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Jiddu Krishnamurti
J. Krishnamurti cir. 1920s
Born	May 12, 1895 (1895-05-12) Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh, India
Died	February 17, 1986 (1986-02-18) (aged 90) Ojai, California
Occupation	public speaker, author, philosopher
Parents	Narainiah and Sanjeevamma Jiddu

Jiddu Krishnamurti (Telugu: జిడ్డు కృష్ణ మూర్తి) or J. Krishnamurti (Telugu: జే . కృష్ణ మూర్తి, Tamil: கிருஷ்ணமூர்த்தி), (May 12, 1895–February 17, 1986) was a renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society. He constantly stressed the need for a revolution in the psyche of every human being and emphasized that such revolution cannot be brought about by any external entity, be it religious, political, or social.

Krishnamurti was born into a Telugu Brahmin family in what was then colonial India. In early adolescence, he had a chance encounter with prominent occultist and high-ranking Theosophist C.W. Leadbeater in the grounds of the Theosophical Society headquarters at Adyar in Madras (now Chennai). He was subsequently raised under the tutelage of Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater, leaders of the Society at the time, who believed him to be a "vehicle" for an expected World Teacher. As a young man, he disavowed this idea and dissolved the worldwide organization (the Order of the Star) established to support it. He claimed allegiance to no nationality, caste, religion, or philosophy, and spent the rest of his life traveling the world as an individual speaker, speaking to large and small groups, as well as with interested individuals. He authored a number of books, among them The First and Last Freedom, The Only Revolution, and Krishnamurti's Notebook. In addition, a large collection of his talks and discussions have been published. His last public talk was in Madras, India, in January 1986, a month before his death at his home in Ojai, California.

His supporters, working through several non-profit foundations, oversee a number of independent schools centered on his views on education – in India, Great Britain and the United States – and continue to transcribe and distribute many of his thousands of talks, group and individual discussions, and other writings, publishing them in a variety of formats including print, audio, video and digital formats as well as online, in many languages.

Biography

Family background and childhood

Jiddu^[1] Krishnamurti came from a family of Telugu-speaking Brahmins.^[2] His father, Jiddu Narainiah, was employed as an official of the then colonial British Administration. Krishnamurti was very fond of his mother, Sanjeevamma, who died when he was ten.^[3] His parents were second cousins, having a total of eleven children, only six of whom survived childhood. They were strict vegetarians, even shunning eggs, and throwing away any food that the "shadow of a European" had crossed.^[4]

He was born on May 12, 1895^[5] in the small town of Madanapalle in Chittoor District in Andhra Pradesh. As the eighth child, who happened to be a boy, he was, in accordance with common Hindu practice, named after Sri Krishna.^[6]

In 1903, the family settled in Cudappah, where Krishnamurti during a previous stay had contracted malaria, a disease with which he would suffer recurrent bouts over many years. He was a sensitive and sickly child; "vague and dreamy", he was often taken to be mentally retarded, and was beaten regularly at school by his teachers and at home by his father.^[7] Several decades later, Krishnamurti referred to his state of mind during childhood: "...Ever since he was a boy it had been like that, no thought entered his mind. He was watching and listening and nothing else. Thought with its associations never arose. There was no image-making. ...[H]e attempted often to think but no thought would come."^[8] Writing about his childhood and early adolescence in memoirs he composed when he was eighteen years old, Krishnamurti described psychic experiences, such as "seeing" his sister, who had died in 1904, and also his mother, who had died in 1905.^[9][10] Another aspect of his childhood was his bond with nature that continued throughout his life: "...He always had this strange lack of distance between himself and the trees, rivers and mountains. It wasn't cultivated."^[11]

Krishnamurti's father Narainiah retired at the end of 1907, and, being of limited means, wrote to Annie Besant, then president of the Theosophical Society,^[12] seeking employment at the Society headquarters estate at Adyar. Although he was an observant orthodox Brahmin, Narainiah had been a member of the Theosophical Society since 1882.^[13] He was eventually hired by the Society as a clerk, and he moved his family there in January, 1909.^[14] Narainiah and his sons were at first assigned to live in a small cottage that lacked adequate sanitation and which was located just outside the Theosophical compound. As a result of poor living conditions, Krishnamurti and his brothers were soon undernourished and infested with lice.^[15]

The "discovery" and its consequences

It was in late April or early May 1909,^[16] a few months after the last move, that Krishnamurti first met C.W. Leadbeater, who claimed clairvoyance. During his forays to the Theosophical estate's beach at the nearby Adyar river, Leadbeater had noticed Krishnamurti (who also frequented the beach with others), and was amazed by the "most wonderful aura he had ever seen, without a particle of selfishness in it".^[17] This strong impression was notwithstanding Krishnamurti's outward appearance, which, according to eyewitnesses, was pretty common, unimpressive, and unkempt. The boy was also considered "particularly dim-witted"; he often had "a vacant expression" that "gave him an almost moronic look". Leadbeater remained "unshaken" that the boy would become "a spiritual teacher and a great orator".^[18]

Pupul Jayakar, in her biography of Krishnamurti,^[19] quotes him speaking of that period in his life some 75 years later: "...The boy had always said, 'I will do whatever you want'. There was an element of subservience, obedience. The boy was vague, uncertain, woolly; he didn't seem to care what was happening. He was like a vessel, with a large hole in it, whatever was put in, went through, nothing remained."^[20]

Following his "discovery", Krishnamurti was taken under the wing of the leadership of the Theosophical Society in Adyar and their inner circle. Leadbeater and a small number of trusted associates undertook the task of educating, protecting, and generally preparing Krishnamurti as the "vehicle" of the expected World Teacher.^[21] Krishnamurti (or Krishnaji as he was often called)^[22] and his younger brother Nitya were privately tutored at the Theosophical compound in Madras, and later exposed to a comparatively opulent life among a segment of European high society, as they continued their education abroad. In spite of his history of problems with school work and concerns about his capacities and physical condition, the fourteen-year-old Krishnamurti within six months was able to speak and write competently in English.^[23]

During this time, Krishnamurti had developed a strong bond with Annie Besant, and came to view her as a surrogate mother.^[24] Apart from his early close relationship with his mother, this was the first of several important and intimate relationships that Krishnamurti established with women during his lifetime. His father, pushed into the background by the swirl of interest around Krishnamurti, sued the Theosophical Society in 1912 to protect his parental interests. After a protracted legal battle, Besant took custody of Krishnamurti and his brother Nitya.^[25][26] As a result of this separation from his family and home, Krishnamurti and his brother became extremely close, and in the following years they often traveled together.

The Theosophical Leadership in 1911 established a new organization called the Order of the Star in the East, to prepare the world for the aforementioned "Coming" of the World Teacher. Krishnamurti was named as its head, with senior Theosophists in various positions. Membership was open to anybody who accepted the doctrine of the Coming of the World Teacher – however, most of the early members were also members of the Theosophical Society.^[27][28] Controversy erupted soon after, both within the Theosophical Society and without, in Hindu circles and the Indian press.^[25][29][30]

Growing up

Mary Lutyens, in her biography of Krishnamurti,^[31] states that there was a time when he fully believed that he was to become the World Teacher after correct spiritual and secular guidance and education. Another biographer describes the daily program imposed on him by Leadbeater and his associates, which among other things included rigorous exercise and sports, tutoring in a variety of school subjects, Theosophical and religious lessons, yoga and meditation, as well as instruction in proper hygiene and the ways of British society and culture.^[32] Unlike sports, where he showed natural aptitude, Krishnamurti always had problems with formal schooling and was not academically inclined. He eventually gave up university education after several attempts at admission. He did take to foreign languages, eventually speaking several (French and Italian among them) with some fluency. In this period, he apparently enjoyed reading parts of the Old Testament, and was impressed by some of the Western classics, especially Shelley, Dostoyevsky and Nietzsche.^[33] He also had, since childhood, considerable observational and mechanical skills, being able to correctly disassemble and reassemble complicated machinery.^[34]

His public image, as originally cultivated by the Theosophists, "...was to be characterized by a well-polished exterior, a sobriety of purpose, a cosmopolitan outlook and an otherworldly, almost beatific detachment in his demeanor." And in fact, "...All of these can be said to have characterized Krishnamurti's public image to the end of his life."^[35] It was apparently clear early on that he "...possessed an innate personal magnetism, not of a warm physical variety, but nonetheless emotive in its austerity, and inclined to inspire veneration."^[36] However, as Krishnamurti was growing up, he showed signs of adolescent rebellion and emotional instability, chafing at the regimen imposed on him, and occasionally having doubts about the future prescribed him.^[37]

Krishnamurti and Nitya were taken to England for the first time in April 1911, where Krishnamurti gave his first public speech, to young members of the Order of the Star.^[38] Between that time and the start of World War I in 1914, they also visited several other European countries, always accompanied by Theosophist chaperones.^[39] After the war, Krishnamurti (again accompanied by his brother) embarked on a series of lectures, meetings, and discussions around the world relating to his duties as the head of the Order Of The Star. The content of his talks at the time revolved around the work of the Order and of its members in preparation for the "Coming", while his vocabulary reflected the prevailing Theosophical concepts and terminology. In the beginning he was described as a halting, hesitant, and repetitive speaker, but there was steady improvement in his delivery and confidence, and he gradually took command of the meetings.^[40]

In 1922, Krishnamurti and Nitya travelled from Sydney to California on their way to Switzerland. While in California, they lodged at a cottage in then relatively secluded Ojai Valley, offered to them for the occasion by an American member of the Order.^[41] At Ojai, the brothers also met Rosalind Williams, the sister of a local Theosophist, who eventually became close to them both.^[42] For the first time the brothers were without immediate supervision by their Theosophical Society minders; they spent their time in nature hikes and picnics with friends, spiritual contemplation, and planning their course within the World Teacher Project.^[43] Krishnamurti and Nitya found the Ojai Valley to be very agreeable, and eventually a trust, formed by supporters, purchased for them the cottage and surrounding property, which henceforth became Krishnamurti's official place of residence.^[44]

It was in Ojai, in August 1922, that Krishnamurti went through an intense, "life-changing" experience.^[45] It has been simultaneously, and invariably, characterised as a spiritual awakening, a psychological transformation, and a physical conditioning. Krishnamurti and those around him would refer to it as "the process", and it continued, at very frequent intervals and varying forms of intensity, until his death.^[46][47] According to witnesses, it started on the 17th, with Krishnamurti complaining of extraordinary pain at the nape of his neck, and a hard, ball-like swelling. Over the next couple of days, the symptoms worsened, with increasing pain, extreme physical discomfort and sensitivity, total loss of appetite and occasional delirious ramblings. Then, he seemed to lapse into unconsciousness; actually, he recounted that he was very much aware of his surroundings, and while in that state he had an experience of mystical union.^[48] The following day the symptoms, and the experience, intensified, climaxing with a sense of "immense peace".^[49]

"...I was supremely happy, for I had seen. Nothing could ever be the same. I have drunk at the clear and pure waters and my thirst was appeased. ...I have seen the Light. I have touched compassion which heals all sorrow and suffering; it is not for myself, but for the world. ...Love in all its glory has intoxicated my heart; my heart can never be closed. I have drunk at the fountain of Joy and eternal Beauty. I am God-intoxicated."^[50]

Similar incidents continued with short intermissions until October, and later eventually resumed regularly, always involving varying degrees of physical pain to mark the start of the "process", accompanied by what is variably described as "presence", "benediction", "immensity", and "sacredness", which was reportedly often felt by others present.

