nitya suddenly died of TB.


It was something that should not have happened, not according to the prior assurances of the Theosophists - they had said that the occult Mahatmas would protect K and Nitya.

K's entire world came crashing down on him.

The beliefs that he had been taught from childhood were challenged with this happening.

Where was the protection that was due to him from the occult masters?

How could this calamity happen?

With this episode, K went within himself and emerged a man who was radically different from what he had been prepared to become. In terms of vedic philosohpy, K had seen the truth by identifying the untruth that had surrounded his life, and casting it away.

(There are some conjectures that say that K underwent an awakening of the Kundalini, due to this crashing down of the illusions, maya, that had been created by the Theosophists)

He became the unexpected stumbing block in the plan of the Theosophists to dominate the world by creating the world religion.


The Awakening of Krishnamurti

After he has seen the real nature of the maya created by the Theosophists, one day in 1929, K simply held a public meeting and dissolved the Order of the Star in the East, which he headed.

This was the order (founded by the Theosophists) which was soon about to declare him as the new messiah, as the modern avatar of the same spirit that had descended into Jesus and Buddha.

In his speech that announced the dissolution, K said -

“…I maintain that truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or coerce people along a particular path...”

He declared that he was not a messiah, and that he was not interested in leading anyone, nor in following anyone.

With one stroke, K had demolished the fantastically organized plan to create a new world religion.
It is fascinating to conjecture that this plan of the theosophical society could not have been disrupted by anyone else other than K himself. It is also interesting to conjecture how powerful and sinister this organization would have become, if the plan had succeeded.

One is sorely tempted to look upon K's demolition of the agenda of the Theosophical society as divine intervention to stop a sinister plan to rule the world - an intervention that was truly peaceful, compassionate and supremely intelligent.

All that K did was simply to move away.

There was no mudslinging, no rebellious rhetoric, and absolutely no attempt to hold on to anything from his royal life hitherto.

The Theosophical Society immediately lost its power, purpose of existence and was relegated to a cult that had utterly failed. However, in India, this cult still retained some respectability on account of one of its innocent workers, Dr. Annie Besant, who had participated in the Indian Freedom struggle against British occupiers. K was always extremely fond of her.

Now, K was left alone, without many friends, without all the luxuries that he was used to, without knowing anything by means of which he could earn a living.

In this light, K's rejection of his own role as a messiah can only be equated to a king giving up his own crown and political power, and leaving himself vulnerable to the world, without any protection.

But the truth that had been realized by K, after seeing the lies of the occult doctrines of the Theosophical society, was something immense and as pure as pure can be.

He retreated into isolation for a few years, supported by a small group of friends who stood by him through everything.

And then, K began to speak of the truth that he had realized.


As word spread of what he spoke, the world realized the significance of what he said. His integrity, love and selflessness shown through every aspect of his being, and people sat up and took notice.

K urged humanity to reject all doctrine, all authority. He insisted that to follow anybody or any path, any doctrine or religion, was only the road to slavery, and not to freedom. We are the world, he said, pointing out that every human was, in actuality, the rest of the world as well.
In a world where teachers, gurus, therapists, religions, cults and organizations only wanted to make the individual dependent on themselves, his words came like a breath of fresh air.

K spoke for the rest of his life - in India, Europe, Americas, everywhere where people cared to listen.

When he had completed his message, he died at the age of 91 in California, insisting that no ceremony was to be conducted at his funeral.

About his own death, he had written, earlier, the following –

“…When Krishnamurti dies, which is inevitable, you will set about forming rules in your minds, because the individual, Krishnamurti, had represented to you the Truth. So you will build a temple, you will then begin to have ceremonies, to invent phrases, dogmas, systems of belief, creeds, and to create philosophies.
If you build great foundations upon me, the individual, you will be caught in that house, in that temple, and so you will have to have another Teacher come and extricate you from that temple. But the human mind is such that you will build another temple around him, and so it will go on and on…”




While it is impossible to communicate K's message here adequately, it is fascinating to note how he lived his own message in its entirety.

Such integrity is nothing short of sacred.

It is complete, it is timeless and breathtakingly beautiful.

As much as K broke out of the stereotypical role of the guru/messiah, he equally became the revered renunciant monk, who lived with austerity and compassion, bringing an unparalleled love to humanity, with an uncompromising attitude of rigorous introspection and zero BS.

