A Taste of Life: The last days of U.G. Krishnamurti
by Mahesh Bhatt
Penguin, 2009
Few deaths are worth writing much about; the actual event is generally utilised by memorialisers simply as a peg by which to talk about the far more important issue – the life itself. More so when the one doing the dying is that great anti-guru U G Krishnamurti, he who believed in little (supposedly) and depended on even less (purportedly). Yet an account of the final days of any spiritually enlightened being seems a sure-fire shortcut to embellished hagiography, especially if the account is written by a self-proclaimed follower. But while Bhatt, the filmmaker, is indeed another follower (despite his mild protestations to the contrary), he was also specifically appointed by the notoriously prickly U G to 'oversee' his death, in 2007.
But "death takes a long time to come," Bhatt writes, and so we come to see something of a last lesson unfolding around Krishnamurti. Slowly expiring (he refuses any medical intervention) in a grand (rented) villa on the Mediterranean coast, Krishnamurti's followers and friends and relatives slowly begin arriving from around the world. The resulting mishmash of personalities, all living a sudden communal lifestyle surrounding a dying man, leads to some truly touching collective reactions, at once irreverent (as per U G) and reverential (as per those gathered).
For someone who rails against dependence of any kind, it is clearly difficult for Krishnamurti to be forced to accept the assistance of those around him to, for instance, walk to the toilet. The experience obviously enrages him at times – "No spiritual shit," he barks at the mantra-chanting circle (or some such) at one point, before kicking everyone out. Still, for a man who claimed he would rather just crawl into a cave and die alone, the final stage that Krishnamurti sets up for himself – reclining beside a fireplace, in front of massive windows, surrounded by the people of his life – belies the lesson behind the lesson. (Carey L Biron)