Several explanations have been proposed for the events of 1922, and the "process" in general.^[51] Leadbeater and other Theosophists expected the "vehicle" to have certain paranormal experiences, but were nevertheless mystified by these developments and were at a loss to explain the whole thing. During Krishnamurti's later years, the continuing "process" often came up as a subject in private discussions between himself and his closest associates; these discussions shed some light on the subject, but were ultimately inconclusive regarding its nature and provenance.^[52]

The "process", and the inability of Leadbeater to explain it satisfactorily, if at all, had other consequences according to biographer R. Vernon:

"The process at Ojai, whatever its cause or validity, was a cataclysmic milestone for Krishna. Up until this time his spiritual progress, chequered though it might have been, had been planned with solemn deliberation by Theosophy's grandees. ...Something new had now occurred for which Krishna's training had not entirely prepared him. ...A burden was lifted from his conscience and he took his first step towards becoming an individual. ...In terms of his future role as a teacher, the process was his bedrock. ...It had come to him alone and had not been planted in him by his mentors...It provided Krishna with the soil in which his newfound spirit of confidence and independence could take root."^[53][54]

Finally, the unexpected death of his brother Nitya on November 11, 1925 at age 27 from tuberculosis after a long history with the disease, fundamentally shook Krishnamurti's belief in Theosophy and his faith in the leaders of the Theosophical Society.^[55][56] According to eyewitness accounts, the news "...broke him down completely". He struggled for days to overcome his sorrow, eventually "...going through an inner revolution, finding new strength".^[57] The experience of his brother's death apparently shattered any remaining illusions, and things would never be the same again:

"...An old dream is dead and a new one is being born, as a flower that pushes through the solid earth. A new vision is coming into being and a greater consciousness is being unfolded. ...A new strength, born of suffering, is pulsating in the veins and a new sympathy and understanding is being born of past suffering - a greater desire to see others suffer less, and, if they must suffer, to see that they bear it nobly and come out of it without too many scars. I have wept, but I do not want others to weep; but if they do, I know what it means."^[58]

Break with the past

In the next few years, Krishnamurti's new vision and consciousness continued to develop. New concepts appeared in his talks, discussions and letters, along with an evolving vocabulary that was progressively free of Theosophical terminology.^[59] The main themes in his meetings started to diverge from the well-defined tenets of Theosophy and the concrete steps the members of the Order of the Star had to undertake, and into more abstract and flexible concepts, which would be "Happiness" one year, "Questioning Authority" the next, or "Liberation" the following.^[60] His new direction reached a climax in 1929, when he rebuffed attempts by Leadbeater and Besant to continue with the Order of the Star. Krishnamurti dissolved the Order at the annual Star Camp at Ommen, Netherlands, on August 3, 1929^[61] where, in front of Annie Besant and several thousand members, he gave a speech^[62] saying among other things:

"You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, 'What did that man pick up?' 'He picked up a piece of the truth,' said the devil. 'That is a very bad business for you, then,' said his friend. 'Oh, not at all,' the devil replied, 'I am going to help him organize it.' 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."^[62][63]

and also:

"This is no magnificent deed, because I do not want followers, and I mean this. The moment you follow someone you cease to follow Truth. I am not concerned whether you pay attention to what I say or not. I want to do a certain thing in the world and I am going to do it with unwavering concentration. I am concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free him from all cages, from all fears, and not to found religions, new sects, nor to establish new theories and new philosophies."^[62][63]

Following the dissolution, some Theosophists turned against Krishnamurti and publicly wondered whether "...the Coming had gone wrong". Mary Lutyens states that "...After all the years of proclaiming the Coming, of stressing over and over again the danger of rejecting the World Teacher when he came because he was bound to say something wholly new and unexpected, something contrary to most people’s preconceived ideas and hopes, the leaders of Theosophy, one after the other, fell into the trap against which they had so unremittingly warned others."^[64]

Krishnamurti had denounced all organized belief, the notion of gurus, and the whole teacher-follower relationship, vowing instead to work in setting man absolutely, totally free. There is no record of him explicitly denying he was the World Teacher; whenever he was asked to clarify his position, he either asserted the matter was irrelevant, or gave answers that, as he stated, were vague on purpose. In a reflection of the ongoing changes in his outlook, he had started doing so even before the dissolution of the Order of the Star.^{[65][66][67][68]} The subtlety of the new distinctions on the World Teacher issue was lost on many of his admirers, who were already bewildered or distraught because of the changes in Krishnamurti’s outlook, vocabulary and pronouncements – among them Annie Besant and Mary Lutyens' mother Emily.^[67][69] He eventually disassociated himself from the Theosophical Society and its teachings and practices,^[70] despite being on cordial terms with some of its members and ex-members throughout his life.

Krishnamurti would often refer to the totality of his work as "the" teachings and not as "my" teachings. His concern was always about "the" teachings: the teacher had no importance, and spiritual authority was denounced.

"All authority of any kind, especially in the field of thought and understanding, is the most destructive, evil thing. Leaders destroy the followers and followers destroy the leaders. You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary."^[71]

Krishnamurti returned all monies and properties donated to the Order of the Star, including a castle in Holland^[72] and 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land, to their donors.^[73] He spent the rest of his life holding dialogues and giving public talks around the world on the nature of belief, truth, sorrow, freedom, death and the quest for a spiritually-fulfilled life. He accepted neither followers nor worshipers, regarding the relationship between disciple and guru as encouraging dependency and exploitation. He constantly urged people to think independently and clearly, and invited them to explore and discuss specific topics together with him, to "walk as two friends".^[74] He accepted gifts and financial support freely offered to him by people inspired by his work, and continued with lecture tours and the publication of books and talk transcripts for more than half a century.^[75]

Middle years

From 1930 through 1944, Krishnamurti engaged in speaking tours and in the issue of publications under the auspice of the "Star Publishing Trust" (SPT), which he had founded with a close associate and friend from the Order of the Star, D. Rajagopal.^[76] The base of operations for the new enterprise was in Ojai, where Krishnamurti, Rajagopal, and Rosalind Williams (by then the wife of Rajagopal), resided in the house known as Arya Vihara.^[77] The business and organizational aspects of the SPT were administered chiefly by D. Rajagopal, as Krishnamurti devoted his time to speaking and meditation, "...content to leave all practical matters, which bored him, especially financial matters, in Rajagopal's undoubtebly capable hands."^[78] The Rajagopals' marriage was not a happy one, and the two became physically estranged after the birth of their daughter Radha in 1931.^[79] In the relative seclusion of Arya Vihara, Krishnamurti's close friendship with Rosalind deepened into a love affair that continued for many years, a fact that was not made public until 1991.^[80][81]

During this period of time, the Rishi Valley School,^[82] the first of several schools based on Krishnamurti's educational ideas, opened in India.^[83] Proper, holistic education, and the overall rearing of children into "sane", "whole" individuals free of conflict, had been one of his major, and continuing concerns.^[84] This school and others in India and elsewhere continue to operate under the auspices of the Krishnamurti Foundations.^[85] However, as of 1980, Krishnamurti's concern regarding right education remained unsatisfied. When asked about the result of - by that time - 50 years of educational work at the various Krishnamurti schools around the world, he answered that "not a single new mind" had been created.^[86]

After the dissolution of the Order of the Star and the break with Theosophy, there was no falling off of the audiences attending the talks, with new people taking the place of those that abandoned him, since several of the old devotees "...were unable to follow him in what seemed to them mists of abstraction."^[87] New people also joined the camps, which were now open to the general public, and Krishnamurti was invited to many new parts of the world. Lutyens states that "...his audiences were to become, increasingly, of a different calibre, people interested in what he had to say, not in what they had been told he was".^[88]

Throughout the 1930s, Krishnamurti spoke in Europe, Latin America, India, Australia and the United States, garnering favorable interest, although in a few occasions he encountered hostility or opposition during this period of growing global turmoil.^[89] Another matter was the audience's apparent inability to grasp his message; he expressed exasperation over this both privately and publicly, and one of the reasons for his shifting vocabulary was the lifelong^[90] effort to convey the teaching in a way that was both precise and easy to understand.^[91] He wrote to Emily Lutyens that the meetings had "...quantity without quality"^[92] and he was vexed by the refusal of older Order of the Star and Theosophical Society members to let go of the past. He acknowledged that what he was saying could seem like just another hard-to-understand theory; he asked his audiences to act on it instead:

"...To awaken that intelligence there must be the deep urge to know but not to speculate. Please bear in mind that what to me is a certainty, a fact, must be to you a theory, and the mere repetition of my words does not constitute your knowledge and actuality; it can be but a hypothesis, nothing more. Only through experimentation and action can you discern for yourself its reality. Then it is of no person, neither yours nor mine."^[93]

Krishnamurti introduced several important new concepts and terms which became recurrent themes in later talks and discussions.^[94] One such was the idea of "choiceless awareness", a type of awareness that is from "moment to moment", without the implicit or explicit choices that accompany biases or judgments.^[95] Another new concept was his challenge of the existence of a division between the conscious and the subconscious mind, maintaining that such division is a man-made one, and that in reality there is only a single consciousness.^[96] Spurred by the relative isolation at Ojai, and the long sessions of meditation he was engaging in daily, Krishnamurti started talking about "right meditation".^[97] He would touch on this subject in practically every subsequent talk or discussion.^[98]

In 1938, he made the acquaintance of Aldous Huxley, who had arrived from Europe during 1937.^[99] The two began a close friendship which endured for many years. They held common concerns about the imminent conflict in Europe which they viewed as the outcome of the pernicious influence of nationalism.^[100] Krishnamurti's stance on World War II was often construed as pacifism and even subversion during a time of patriotic fervor in the United States, and for a time he came under surveillance by the FBI.^[101] He did not speak publicly for a period of about four years (between 1940 and 1944). During this time he lived and worked quietly at Arya Vihara, which during the war operated as a largely self-sustaining farm, with its surplus goods donated for relief efforts in Europe.^[102] Of the years spent in Ojai during the war, he was later to say: "I think it was a period of no challenge, no demand, no outgoing. I think it was a kind of everything held in; and when I left Ojai it all burst."^[103]

