Stopped In Our Tracks

"I am a very lucky man that I met a man like U.G. Oh, U.G. is a precious gem. He is very unique." When the Australian, Max, was talking about U.G., he looked as if for the first time he found himself close to realizing the significance of his life.

There were four of them. Three of them were brothers; and a sister called Mary. She listened to U.G.'s conversations with a fixed smile and rapt attention. The four of them had the courage to dedicate their lives to spiritual practice. They quit their own tradition, adopted the Hindu tradition, served gurus, and tried to realize the mysteries of spiritual truths. They were spiritual aspirants who had made spiritual practice their mission in life.

They saw and heard U.G. and talked to him. I heard in Max's words the sentiment of Kabir expressed in his song "Ram ratan mai payo..." ("I gained the jewel of Ram"). It wasn't the conversation, it wasn't his jokes, nor U.G.'s eloquence in English. There was some other authenticity in U.G. that made them slaves to him.

"Where is U.G. going now?" asked Max.

"He went to our house. He will eat there and come back soon."

Max looked thoughtfully at the sky for a moment. He talked to his brothers and asked me hesitantly, "Could we come too? We are curious about watching U.G. eating his lunch."

"Surely, please come. No problem," I said and took them to my home.

Meanwhile, U.G. and Brahmachariji were coming down the stairs. "Where are the Kangaroos (the pet name U.G. used to refer to the Australians, kangaru, in Telugu means 'confusion')? Have they left?" asked U.G.

"They want to watch you eat. They are sitting inside (downstairs)," I replied.

He said as he greeted them, "It's time to feed this animal. So, you want to see the animal chew its cud!" We all laughed at this.

U.G. explained to them the details of his meals. "I don't have any requirement that I should have sattvic (mild) food. Because there is a defect in my alimentary canal, the food, instead of going into the intestines directly, sometimes makes trouble. Just like cattle, I too have formed two stomachs as a result of this defect," he said laughingly.

"I can't tolerate green chili, ginger and pungent spices. If I eat even a bit of them, I get hiccoughs. I have been a vegetarian ever since I was born. No matter how much you try to avoid it, in foreign countries they mix some meat stuff in the vegetarian food. It's difficult to explain to them what I want. So I have difficulty in the restaurants.

Once, in a foreign restaurant, the waiter brought me tomato soup with beef stock in it. First, I didn't find any difference. After I drank a little, my friend told me that 'Those red bits are meat!' Yet, it did not cause any disgust in me. 'Meat' is just a sound. Because I had no idea of meat, there was no reaction in me even when I knew that it was meat. If the same thing happened to me earlier in my life, I would have vomited it the next moment.

All the protein I need I get from this pappadam. That's enough. Normally people eat their ideas and tastes. They sprinkle them on their food and mix their food with them, and they ruin their stomachs and their heads with theories such as: there ought to be vitamins in a diet for good health, nutrients must be in equal quantities, and the diet must be balanced.

"I like cheese. Yogurt is important. In Switzerland you can find as many as a hundred different kinds of cheese. I am used to cooking semolina, spaghetti, noodles, etc. with cheese."

Suguna used to buy buffalo milk for U.G., and curdle it in a clay pot. U.G. used to relish it.

"If you eat idli and dosai, they have everything in them: in the urad dahl there is protein and in the rice flour there are carbohydrates. And that's enough. However, idlis can only be eaten when South Indians make them. On the other hand, I don't like chapatis made by South Indians," says U.G.

Once Shanta Kelkar brought some coffee in a thermos. "Whom is it for?" asked U.G. "Is there enough for everyone? If you want me to drink it, I must have cream with it," he said. The next day cream was brought. "Your coffee is wonderful," U.G. would admire Shanta's coffee. Since then, she brought coffee everyday. "If I say something is good, you shouldn't understand it as 'I want more of it'," he used to say.

"I don't have any special interest in eating fruit. Every morning Suguna gives me some orange juice. I like avocado very much." It was a mistake on U.G.'s part to express his likes and dislikes in this fashion. The next evening the Australians brought baskets full of avocados, and several kilos of cheese and cream. U.G. didn't quite know how to store them and so he became annoyed at this. Much of the stuff was left over after we all ate.