When comes such other?


. . T a t. . . Sat . .

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Brief Biography of J. Krishnamurti

• Born on May 12, 1895 Madanapalle, India
• Identified by the Theosophists as the perfect candidate for the world teacher in 1909
• Disbanded the Order of the Star in the East in 1929
• Died in 1986, at Ojai, California
• Awarded the 1984 UN Peace Medal.

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The Remarkable Prescience of Ivan Illich

Among other things, my father introduced me to Illich when I was pretty much a kid.

Then, I saw Illich as someone who wrote stuff that I didn't quite understand, and who seemed to be against schooling and medicine, in some way. That suited me fine - I knew Illich was on my side, and nobody who was against schooling could be entirely bad. I thought he was some kind of an intellectual Huckleberry Finn.
I think that at that age I tended to brand him as a kind of a crank, without really knowing what he was saying.

It was only about a couple of decades later that I came across his work "Deschooling Society" again, and I began to get a real glimpse of the greatness of this man.
As I read his works further, I continued to be increasingly in awe at this man's grasp of the world and the span of his intellect.

Ivan Illich was a man who could almost see the future.
It does not matter when he wrote what he wrote - it is almost shocking to see how very pertinent his words are today.
Born in Vienna of a RC father and a Jewish mother, Illich became a Roman Catholic priest. However, his originality and his integrity to what he was doing forced him to resign from the priesthood, to prevent conflicts with the Roman Catholic Church.

Illich put forth some very highly original and equally controversial views.

He questioned the need for spending money on creating schools and maintaining the teachers and staff, when at a fraction of the same money, one could enable direct education from a free teacher and a free student.

His "Medical Nemesis" opens with the statement - "The medical establishment has become a major threat to health...".
Illich maintained that health was not about building large hospitals and expensive care centers. In his opinion, these were rather signs of ill-health - a sign that the medical community was prospering, and not at all a sign of the health of society.
He also mentioned iatrogenesis - which is the creation of disease by medicines. This covers the so-called side-effects of medicines which in turn create other disorders which are treated by more medicines. When one looks at the rampant corruption in the medical field and artificial disease creation by the pharma companies today, one cannot help being amazed at Illich's vision. This specific problem of creation of disease by medications has surfaced as a gigantic problem today, and is one of the biggest dangers threatening mankind.

One of the most original thinkers to appear on this planet, Illich was naturally opposed by many forces with financial interests behind discouraging his thought. His detrators were from the Left as well as the Right, since Illich did not hold back his thinking on any issue in any direction, for the benefit of any faction. The integrity of the man to his ideas was much larger than petty factionalism.

(Indira Gandhi once invited Illich to India, and he came, talked and went - nothing exceptional accrued from his visit directly)

Yet, the writings and ideas of this man are so original and lucid, that they are revolutionary just by their existence.

I have no doubt in my mind that Illich will become more and more pertinent to mankind, as time goes by.

This man was not someone who dies - Illich is undoubtedly an immortal.


.. atrakasya..

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A quote from Deschooling Society (1971) -
"...Universal education through schooling is not feasible.
It would be no more feasible if it were attempted by means of alternative institutions built on the style of present schools. Neither new attitudes of teachers toward their pupils nor the proliferation of educational hardware or software (in classroom or bedroom), nor finally the attempt to expand the pedagogue's responsibility until it engulfs his pupils' lifetimes will deliver universal education. The current search for new educational funnels must be reversed into the search for their institutional inverse: educational webs which heighten the opportunity for each one to transform each moment of his living into one of learning, sharing, and caring. We hope to contribute concepts needed by those who conduct such counterfoil research on education--and also to those who seek alternatives to other established service industries..."

Brief Biography
Born in Vienna in 1926. He studied theology and philosophy at the Gregorian University in Rome and got a Ph.D. in history at the University of Salzburg.
Illich was fluent in about 10 languages. He came to the United States in 1951, where he served as assistant pastor in an Irish-Puerto Rican parish in New York City. From 1956 to 1960 he the vice-rector to the Catholic University of Puerto Rico. Illich was the co-founder of the controversial Center for Intercultural Documentation (CIDOC) in Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Ivan Illich died in Bremen on December 2, 2002 at the age of seventy–six.

Some Links
Illich's Writings on the Web
Deschooling Society
Remembering Ivan Illich
Energy and Equity