Krishnamurti broke the hiatus from public speaking in May 1944 with a series of talks in Ojai, which would become a regular venue for his talks and discussions. These talks, and subsequent material, were published by "Krishnamurti Writings Inc" (KWINC), the successor organization to the "Star Publishing Trust". This was to be the new central Krishnamurti-related entity worldwide, whose sole purpose was the dissemination of the teaching.^[104] Meanwhile, he continued to introduce new concepts and concerns that were to become constants in his later talks, such as the idea that there is no "duality" between the observer and the observed or between the thinker and the thought.^[105] The nature and qualities of the enquiring mind was to become another favorite subject:

"...It seems to me that the real problem is the mind itself and not the problem which the mind has created and tries to solve. If the mind is petty, small, narrow, limited, however great and complex the problem may be, the mind approaches that problem in terms of its own pettiness. ...Though it has extraordinary capacities and is capable of invention, of subtle, cunning thought, the mind is still petty. It may be able to quote Marx, or the Gita, or some other religious book, but it is still a small mind, and a small mind confronted with a complex problem can only translate that problem in terms of itself, and therefore the problem, the misery increases. So the question is: Can the mind that is small, petty, be transformed into something which is not bound by its own limitations?"^[106]

Krishnamurti had remained in contact with associates from India, and in the autumn of 1947 embarked upon a speaking tour there, attracting a new following of young intellectuals.^[107] It was on this trip that he first encountered the Mehta sisters, Pupul and Nandini, who became lifelong associates and confidantes. The sisters also attended to Krishnamurti throughout a 1948 recurrence of the "process" in Ootacamund.^[108][109]

Krishnamurti continued to attract the attention (and occasionally the unwanted admiration) of large numbers of people in public lectures and personal interviews. This was especially true in India, which had a long tradition of wandering "holy" men, hermits, and independent religious teachers, a number of whom met Krishnamurti, or otherwise regarded him favorably.^[110] He became friendly and in the following decades had a number of discussions with well known Hindu and Buddhist scholars and leaders, several of which were later published as books or as parts of books.^[111] Although Krishnamurti had a special tenderness for the true sannyasi or Buddhist monk, his criticism of their rituals, disciplines, and practices was devastating.^[112] He also met with many other prominent personalities in India, including the then young Dalai Lama,^[113] and prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.^[114]

Later years

Krishnamurti continued speaking around the world, in public lectures, group discussions and with concerned individuals.^[115] His inner life was also active, with continuing occurrences of the "process" throughout 1961, first while in Great Britain, and then in Switzerland.^[116] In the early 1960s, he made the acquaintance of respected physicist David Bohm, whose philosophical and scientific concerns regarding the essence of the physical world, and the psychological and sociological state of mankind, found parallels in Krishnamurti's philosophy. The two men soon became close friends and started a common inquiry, in the form of personal dialogues - and occasionally in group discussions with other participants - that periodically continued over nearly two decades.^[117][118] Several of these discussions were published in the form of books or as parts of books, and introduced a wider audience (among scientists) to Krishnamurti's ideas than was previously the case.^[119][120] Through Bohm, Krishnamurti also met, and held discussions with, several other members of the scientific community. Their long friendship went through a rocky interval in later years, and although they overcame their differences and remained friends until Krishnamurti's death, the relationship did not reattain its previous intensity.^[121][122] However, one result of Krishnamurti's contact with Bohm and the scientific community was the introduction of greater precision in his vocabulary, and the carefully defined use of terms such as "consciousness".^[123]

In the early 1960s, his associates again started noticing deep changes in Krishnamurti. Jayakar wrote that "...He would never be the same again. The Krishnaji who had laughed with us, walked with us ...this Krishnaji would vanish. A new Krishnaji would emerge-stern, impatient, questioning. ...He would be compassionate, but he would also be the teacher, demanding answers to fundamental questions. All great laughter and play had ended."^[124] His audience was also changing: reflecting the cultural changes of the 1960s, which included an intensified search for alternative lifestyles and experiences, there was a noticeable influx of young people in his talks and discussions. Krishnamurti’s evolving philosophy apparently proved too austere and rigorous for many of the new young participants; however new regular gatherings, such as the ones at Saanen, Switzerland, eventually became a focus for "...serious ...people concerned with the enormous challenges to humankind".^[125]

Along with his changing audience and outlook, Krishnamurti's subject matter had evolved to encompass several new and different concepts: the idea that individuality is an illusion,^[126] the notion that true love, beauty, peace, and goodness, had no opposites - such duality being only a construct of thought^[127] - and the need for a "radical" mutation.^[128] In the early 1970s he mentioned that the new approach represented an "...unfolding ...the teaching is in the same direction" but "...it is holistic rather than an examination of detail".^[123] The fundamental teachings remained unchanged.^[129] In late 1980, he took the opportunity to reaffirm the basic elements of his message in a written statement that came to be known as the "Core of the Teaching". An excerpt follows:

"The core of Krishnamurti's teaching is contained in the statement he made in 1929 when he said: 'Truth is a pathless land' . Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, nor through any philosophical knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation, and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection. Man has built in himself images as a sense of security—religious, political, personal. These manifest as symbols, ideas, beliefs. The burden of these dominates man's thinking, relationships and his daily life. These are the causes of our problems for they divide man from man in every relationship."^[130][131]

In the 1970s, Krishnamurti met several times with then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, with whom he had far ranging, and apparently, in some cases very serious discussions. His true impact on Indian political life is unknown; however Jayakar considers his attitude and message on meetings with Indira Gandhi as a possible influence in the lifting of certain emergency measures Mrs. Gandhi had imposed during periods of political turmoil.^[132]

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Krishnamurti and his associates re-organized previous institutions into four geographically dispersed non-profit Foundations, designated the Official bodies responsible for disseminating the teachings and sponsoring the schools.^[133] Meanwhile, Krishnamurti's once close relationship with the Rajagopals had deteriorated to the point where Krishnamurti took D. Rajagopal to court in order to recover donated property and funds, publication rights for his works, manuscripts, and personal correspondence, that were in Rajagopal's possession.^[134] The litigation and ensuing cross complaints, which formally began in 1971, continued for many years. A substantial portion of materials and property was returned to Krishnamurti during his lifetime; the parties to this case finally settled all other matters in 1986, shortly after his death.^{[135][136][137]}

From the late 1960s on, and continuing until his death, Krishnamurti and close associates engaged in private discussions - some of which have been at least partially made public^[138] - regarding himself, his "discovery", his later development, the meaning of the continuing "process"^[139] - and the source of the teaching. It seemed that Krishnamurti "...in later life begun to delve into the mystery of his background in an attempt to come to terms with his own uniqueness."^[140] The discussions also broached subjects that Krishnamurti would not usually approach in public, such as the existence of evil,^[141] a feeling of "protection" he had,^[142] or the nature of the "otherness" – the non-personified "presence" that he, and sometimes others around him, felt.^[143] The discussions did not reach any conclusions - Krishnamurti several times stated that he did not know what the truth was relative to these inquiries - and whether he could or should, find it out. He nevertheless examined several approaches, some of which he considered more likely than others.^[144] He insisted that he did not want to make "a mystery" out of all this; Lutyens comments that "...yet a mystery remains".^[145]

In 1984 and again in 1985 he spoke to an invited audience at the United Nations in New York, under the auspices of the Pacem in Terris Society chapter at the UN.^[146][147] His remarkable resilience - after life-long, almost constant travel, and despite a lifetime of frail physical health^[148] - was finally showing signs of abating. In November 1985 he visited India for the last time, holding a number of what came to be known as "farewell" talks and discussions between then and January 1986. These last talks included the fundamental questions he had been asking through the years, as well as newer concerns related to then recent advances in science, technology, and the way they affected humankind. Krishnamurti had commented to friends that he did not wish to invite death, but was not sure how long his body would last (he had already lost considerable weight), and once he could no longer talk, he would have no further purpose.^[149] In his final talk, on January 4, 1986, in Madras, he again invited the audience to examine with him the nature of inquiry, the effect of technology, the nature of life and meditation, and the nature of creation:

"...That computer can do almost anything that man can do. It can make all your gods, all your theories, your rituals; it's even better at it than you will ever be. So, the computer is coming up in the world; it's going to make your brains something different. You've heard of genetic engineering; they're trying, whether you like it or not, to change your whole behaviour. That is genetic engineering. They are trying to change your way of thinking. When genetic engineering and the computer meet, what are you? As a human being what are you? Your brains are going to be altered. Your way of behaviour is going to be changed. They may remove fear altogether, remove sorrow, remove all your gods. They're going to; don't fool yourself. It all ends up either in war or in death. This is what is happening in the world actually. Genetic engineering on the one side and the computer on the other, and when they meet, as they're inevitably going to, what are you as a human being? Actually, your brain now is a machine. You are born in India and say: 'I'm an Indian' . You are encased in that. You are a machine. Please don't be insulted. I'm not insulting you. You are a machine which repeats like a computer. Don't imagine there is something divine in you - that would be lovely - something holy that is everlasting. The computer will say that to you too. So, what is becoming of a human being? What's becoming of you?"^[150]

"...So, we are enquiring into what makes a bird. What is creation behind all this? Are you waiting for me to describe it, go into it? You want me to go into it? Why (From the audience: To understand what creation is[)]. Why do you ask that? Because I asked? No description can ever describe the origin. The origin is nameless; the origin is absolutely quiet, it's not whirring about making noise. Creation is something that is most holy, that's the most sacred thing in life, and if you have made a mess of your life, change it. Change it today, not tomorrow. If you are uncertain, find out why and be certain. If your thinking is not straight, think straight, logically. Unless all that is prepared, all that is settled, you can't enter into this world, into the world of creation."^[150]

Krishnamurti was also concerned about his legacy, about being unwittingly turned into some personage whose teachings had been handed down to special individuals, rather than the world at large. He did not want anybody to pose as an interpreter of the teaching.^[151] He warned his associates on several occasions that they were not to present themselves as spokesmen on his behalf, or as his successors after his death.^[152]

A few days before his death, in a final statement, he emphatically declared that "nobody" - among his associates, or the general public - had understood what had happened to him (as the conduit of the teaching), nor had they understood the teaching itself. He added that the "immense energy" operating in his lifetime would be gone with his death, again implying the impossibility of successors. However, he offered hope by stating that people could approach that energy and gain a measure of understanding "...if they live the teachings".^[153] In prior discussions he had compared himself with Thomas Edison, implying that he did the hard work, and now all was needed by others was a flick of the switch.^[154] In another instance he talked of Columbus going through an arduous journey to discover the New World, whereas now, it could easily be reached by jet; the ultimate implication being that even if Krishnamurti was in some way "special", in order to arrive at his level of understanding, others didn't need to be.^[154]

J. Krishnamurti died on February 17, 1986, at the age of 90, from pancreatic cancer. His remains were cremated and scattered by friends and former associates in the three countries where he had spent most of his life: India, England, and the United States of America.^[155]

