Poems on U.G. by Dr. Sistla Sreedhav

Foreword

[Dr. Sistla Sreedhav's poems have a devotional quality and intensity to them.  They have the same flavor as some of the best traditional spiritual poetry that came out of India.  

The poems consist of five or more quatrains and have an end-rhyme.  The imagery in the poetry is stunning--some of it is traditional and some contemporary. The poems are deftly crafted and a delight to read. 

The poems sing the praise of U.G., and describe the various facets of U.G.'s person, U.G.'s dealings with people and situations, and the effect U.G. has on the author and others surrounding U.G.

The poems spontaneously flowed out of the author for a time, and then they seem to have stopped, just as suddenly as they started.

The poems are presented here in their entirety, with minimal editing, along with their invocations and signatures, so as to let them speak for themselves as their author intended them to. --Editor]  

Dr. Sreedhav says the following about himself and the poems included in these pages:

I was born on September 1, 1961 in Bombay, finished my under-graduate studies in 1984 (spending more time meditating than studying), did M.D. in internal medicine between 1989 and1991, specialized in diabetology at Sri Ramachandra Medical College till1994.  I am currently practicing in Nellore with my father in his clinic. My wife is a chemical engineer in the Malladi Group in Madras. We have two sons who, paradoxically enough, are studying in J. Krishnamurti's School in Madras.

The three Sistla brothers of whom my father is the eldest were always in the quest of "That." It was but natural that I was affected to pursue the search! There is nothing spectacular about my life except for two occasions: once when I first sat down to meditate, I was immersed in tears for an hour, and immediately wrote a set of fourteen poems on the Almighty. The second occasion was in Madras: one early morning, while I was jogging, Major Uncle [Major Dakshnamurti, a friend of U.G.] called me in to see U.G. Since then my life has never been the same. I was 22 years old then, and my first question to him was, "Why do you ask people not to meditate?" U.G. immediately said, "Those who truly meditate will not ask that question." Then he went on to show all the physical changes that took place in him after the "Calamity." It was due to U.G.'s influence stemming from my very first visit to him that was responsible for my giving up drinking and eating meat.

U.G. is the sole inspiration for the verses that follow.


Dr.Sistla Sreedhav
Annapurna Clinic
Rammurty Nagar
Nellore, A.P. India

e-mail: sreedhav@nettlinx.com