Afterword

Interest in Krishnamurti and his work has persisted in the years since his death.^[156] Many of his books, as well as audio, video, and computer materials, remain available and are carried by major online and traditional retailers. The official Foundations continue with the maintenance of archives, dissemination of the teachings in an increasing number of languages, new conversions to digital and other media, development of websites, sponsoring of television programs, and with organizing meetings and dialogues of interested persons around the world.^[157] According to communications and press releases from the Foundations, their mailing lists, and individuals' inquiries, continue to grow.^[158] The various schools and educational institutions also continue to grow, with new projects added alongside their declared goal of holistic education.^[159] There are also active unofficial Krishnamurti Committees operating in several countries, as well as independent^[160] educational institutions based on his ideas. Biographies, reminiscences, research papers, critical examinations, and book-length studies of Krishnamurti and his philosophy have continued to appear. Cursory (and necessarily incomplete) examination of internet search traffic and group discussion forums indicates that among similar topics, interest on Krishnamurti remains high.^[161]

Nevertheless, in 1991, the autobiography Lives in the Shadow with J. Krishnamurti by Radha Rajagopal Sloss^[162] created negative publicity and controversy. In this instance, it was centered on the author's depiction of Krishnamurti's relationship with her parents, including a secret extramarital love affair between Krishnamurti and her mother Rosalind Rajagopal which had lasted many years. The public revelation was received with surprise and consternation by many individuals, and was also dealt with in a rebuttal volume of biography by Mary Lutyens (Krishnamurti and the Rajagopals, see Other Biographies).^[163] Others, such as Helen Nearing, who had known Krishnamurti in his youth, questioned whether his attitudes were conditioned by privilege, as he was supported, even pampered, by devoted followers starting as far back as his "discovery" by the Theosophists.^{[164][165][166]}

Biographers and associates of Krishnamurti acknowledge another complaint against him, one that relates to his demeanor during talks and discussions: that Krishnamurti often comes across as too vague or too assertive, or both. David Skitt, who edited several Krishnamurti books, attempts to deal with this issue in the "Editor's Introduction" of the book To Be Human.^[167] He also comments on a point that Krishnamurti often made, one that Skitt admits could, at first glance, be thought of as "condescending" or "arrogant": that before considering any of the questions Krishnamurti was concerned with, there was a need to understand "...the nature of a mind capable of going into" such questions.^[168] Skitt puts these utterances by Krishnamurti in the context of a recurring statement that Krishnamurti made in talks and dialogues: The proclamation, (usually in the beginning of each talk) that his message should not be taken at face value, but that it should be "shared" critically, appraised by each listener; and also, the accompanying additional proclamation that he did not consider himself an authority of any kind.

"...What is important is to listen to what he has to say, share it, not only listen, but actually participate in what he's saying. You may agree, or disagree, which you are perfectly right to do, but since you are here and since the speaker is here, we are talking over together. ...Don't just listen to me, ...but share in it, tear it to pieces. Don't, please accept anything he says. He's not your guru, thank god. He is not your leader. He is not your helper."^[169]

The fact that Krishnamurti was, and perhaps still is, looked at by many people as a world teacher or guru is irony not lost on associates, detractors or biographers.^[170] In a similar vein, people who knew him in his youth found his eventual transformation hard to fathom, as Lutyens explained a few years before his death: "...I find hard to reconcile the shy gentleness and almost vacant mind of the sixteen-year-old-boy...with the powerful teacher who has evolved a philosophy that cannot be shaken by the most prominent thinkers of the day-particularly hard since there is so much of that boy remaining in the man."^[171] This naturally brings up the question of the source of Krishnamurti's inspiration and originality of his teaching, "...the mystery that he preferred not to clarify for fear it might be leapt on in judgement or cheapened by the spiritually ambitious".^[172]

Because of his ideas and his era, Krishnamurti has come to be seen as an exemplar of those spiritual teachers who disavow formal rituals and dogma. His conception of truth as a "pathless land", with the possibility of immediate liberation,^[173][174] has been mirrored, or has been claimed as an influence, in the work of diverse movements and personalities.^[175] However, his very emphasis on the uselessness - if not detriment - of outside help and guidance, occasionally caused some people to complain about what they perceived as a lack of compassion.^[176] Krishnamurti's own indication of success remained whether individuals had truly understood, and therefore "lived and breathed", the teaching.^[177] He had remarked in 1929, at the dissolution of the Order of the Star, that he was not interested in numbers, stating: "If there are only five people who will listen, who will live, who have their faces turned towards eternity, it will be sufficient."^[62] In his later years he was sometimes asked why he kept on teaching, what motivated him after all these decades, as by his own admission, so few, if any, had changed.^[178] He answered one such question in 1980:

"I think when one sees something true and beautiful, one wants to tell people about it, out of affection, out of compassion, out of love. ...Can you ask the flower why it grows, why it has perfume? It is for the same reason the speaker talks."^[179]

Some recurrent themes

Knowledge

Krishnamurti constantly emphasized the right place of thought in daily life. But he also pointed out the dangers of thought when it becomes knowledge that acts as a calcified projection of the past. According to Krishnamurti, such action distorts our perception and full understanding of the world we live in, and more specifically, the relationships that define it.

"...Knowledge is necessary to act in the sense of my going home from here to the place I live; I must have knowledge for this; I must have knowledge to speak English; I must have knowledge to write a letter and so on. Knowledge as function, mechanical function, is necessary. Now if I use that knowledge in my relationship with you, another human being, I am bringing about a barrier, a division between you and me, namely the observer. That is, knowledge, in relationship, in human relationship, is destructive. That is knowledge which is the tradition, the memory, the image, which the mind has built about you, that knowledge is separative and therefore creates conflict in our relationship."^[180]

Fear and pleasure

Fear and pleasure were lifelong themes in his public talks. The following is an excerpt from a talk in San Diego in 1970.

"...Fear is always in relation to something; it does not exist by itself. There is fear of what happened yesterday in relation to the possibility of its repetition tomorrow; there is always a fixed point from which relationship takes place. How does fear come into this? I had pain yesterday; there is the memory of it and I do not want it again tomorrow. Thinking about the pain of yesterday, thinking which involves the memory of yesterday’s pain, projects the fear of having pain again tomorrow. So it is thought that brings about fear. Thought breeds fear; thought also cultivates pleasure. To understand fear you must also understand pleasure – they are interrelated; without understanding one you cannot understand the other. This means that one cannot say 'I must only have pleasure and no fear' ; fear is the other side of the coin which is called pleasure. Thinking with the images of yesterday’s pleasure, thought imagines that you may not have that pleasure tomorrow; so thought engenders fear. Thought tries to sustain pleasure and thereby nourishes fear. Thought has separated itself as the analyzer and the thing to be analyzed; they are both parts of thought playing tricks upon itself. In doing all this it is refusing to examine the unconscious fears; it brings in time as a means of escaping fear and yet at the same time sustains fear."^[181]

Meditation

Krishnamurti used the term "meditation" to mean something entirely different from the practice of any system or method to control the mind, or to consciously achieve a specific goal or state. He dealt with the subject of meditation in numerous public talks and discussions.

"...Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life-perhaps the greatest, and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody, that is the beauty of it. It has no technique and therefore no authority. When you learn about yourself, watch yourself, watch the way you walk, how you eat, what you say, the gossip, the hate, the jealousy-if you are aware of all that in yourself, without any choice, that is part of meditation."^[182]

Education

Krishnamurti founded several schools around the world. When asked,^[183] he enumerated the following as his educational aims:

1. Global outlook: A vision of the whole as distinct from the part; there should never be a sectarian outlook, but always a holistic outlook free from all prejudice.

2. Concern for man and the environment: Humanity is part of nature, and if nature is not cared for, it will boomerang on man. Only the right education, and deep affection between people everywhere, will resolve many problems including the environmental challenges.

3. Religious spirit, which includes the scientific temper: The religious mind is alone, not lonely. It is in communion with people and nature.

The world crisis

To Krishnamurti, the world crisis and its solution are the equal responsibility of every individual, everywhere. He often underscored this point by telling his audience, "you are the world",^[184] asserting that ultimately there is no escape from the fact that every individual can help in healing the world - by first healing themselves.^[185] Some excerpts:

"...And as we are - the world is. That is, if we are greedy, envious, competitive, our society will be competitive, envious, greedy, which brings misery and war. The State is what we are. To bring about order and peace, we must begin with ourselves and not with society, not with the State, for the world is ourselves. ...If we would bring about a sane and happy society we must begin with ourselves and not with another, not outside of ourselves, but with ourselves."^[186]

Selected publications

Apart from a few noted exceptions - see subsection below - the majority of Krishnamurti's books are edited transcripts of his talks and discussions, arranged either thematically, chronologically, by location, or in a combination of the above. Unless otherwise specified, the entries have been arranged by the publication date provided. (Format: Title, year of first publication, different editions: ISBN, notes, [other info]).

Krishnamurti on Krishnamurti

• Krishnamurti's Notebook, 1976, Harper & Row: No ISBN, Krishnamurti Publications of America expanded edition, 2004: ISBN 1-888004-63-0. Published journal that Krishnamurti kept between June 1961 and March 1962. [With the publication of this book, the general public for the first time had access to first-hand descriptions of the so-called "process", a strange condition that having started in the 1920s, intermittently affected Krishnamurti throughout his life].
• Krishnamurti's Journal, 1982, Harper & Row: ISBN 0-06-064841-4. A personal journal, that he started in 1973 and kept intermittently until 1975.
• Krishnamurti to Himself: His Last Journal, 1987, HarperCollins 1993 paperback: ISBN 0-06-250649-8. Transcribed from audio tape recordings made at his home in the Ojai Valley between February 1983 and March 1984.

List of books

As noted previously, various official Krishnamurti-related entities have published, and continue to publish, transcripts of Krishnamurti's talks and discussions. These verbatim reports and transcriptions are not included here. The following listing, while not exhaustive, includes all the books mentioned in the article and/or its footnotes. Also included are others that aroused special interest or concern.

• At the Feet of the Master: Towards Discipleship, 1910, Adyar, Theosophical Publishing House: No ISBN, Quest Books, 2001: ISBN 0-8356-0803-4. [The author of this book is also listed as "Alcyone". There is considerable scepticism among Krishnamurti's biographers and others about Krishnamurti's true role in the production of this and other works by so-called "Alcyone". Among other objections, a consensus of the sceptics considers such works as Theosophical literature].
• The Immortal Friend, 1928, New York, Boni & Liveright hardcover: No ISBN, Kessinger Publishing paperback, 2004: ISBN 1-4179-7855-4. Poetry. [Krishnamurti composed over 60 poems, published in the "Herald of the Star" and in book form. He stopped writing poetry in 1931].
• The pool of wisdom, Who brings the truth, By what authority, and three poems, 1928, Eerde, Star Publishing Trust: No ISBN.
• Life in Freedom, 1928, New York, H. Liveright: No ISBN, Satori Resources reprint, 1986: ISBN 0-937277-00-2. Compiled from camp-fire addresses given in Benares, Ojai, and Ommen during 1928.
• War abolished: One way to permanent peace, 1943, Sydney, Currawong Publishing Company paperback: No ISBN. Contains talks by Krishnamurti in Ojai and Pennsylvania during 1940. [Published as Volume 2 of Currawong's "Unpopular Pamphlets" series].
• Education and the Significance of Life, 1953, Victor Gollancz: No ISBN, HarperSanFrancisco, 1981: ISBN 0-06-064876-7. One of the books containing Krishnamurti’s educational ideas and concerns. [This was the first Krishnamurti book to be published by a commercial publisher].
• The First and Last Freedom, 1954, HarperSanFrancisco reprint, 1975: ISBN 0-06-064831-7. Includes a comprehensive foreword by Aldous Huxley.
• Commentaries on Living: Series One, 1956, New York, Harper: No ISBN, Quest Books, 1994: ISBN 0-8356-0390-3. The first of a three-volume series subtitled From the notebooks of J. Krishnamurti, D. Rajagopal, series editor.
• This Matter of Culture, 1964, Victor Gollancz hardcover: No ISBN. D. Rajagopal, editor. Also published as Think on these Things, 1970, Harper Perennial paperback: ISBN 0-06-091609-5.
• Freedom from the Known, 1969, HarperSanFrancisco reprint, 1975: ISBN 0-06-064808-2. M. Lutyens, editor.
• Early Writings: Volume 1, 1969, Bombay, Chetana: No ISBN. Compiles material from 1927 and 1928, originally published in the Star Bulletin by the Star Publishing Trust. [Part of a seven-volume series of hard to find early works by Krishnamurti, covering years up to 1933].
• The Only Revolution, 1970, Gollancz hardcover: ISBN 0-575-00387-1. M. Lutyens, editor.
• The Urgency of Change, 1970, HarperCollins hardcover: ISBN 0-06-064872-4. M. Lutyens, editor. Question & answer session, with questions posed by Alain Naude, Krishnamurti's personal secretary in the 1960s.
• The Impossible Question, 1972, Harper & Row: ISBN 0-0606-4838-X.
• You Are the World: Authentic Reports of Talks and Discussions in American Universities, 1972, Harper & Row: ISBN 0-06-080303-7, Krishnamurti Foundation India, 2001: ISBN 81-87326-02-6.
• The Awakening of Intelligence, 1973, Harper & Row paperback, 1987: ISBN 0-06-064834-1. G. & C. Wingfield Digby, editors.
• Beyond Violence, 1973, HarperCollins College Div.: ISBN 0-06-064839-2.
• Krishnamurti on Education, 1974, New Delhi, Orient Longman: No ISBN, Krishnamurti Foundation of America, 2001: ISBN 81-87326-00-X. Talks and discussions with students and teachers of Rishi Valley and Rajghat schools in India.
• Beginnings of Learning, 1975, London, Gollancz: ISBN 0-575-01928-X. Edited transcripts of Krishnamurti's discussions on education with students and staff at the Brockwood Park School, England.
• The Wholeness of Life, 1978, London, Gollancz: ISBN 0-06-064874-0, HarperCollins paperback, 1981: ISBN 0-06-064868-6. Abridgement of discussions held between Krishnamurti, physicist David Bohm, and psychiatrist David Shainbert.
• Meditations, 1979, Harper & Row: ISBN 0-06-064851-1, Shambhala Publications, 2002: ISBN 1-57062-941-2. Compilation of quotes/writings on meditation, Evelyne Blau, editor.
• From Darkness to Light: Poems and Parables: The Collected Works of Krishnamurti Volume One, 1980, Harper & Row: ISBN 0-06-064832-5. This is completely different from the Collected Works Volume 1 listed below.
• The Flame of Attention, 1984, Harper & Row paperback: ISBN 0-06-064814-7.
• The Ending of Time, 1985, Harper & Row: ISBN 0-06-064796-5. Discussions with the physicist David Bohm.
• The Way of Intelligence, 1985, Krishnamurti Foundation India: ISBN 81-87326-47-6.
• The Future of Humanity: A Conversation, 1986, HarperCollins: ISBN 0-06-064797-3. Further discussions with the physicist David Bohm.
• Last Talks at Saanen, 1985, 1987, HarperCollins: ISBN 0-06-064798-1.
• The Future Is Now: Last Talks in India, 1989, HarperCollins: ISBN 0-06-250484-3. Includes edited versions of Krishnamurti's last public talks.
• A Wholly Different Way of Living: Krishnamurti in Dialogue With Professor Allan W. Anderson, 1991, Victor Gollancz: ISBN 0-575-05166-3. Includes discussions with Prof. Anderson at San Diego State College in 1974.
• Fire in the Mind: Dialogues with J. Krishnamurti, 1995, Penguin Books India hardcover: ISBN 0-14-025166-9. Discussions with Pupul Jayakar and other associates, held from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s, recorded and edited by Ms Jayakar.
• Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti, 1996, HarperSanFrancisco: ISBN 0-06-064880-5. Introduction to Krishnamurti and selections from the breadth of his works, M. Cadogan, A. Kishbaugh, M. Lee, and R. McCoy editors.
• Limits of Thought: Discussions, 1999, Routledge: ISBN 0-415-19398-2. More discussions with the physicist David Bohm.
• To Be Human, 2000, Shambhala paperback: ISBN 1-57062-596-4. David Skitt, editor.
• Can Humanity Change?, 2003, Shambhala paperback: ISBN 1-57062-826-2. Subtitled J. Krishnamurti in dialogue with Buddhists, David Skitt, editor.
• The First Step is the Last Step, 2004, Krishnamurti Foundation India: ISBN 81-87326-56-5.
• Facing a World in Crisis, 2005, Shambhala paperback: ISBN 1590302036. D. Skitt, editor.

The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti

This series consists of previously published talks, discussions, question and answer sessions, and other writings, covering the period from 1933-1967. Originally published as a stand-alone series, it has become part of the much larger The Complete Works of J. Krishnamurti: 1910-1986 (link retrieved March 17, 2010). This undertaking - also refered to as the "Complete Teachings Project" - is a continuing (as of 2010) collaborative effort by the Krishnamurti Foundations to create a cohesively edited collection of the entire body of Krishnamurti's works. It is estimated that the Complete Works would run to over 50 volumes of print media, and will also be released in other formats.

• Volume 1 (1933–1934): The Art of Listening, 1991, Krishnamurti Foundation of America: ISBN 0-8403-6341-9
• Volume 2 (1934–1935): What Is the Right Action?, 1991, Krishnamurti Publications of America: ISBN 1-888004-32-0. Edward Weston, editor.
• Volume 3 (1936–1944): The Mirror of Relationship, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company: ISBN 0-8403-6236-6
• Volume 4 (1945–1948): The Observer Is the Observed, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6237-4
• Volume 5 (1948–1949): Choiceless Awareness, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6238-2
• Volume 6 (1949–1952): The Origin of Conflict, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6262-5
• Volume 7 (1952–1953): Tradition and Creativity, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6257-9
• Volume 8 (1953–1955): What Are You Seeking?, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6266-8
• Volume 9 (1955–1956): The Answer is in the Problem, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6260-9
• Volume 10 (1956–1957): A Light to Yourself, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6268-4
• Volume 11 (1958–1960): Crisis in Consciousness, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6272-2
• Volume 12 (1961): There is No Thinker, Only Thought, 1991, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6286-2
• Volume 13 (1962–1963): A Psychological Revolution, 1992, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6287-0
• Volume 14 (1963–1964): The New Mind, 1992, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6288-9
• Volume 15 (1964–1965): The Dignity of Living, 1992, Krishnamurti Foundation of America: ISBN 0-8403-6282-X
• Volume 16 (1965–1966): The Beauty of Death, 1992, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6307-9
• Volume 17 (1966–1967): Perennial Questions, 1992, Kendall/Hunt Publishing: ISBN 0-8403-6314-1

References

Principal biographies

Arranged alphabetically by author, then by publication date.

• Pupul Jayakar, Krishnamurti: A Biography, 1986, San Francisco, Harper & Row: ISBN 0-06-250401-0. Official biographer.
• Mary Lutyens, Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening, 1975, London, John Murray: ISBN 0-7195-3229-9, Discus reprint, 1983: ISBN 0-380-00734-7, Shambhala reprint, 1997: ISBN 1-57062-288-4. Also official biographer. This first volume of a three-volume biography covers years from birth to 1935.
• Mary Lutyens, Krishnamurti: The Years of Fulfilment, 1983, London, John Murray: ISBN 0-7195-3979-X, Farrar, Straus, Giroux paperback: ISBN 0-374-18224-8, Avon Books reprint, 1991: ISBN 0-380-71112-5. Covers years 1935 to 1980.
• Mary Lutyens, The Open Door, 1988, London, John Murray: ISBN 0-7195-4534-X, Krishnamurti Foundation Trust, 2003: ISBN 0-900506-21-0. Covers years 1980 to 1986, the end of Krishnamurti's life.
• Mary Lutyens, The Life and Death of Krishnamurti, 1990, London, John Murray: ISBN 0-7195-4749-0, Nesma Books India, 1999: ISBN 81-87075-44-9, Krishnamurti Foundation Trust, 2003: ISBN 0-900506-22-9. Also published as Krishnamurti: His Life and Death, 1991, St Martins Press: ISBN 0-312-05455-6. An abridgement of her trilogy on Krishnamurti's life.

Other biographies/memoirs/reminiscences

A number of biographical works have been published. Most are by people who knew Krishnamurti at some point in his life, or/and were close associates for varying lengths of time. Others are posthumous scholarly works with or without the co-operation of the people close to him. The works below are listed by publication date.

• Candles in the Sun - Emily Lutyens, 1957, London, R. Hart-Davis: No ISBN, Philadelphia, Lippincott: No ISBN. Memoir by Mary Lutyens' mother, Lady Emily, who had a long and very intimate relationship with Krishnamurti.
• The Boyhood Of J. Krishnamurti - Russell Balfour-Clarke, 1977, Chetana: No ISBN. Reminiscences from one of the young Theosophists trusted with the boy Krishnamurti's upbringing.
• One Thousand Moons: Krishnamurti at Eighty-Five - Asit Chandmal, 1985, Harry N Abrams: ISBN 0-8109-1209-0. Also published, with additional material and updates, as One Thousand Suns: Krishnamurti and the Last Walk, 1995, Aperture: ISBN 0-89381-631-0. The author was a close friend and longtime associate of Krishnamurti in India.
• Krishnamurti: The Reluctant Messiah - Sidney Field and Peter Hay, 1989, Paragon House Publishers: ISBN 1-55778-180-X. The author originally met Krishnamurti in California in the 1920s.
• Truth Is A Pathless Land: A Journey with Krishnamurti - Ingram Smith, 1989, Theosophical Publishing House: ISBN 0-8356-0643-0. Also published, with additional material and updates, as The Transparent Mind: A Journey with Krishnamurti, 1999, Edwin House: ISBN 0-9649247-3-0.
• Krishnamurti: the man, the mystery & the message - Stuart Holroyd, 1991, Element paperback: ISBN 1-85230-200-3.
• Lives in the Shadow with J. Krishnamurti - Radha Rajagopal Sloss, 1991, London, Bloomsbury: No ISBN, Reading, Addison-Wesley hardcover, 1993: ISBN 0-201-63211-X. A critical look at the private life of Krishnamurti by the daughter of erstwhile close associates D. Rajagopal and R. Williams-Rajagopal.
• The Boy Krishna - Mary Lutyens, 1995, Krishnamurti Foundation Trust paperback: ISBN 0-900506-13-X. Subtitled, The First Fourteen Years in the Life of J. Krishnamurti.
• Krishnamurti: 100 Years - Evelyne Blau, 1995, Stewart, Tabori and Chang reprint: ISBN 1-55670-678-2. Collecting reminiscences by people who knew him, and accounts of others (well-known and not so well-known) influenced by him, this book commemorates the 100th anniversary of Krishnamurti's birth, along with a look at his work and legacy. Ms. Blau had been a Krishnamurti Foundation trustee since the 1970s.
• The Kitchen Chronicles: 1001 Lunches with Krishnamurti - Michael Krohnen, 1996, Edwin House Publishing: ISBN 0-9649247-1-4. Reminiscences by the chef at Arya Vihara, Krishnamurti's residence.
• Krishnamurti and the Rajagopals - Mary Lutyens, 1996, Krishnamurti Foundation of America: ISBN 1-888004-08-8. Contains a detailed refutation of the allegations contained in the Sloss book listed above, by one of Krishnamurti's authorized biographers.
• The Light Of Krishnamurti - Gabriele Blackburn, 1996, Idylwild Books: ISBN 0-9613054-4-4. The author had known Krishnamurti since her childhood, and was one of the first students of the Happy Valley School - since renamed Besant Hill School of Happy Valley - that was originally founded by Krishnamurti and associates in Ojai, California.
• A Vision of the Sacred: My Personal Journey with Krishnamurti - Sunanda Patwardhan, South Asia Books 2nd edition, 1999: ISBN 0-14-029447-3. The author had been a long time friend of Krishnamurti and had worked as his private secretary in India.
• As The River Joins The Ocean: Reflections about J. Krishnamurti - Giddu Narayan, 1998, Book Faith India hardcover: ISBN 81-7303-178-9, Edwin House Publishing, 1999: ISBN 0-9649247-5-7. Chandramouli Narsipur, editor. The author, an educator and principal of a Krishnamurti school in India, was Krishnamurti's nephew and a longtime associate.
• Krishnamurti: The Taormina seclusion 1912 - Joseph E. Ross, 2000, XLibris: ISBN 0-7388-5198-1. Focuses on the young Krishnamurti's correspondence with various parties during his retreat to Taormina, Italy, in 1912.
• The Beauty of the Mountain: Memories of Krishnamurti - Friedrich Grohe, 2001, The Krishnamurti Foundation Trust Ltd: No ISBN. The author had originally met Krishnamurti in 1983, and eventually became a trustee of several Krishnamurti Foundations.
• Star In The East: Krishnamurti: The Invention of a Messiah - Roland Vernon, 2001, Palgrave hardcover: ISBN 0-312-23825-8, Sentient Publications, 2002: ISBN 0-9710786-8-8.
• Jiddu Krishnamurti: World Philosopher 1895-1986 - C. V. Williams, 2004, Motilal Banarsidass hardcover: ISBN 81-208-2032-0. See also her related paper - retrieved March 9, 2010, on writing a Krishnamurti biography. (Document format is pdf).

Bibliographies, indices, and other helpers

• A bibliography of the life and teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti - Susunaga Weeraperuma, 1974, Brill Archive: ISBN 90-04-04007-2.
• Jiddu Krishnamurti: a bibliographical guide - Susunaga Weeraperuma, 1996, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass: ISBN 81-208-1426-6. Revised edition of work originally published as Supplement to A bibliography of the life and teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti, 1982, Bombay, Chetana: ISBN 0-8618-6717-3.
• Unconditionally Free, an Introduction to the life and Work of J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986), 1997, Krishnamurti Foundation America paperback: ISBN 1-888004-50-9. Informational booklet with Krishnamurti quotes and a chronology that includes the complete listing of every place that he spoke at from 1923 to 1986.
• The Concise Guide to Krishnamurti: A Study Companion and Index to the Recorded Teachings, 2000, Krishnamurti Publications of America: ISBN 1-888004-09-6. [Link retrieved March 12, 2010].

Other works

A number of books, monographs, research papers in various disciplines etc, have appeared through the years examining different aspects of Krishnamurti. An indicative selection follows, listed by publication date. Krishnamurti himself accepted no interpreters, contemporary or future.

• Krishnamurti and the world crisis - Lilly Heber, 1935, G. Allen & Unwin: No ISBN. Originally published in Norwegian in Oslo by Gyldendal, 1933: No ISBN. Part of a series of books on Krishnamurti by the same author.
• Krishnamurti and the Unity of Man - Carlo Suares, 1953, Chetana: No ISBN.
• A Note on Krishnamurti - in The New Religions, by Jacob Needleman, 1970, New York, Doubleday: ISBN 0-385-03449-0.
• The Mind of J. Krishnamurti - Luis S. R. Vas, 1971, Bombay, Jaico Publishing House: ISBN 81-7224-213-1.
• The Quest of the Quiet Mind: The Philosophy of Krishnamurti - Stuart Holroyd, 1980, Aquarian Press paperback: ISBN 0-85030-230-7.
• Insight and religious mind: an analysis of Krishnamurti's thought - Hillary Rodrigues, 1990, P. Lang: ISBN 0-8204-0993-6.
• J. Krishnamurti and awareness in action - A. D. Dhopeshwarkar, 1993, Popular Prakashan: ISBN 81-7154-759-1.
• The inner life of Krishnamurti: private passion and perennial wisdom - Aryel Sanat, 1999, Quest: ISBN 0-8356-0781-X. A Theosophical examination of Krishnamurti.
• The joy of creative living - Scaria Thuruthiyil, 1999, LAS: ISBN 88-213-0410-8.
• The phenomenology of compassion in the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti - V. Boutte, 2002, Edwin Mellen Press: ISBN 0-7734-7090-5. An examination through the lens of Phenomenological Psychology.
• On Krishnamurti - Raymond Martin, 2003, Wadsworth: ISBN 0-534-25226-5.
• Krishnamurti: a spiritual revolutionary - Henri Methorst, 2003, Edwin House: ISBN 0-9649247-9-X.

Selected video and audio resources

Listed alphabetically.

• A Wholly Different Way of Living - Produced by Krishnamurti Foundation America. A series of 18 conversations between Krishnamurti and Dr. Allan Anderson recorded on video tape in 1974. Also published in book form.
• Krishnamurti for You - 219 video clips of Krishnamurti interviews, talks, and discussions (Adobe Flash). Link retrieved on March 9, 2010.
• Krishnamurti - New York 1928, Ojai 1930 - Rare Youtube video of young Krishnamurti. In what is described as the Ojai section of the video, Krishnamurti reiterates the themes and language of the "Dissolution of the Order" speech. Retrieved March 17, 2010. Requires Adobe Flash Player. Total duration 6 minutes, 10 seconds.
• Krishnamurti: With A Silent Mind - Michael Mendizza director, produced by Krishnamurti Foundation America, 1990. Quasi-biographical documentary.
• Krishnamurti YouTube channel - A project of the official Krishnamurti inter-organizational website, it includes excerpts from many Krishnamurti videos (Adobe Flash). Links retrieved on March 9, 2010.
• The Ending of Time [partial] - Produced by Krishnamurti Foundation America and Krishnamurti Foundation Trust. Video and audio recordings of the 13 conversations - published in the book by the same name - between Prof. David Bohm and Krishnamurti in Ojai, California and Brockwood Park, England, during 1980.
• The Real Revolution - Produced by Krishnamurti Foundation America. The first full length talks of Krishnamurti recorded on video, from a series of talks and discussions in Ojai in 1966. These were edited into 30 minute programs for broadcast by US public television station WNET - retrieved March 9, 2010. Also published in book form. Youtube video (part 1 of 2, 30 mins total), retrieved March 12, 2010. Requires Adobe Flash.
• The Transformation of Man - Produced by Krishnamurti Foundation America. A series of seven conversations with Prof. David Bohm and Dr. David Shainberg video taped in 1976. Also published in book form. Video link (covers first 4 discussions, approximate duration 60 mins) retrieved March 12, 2010. Requires Adobe Flash.

Footnotes

External links

• Jiddu Krishnamurti Online Official J. Krishnamurti inter-organizational website. An international joint venture of the Krishnamurti foundations. Retrieved March 9, 2010.

The following Foundations are listed by date of organization. (Links retrieved on March 9, 2010):

• Krishnamurti Foundation Trust (UK)
• Krishnamurti Foundation of America
• Krishnamurti Foundation of India
• Krishnamurti Foundation Latinoamerica

From Wikiquote

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jiddu Krishnamurti (12 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was a Philosopher and writer.

Sourced

As the River Joins The Ocean (1998)

• The observer is the observed.
• You are the world.
• Silence is difficult and arduous, it is not to be played with. It isn't something that you can experience by reading a book, or by listening to a talk, or by sitting together, or by retiring into a wood or a monastery. I am afraid none of these things will bring about this silence. This silence demands intense psychological work. You have to be burningly aware of your snobbishness, aware of your fears, your anxieties, your sense of guilt. And when you die to all that, then out of that dying comes the beauty of silence. (London, 1962).
• Have you watched your thinking? I watched that car go by, it was a blue car. Can I watch my thought in the same way, as it moves from one thing to another? And if it does, find out if it can end; instead of it being a long thread, break it, see what happens. Can you break a thought and say, "Well, that's enough, enough is enough" and just end that thought and see what happens before the next thought is waiting. Before it springs on you, watch it. In that space, in that interval, what happens? (Brockwood, 1975)
• Thought itself must deny itself. Thought itself sees what it is doing and therefore thought itself realizes that it has to come of itself to an end. There is no other factor than itself. Therefore when thought realizes that whatever it does, any movement that it makes, is disorder (we are taking that as an example) then there is silence. (You are the World)
• 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 to coerce people along any particular path. If you first understand that, then you will see how impossible it is to organize a belief. A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others. This is what everyone throughout the world is attempting to do. Truth is narrowed down and made a plaything for those who are weak, for those who are only momentarily discontented. Truth cannot be brought down, rather the individual must make the effort to ascend to it. You cannot bring the mountain-top to the valley. If you would attain to the mountain-top you must pass through the valley, climb the steeps, unafraid of the dangerous precipices.
  • Excerpt from a talk given at Ommen, Holland on the occasion of dissolving the Order of the Star of the East, of which Krishnamurti was the head. (2 August 1929)

• Labels seem to give satisfaction. We accept the category to which we are supposed to belong as a satisfying explanation of life. We are worshippers of words and labels; we never seem to go beyond the symbol, to comprehend the worth of the symbol. By calling ourselves this or that, we ensure ourselves against further disturbance, and settle back. One of the curses of ideologies and organized beliefs is the comfort, the deadly gratification they offer. They put us to sleep, and in the sleep we dream, and the dream becomes action. How easily we are distracted! And most of us want to be distracted; most of us are tired out with incessant conflict, and distractions become a necessity, they become more important than 'what is'.
  • Commentaries on Living I: Series One (1958) ISBN 0835603903

• The fact is there is nothing that you can trust; and that is a terrible fact, whether you like it or not. Psychologically, there is nothing in the world that you can put your faith, your trust, or your belief in. Neither your gods, nor your science can save you, can bring you psychological certainty; and you have to accept that you can trust in absolutely nothing. That is a scientific fact, as well as a psychological fact. Because, your leaders—religious and political—and your books—sacred and profane—have all failed, and you are still confused, in misery, in conflict. So, that is an absolute, undeniable fact.
  • "Bombay, Second Public Talk" (1962)

• But even when we are sharpened and quickened intellectually by argument, by discussion, by reading, this does not actually bring about that quality of sensitivity. And you know all those people who are erudite, who read, who theorize, who can discuss brilliantly, are extraordinarily dull people. So I think sensitivity, which destroys mediocrity, is very important to understand. Because most of us are becoming, I am afraid, more mediocre. We are not using that word in any derogative sense at all, but merely observing the fact of mediocrity in the sense of being average, fairly well educated, earning a livelihood and perhaps capable of clever discussion; but this leaves us still bourgeois, mediocre, not only in our attitudes but in our activities.
  • The Awakening of Intelligence (1973) ISBN 0060648341

Freedom From the Self (1955)

"Sixth Public Talk" Ojai, (21 July 1955) from the booklet Surely, Freedom From the Self is the True Function of Man : Observation without reward

• I think it is fairly clear why none of us do experience something beyond the mere watching. There may be rare moments of an emotional state in which we see, as it were, the clarity of the sky between clouds, but I do not mean anything of that kind. All such experiences are temporary and have very little significance. The questioner wants to know why, after these many years of watching, he hasn't found the deep waters. Why should he find them? Do you understand? You think that by watching your own thoughts you are going to get a reward: if you do this, you will get that. You are really not watching at all, because your mind is concerned with gaining a reward. You think that by watching, by being aware, you will be more loving, you will suffer less, be less irritable, get something beyond; so your watching is a process of buying. With this coin you are buying that, which means that your watching is a process of choice; therefore it isn't watching, it isn't attention. To watch is to observe without choice, to see yourself as you are without any movement of desire to change, which is an extremely arduous thing to do; but that doesn't mean that you are going to remain in your present state. You do not know what will happen if you see yourself as you are without wishing to bring about a change in that which you see. Do you understand?
  • Response to the question: "I have listened to you for many years and I have become quite good at watching my thoughts and being aware of every thing I do, but I have never touched the deep waters or experienced the transformation of which you speak. Why?"

• I am going to take an example and work it out, and you will see. Let us say I am violent, as most people are. Our whole culture is violent; but I won't enter into the anatomy of violence now, because that is not the problem we are considering. I am violent, and I realize that I am violent. What happens? My immediate response is that I must do something about it, is it not? I say I must become non-violent. That is what every religious teacher has told us for centuries: that if one is violent one must become non-violent. So I practise, I do all the ideological things. But now I see how absurd that is, because the entity who observes violence and wishes to change it into non-violence, is still violent. So I am concerned, not with the expression of that entity, but with the entity himself. You are following all this, I hope?
  Now, what is that entity who says, "I must not be violent"? Is that entity different from the violence he has observed? Are they two different states? Do you understand, sirs, or is this too abstract? It is near the end of the talk and probably you are a bit tired. Surely, the violence and the entity who says, "I must change violence into non-violence", are both the same. To recognize that fact is to put an end to all conflict, is it not? There is no longer the conflict of trying to change, because I see that the very movement of the mind not to be violent is itself the outcome of violence.
  So, the questioner wants to know why it is that he cannot go beyond all these superficial wrangles of the mind. For the simple reason that, consciously or unconsciously, the mind is always seeking something, and that very search brings violence, competition, the sense of utter dissatisfaction. It is only when the mind is completely still that there is a possibility of touching the deep waters.
  • Further response to the above question

Freedom From The Known (1969)

• Thought is matter as much as the floor, the wall, the telephone, are matter. Energy functioning in a pattern becomes matter. That is all life is....Matter and energy are interrelated. The one cannot exist without the other, and the more harmony there is between the two, the more balance, the more active the brain cells are. Thought has set up this pattern of pleasure, pain, fear, and has been functioning inside it for thousands of years and cannot break the pattern because it has created it.

• Man has throughout the ages been seeking something beyond himself, beyond material welfare—something we call truth or God or reality, a timeless state—something that cannot be disturbed by circumstances, by thought or by human corruption. Man has always asked the question: what is it all about? Has life any meaning at all? He sees the enormous confusion of life, the brutalities, the revolt, the wars, the endless divisions of religion, ideology and nationality, and with a sense of deep abiding frustration he asks, what is one to do, what is this thing we call living, is there anything beyond it?

• In this constant battle which we call living, we try to set a code of conduct according to the society in which we are brought up, whether it be a Communist society or a so-called free society; we accept a standard of behaviour as part of our tradition as Hindus or Muslims or Christians or whatever we happen to be. We look to someone to tell us what is right or wrong behaviour, what is right or wrong thought, and in following this pattern our conduct and our thinking become mechanical, our responses automatic. We can observe this very easily in ourselves.

• For centuries we have been spoon-fed by our teachers, by our authorities, by our books, our saints. We say, 'Tell me all about it—what lies beyond the hills and the mountains and the earth?' and we are satisfied with their descriptions, which means that we live on words and our life is shallow and empty. We are secondhand people. We have lived on what we have been told, either guided by our inclinations, our tendencies, or compelled to accept by circumstances and environment. We are the result of all kinds of influences and there is nothing new in us, nothing that we have discovered for ourselves; nothing original, pristine, clear.

• Only the free mind knows what Love is.
  • From a speech at Univ. of California, Berkley as broadcast by Pacifica Radio 1.4.69

• Throughout theological history we have been assured by religious leaders that if we perform certain rituals, repeat certain prayers or mantras, conform to certain patterns, suppress our desires, control our thoughts, sublimate our passions, limit our appetites and refrain from sexual indulgence, we shall, after sufficient torture of the mind and body, find something beyond this little life. And that is what millions of so-called religious people have done through the ages, either in isolation, going off into the desert or into the mountains or a cave or wandering from village to village with a begging bowl, or, in a group, joining a monastery, forcing their minds to conform to an established pattern. But a tortured mind, a broken mind, a mind which wants to escape from all turmoil, which has denied the outer world and been made dull through discipline and conformity—such a mind, however long it seeks, will find only according to its own distortion.

• The traditional approach is from the periphery inwards, and through time, practice and renunciation, gradually to come upon that inner flower, that inner beauty and love—in fact to do everything to make oneself narrow, petty and shoddy; peel off little by little; take time; tomorrow will do, next life will do—and when at last one comes to the centre one finds there is nothing there, because one's mind has been made incapable, dull and insensitive.
  Having observed this process, one asks oneself, is there not a different approach altogether—that is, is it not possible to explode from the centre?

• The world accepts and follows the traditional approach. The primary cause of disorder in ourselves is the seeking of reality promised by another; we mechanically follow somebody who will assure us a comfortable spiritual life. It is a most extraordinary thing that although most of us are opposed to political tyranny and dictatorship, we inwardly accept the authority, the tyranny, of another to twist our minds and our way of life. So if we completely reject, not intellectually but actually, all so-called spiritual authority, all ceremonies, rituals and dogmas, it means that we stand alone and are already in conflict with society; we cease to be respectable human beings. A respectable human being cannot possibly come near to that infinite, immeasurable, reality.

• That is the first thing to learn—not to seek. When you seek you are really only window-shopping.
  The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality, or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosophers or saviours. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself and that is why you must know yourself. Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self. To understand yourself is the beginning of wisdom.

• I think there is a difference between the human being and the individual. The individual is a local entity, living in a particular country, belonging to a particular culture, particular society, particular religion. The human being is not a local entity. He is everywhere. If the individual merely acts in a particular corner of the vast field of life, then his action is totally unrelated to the whole. So one has to bear in mind that we are talking of the whole not the part, because in the greater the lesser is, but in the lesser the greater is not. The individual is the little conditioned, miserable, frustrated entity, satisfied with his little gods and his little traditions, whereas a human being is concerned with the total welfare, the total misery and total confusion of the world.

• We human beings are what we have been for millions of years—colossally greedy, envious, aggressive, jealous, anxious and despairing, with occasional flashes of joy and affection. We are a strange mixture of hate, fear and gentleness; we are both violence and peace.

• There has been outward progress from the bullock cart to the jet plane but psychologically the individual has not changed at all, and the structure of society throughout the world has been created by individuals. The outward social structure is the result of the inward psychological structure of our human relationships, for the individual is the result of the total experience, knowledge and conduct of man. Each one of us is the storehouse of all the past. The individual is the human who is all mankind.

• We are afraid of the known and afraid of the unknown. That is our daily life and in that there is no hope, and therefore every form of philosophy, every form of theological concept, is merely an escape from the actual reality of what is. All outward forms of change brought about by wars, revolutions, reformations, laws and ideologies have failed completely to change the basic nature of man and therefore of society.

• As human beings living in this monstrously ugly world, let us ask ourselves, can this society, based on competition, brutality and fear, come to an end? Not as an intellectual conception, not as a hope, but as an actual fact, so that the mind is made fresh, new and innocent and can bring about a different world altogether? It can only happen, I think, if each one of us recognises the central fact that we, as individuals, as human beings, in whatever part of the world we happen to live or whatever culture we happen to belong to, are totally responsible for the whole state of the world.
  We are each one of us responsible for every war because of the aggressiveness of our own lives, because of our nationalism, our selfishness, our gods, our prejudices, our ideals, all of which divide us.

• What can a human being do—what can you and I do—to create a completely different society? We are asking ourselves a very serious question. Is there anything to be done at all? What can we do? Will somebody tell us? People have told us. The so-called spiritual leaders, who are supposed to understand these things better than we do, have told us by trying to twist and mould us into a new pattern, and that hasn't led us very far; sophisticated and learned men have told us and that has led us no further. We have been told that all paths lead to truth—you have your path as a Hindu and someone else has his path as a Christian and another as a Muslim, and they all meet at the same door—which is, when you look at it, so obviously absurd. Truth has no path, and that is the beauty of truth, it is living. A dead thing has a path to it because it is static, but when you see that truth is something living, moving, which has no resting place, which is in no temple, mosque or church, which no religion, no teacher, no philosopher, nobody can lead you to—then you will also see that this living thing is what you actually are—your anger, your brutality, your violence, your despair, the agony and sorrow you live in. In the understanding of all this is the truth, and you can understand it only if you know how to look at those things in your life. And you cannot look through an ideology, through a screen of words, through hopes and fears.

• You cannot depend upon anybody. There is no guide, no teacher, no authority. There is only you—your relationship with others and with the world—there is nothing else. When you realize this, it either brings great despair, from which comes cynicism and bitterness, or, in facing the fact that you and nobody else is responsible for the world and for yourself, for what you think, what you feel, how you act, all self-pity goes. Normally we thrive on blaming others, which is a form of self-pity.

• It is important to understand from the very beginning that I am not formulating any philosophy or any theological structure of ideas or theological concepts. It seems to me that all ideologies are utterly idiotic. What is important is not a philosophy of life but to observe what is actually taking place in our daily life, inwardly and outwardly. If you observe very closely what is taking place and examine it, you will see that it is based on an intellectual conception, and the intellect is not the whole field of existence; it is a fragment, and a fragment, however cleverly put together, however ancient and traditional, is still a small part of existence whereas we have to deal with the totality of life.

• When we look at what is taking place in the world we begin to understand that there is no outer and inner process; there is only one unitary process, it is a whole, total movement, the inner movement expressing itself as the outer and the outer reacting again on the inner. To be able to look at this seems to me all that is needed, because if we know how to look, then the whole thing becomes very clear, and to look needs no philosophy, no teacher. Nobody need tell you how to look. You just look. Can you then, seeing this whole picture, seeing it not verbally but actually, can you easily, spontaneously, transform yourself? That is the real issue. Is it possible to bring about a complete revolution in the psyche?

• Violence is not merely killing another. It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear. So violence isn't merely organized butchery in the name of God, in the name of society or country. Violence is much more subtle, much deeper, and we are inquiring into the very depths of violence.
  When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.

The Core of the Teachings (1980)

• The core of Krishnamurti's teaching is contained in the statement he made in 1929 when he said: 'Truth is a pathless land'. Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, not through any philosophic knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection. Man has built in himself images as a fence of security — religious, political, personal. These manifest as symbols, ideas, beliefs. The burden of these images dominates man's thinking, his relationships and his daily life. These images are the causes of our problems for they divide man from man. His perception of life is shaped by the concepts already established in his mind. The content of his consciousness is his entire existence. This content is common to all humanity. The individuality is the name, the form and superficial culture he acquires from tradition and environment. The uniqueness of man does not lie in the superficial but in complete freedom from the content of his consciousness, which is common to all mankind. So he is not an individual.
  Freedom is not a reaction; freedom is not a choice. It is man's pretence that because he has choice he is free. Freedom is pure observation without direction, without fear of punishment and reward. Freedom is without motive; freedom is not at the end of the evolution of man but lies in the first step of his existence. In observation one begins to discover the lack of freedom. Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness of our daily existence and activity. Thought is time. Thought is born of experience and knowledge which are inseparable from time and the past. Time is the psychological enemy of man. Our action is based on knowledge and therefore time, so man is always a slave to the past. Thought is ever-limited and so we live in constant conflict and struggle. There is no psychological evolution.
  When man becomes aware of the movement of his own thoughts he will see the division between the thinker and thought, the observer and the observed, the experiencer and the experience. He will discover that this division is an illusion. Then only is there pure observation which is insight without any shadow of the past or of time. This timeless insight brings about a deep radical mutation in the mind.
  Total negation is the essence of the positive. When there is negation of all those things that thought has brought about psychologically, only then is there love, which is compassion and intelligence.
  • Statement summarizing his ideas, beginning with a third-person introduction quoting his famous 1929 statement "Truth is a pathless land."

Jiddu Krishnamurti
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

Krishnamurti's Notebook (1976)

• There's a great and unutterable beauty in all this.

The Collected Works

vol XIII, p 251

• Passion is something which very few of us have really felt. What we may have felt is enthusiasm, which is being caught up in an emotional state over something. Our passion is for something: for music, for painting, for literature, for a country, for a woman or a man; it is always the effect of a cause. When you fall in love with someone, you are in a great state of emotion, which is the effect of that particular cause; and what I am talking about is passion without a cause. It is to be passionate about everything, not just about something, whereas most of us are passionate about a particular person or thing. I think one must see this distinction very clearly. In the state of passion without a cause, there is intensity free of all attachment; but when passion has a cause, there is attachment, and attachment is the beginning of sorrow.

You are the World

• Now, can one die every day to everything that one knows—except, of course, the technological knowledge, the direction where your home is, and so on; that is, to end, psychologically, every day, so that the mind remains fresh, young and innocent? That is death. And to come upon that there must be no shadow of fear. To give up without argument, without any resistance. That is dying. Have you ever tried it? To give up without a murmur, without restraint, without resistance, the thing that gives you most pleasure (the things that are painful, of course, one wants to give up in any case). Actually to let go. Try it. Then, if you do it, you will see that the mind becomes extraordinarily alert, alive and sensitive, free and unburdened. Old age then takes on quite a different meaning, not something to be dreaded. (page 135)

More quotes sourced from popular books

• Thought shattering itself against its own nothingness is the explosion of meditation.

Krishnamurti’s Notebook, p 166

• To understand oneself requires patience, tolerant awareness; the self is a book of many volumes which you cannot read in a day, but when once you begin to read, you must read every word, every sentence, every paragraph for in them are the intimations of the whole. The beginning of it is the ending of it. If you know how to read, supreme wisdom is to be found.

The Collected Works vol III, p 219

• First, we must be very clear that you and the speaker are treating life not as a problem but as a tremendous movement. If your brain is trained to solve problems, then you will treat this movement as a problem to be solved. Is it possible to look at life with all its questions, with all its issues, which is tremendously complex, to look at it not as a problem, but to observe it clearly, without bias, without coming to some conclusion which will then dictate your observation? You have to observe this vast movement of life, not only your own particular life, but the life of all humanity, the life of the earth, the life of the trees, the life of the whole world—look at it, observe it, move with it, but if you treat it as a problem, then you will create more problems.

Mind Without Measure, p105

• The very nature of intelligence is sensitivity, and this sensitivity is love. Without this intelligence there can be no compassion. Compassion is not the doing of charitable acts or social reform; it is free from sentiment, romanticism and emotional enthusiasm. It is as strong as death. It is like a great rock, immovable in the midst of confusion, misery and anxiety. Without this compassion no new culture or society can come into being. Compassion and intelligence walk together; they are not separate. Compassion acts through intelligence. It can never act through the intellect. Compassion is the essence of the wholeness of life.

Letters to the Schools vol I, page 90

• It is utterly and irrevocably possible to empty all hurts and, therefore, to love, to have compassion. To have compassion means to have passion for all things, not just between two people, but for all human beings, for all things of the earth, the animals, the trees, everything the earth contains. When we have such compassion we will not despoil the earth as we are doing now, and we will have no wars.

Talks in Saanen 1974, page 71

• How can one be compassionate if you belong to any religion, follow any guru, believe in something, believe in your scriptures, and so on, attached to a conclusion? When you accept your guru, you have come to a conclusion, or when you strongly believe in god or in a saviour, this or that, can there be compassion? You may do social work, help the poor out of pity, out of sympathy, out of charity, but is all that love and compassion?

Mind Without Measure, page 97

• What does it mean to be compassionate? Not merely verbally, but actually to be compassionate? Is compassion a matter of habit, of thought, a matter of the mechanical repetition of being kind, polite, gentle, tender? Can the mind which is caught in the activity of thought with its conditioning, its mechanical repetition, be compassionate at all? It can talk about it, it can encourage social reform, be kind to the poor heathen and so on; but is that compassion? When thought dictates, when thought is active, can there be any place for compassion? Compassion being action without motive, without self-interest, without any sense of fear, without any sense of pleasure.

The Impossible Question, page 63

• I think we must see this very clearly right at the beginning—that if one would solve the everyday problems of existence, whatever they may be, one must first see the wider issues and then come to the detail. After all, the great painter, the great poet is one who sees the whole—who sees all the heavens, the blue skies, the radiant sunset, the tree, the fleeting bird—all at one glance; with one sweep he sees the whole thing. With the artist, the poet, there is an immediate, a direct communion with this whole marvellous world of beauty. Then he begins to paint, to write, to sculpt; he works it out in detail. If you and I could do the same, then we should be able to approach our problems—however contradictory, however conflicting, however disturbing—much more liberally, more wisely, with greater depth and colour, feeling. This is not mere romantic verbalization but actually it is so, and that is what I would like to talk about now and every time we get together. We must capture the whole and not be carried away by the detail, however pressing, immediate, anxious it may be. I think that is where the revolution begins.

The Collected Works vol XI, p 62

• Are we wasting our lives? By that word “wasting” we mean dissipating our energy in various ways, dissipating it in specialized professions. Are we wasting our whole existence, our life? If you are rich, you may say, “Yes, I have accumulated a lot of money, it has been a great pleasure.” Or if you have a certain talent, that talent is a danger to a religious life. Talent is a gift, a faculty, an aptitude in a particular direction, which is specialization. Specialization is a fragmentary process. So you must ask yourself whether you are wasting your life. You may be rich, you may have all kinds of faculties, you may be a specialist, a great scientist or a businessman, but at the end of your life has all that been a waste? All the travail, all the sorrow, all the tremendous anxiety, insecurity, the foolish illusions that man has collected, all his gods, all his saints and so on—have all that been a waste? You may have power, position, but at the end of it—what? Please, this is a serious question that you must ask yourself. Another cannot answer this question for you.

That Benediction is Where You Are, pp 63-64

• “May I ask just one question?” put in one of the others. “In what manner should one live one’s daily life?”As though one were living for that single day, for that single hour. “How?” If you had only one hour to live, what would you do? “I really don’t know,” he replied anxiously.Would you not arrange what is necessary outwardly, your affairs, your will, and so on? Would you not call your family and friends together and ask their forgiveness for the harm that you might have done to them, and forgive them for whatever harm they might have done to you? Would you not die completely to the things of the mind, to desires and to the world? And if it can be done for an hour, then it can also be done for the days and years that may remain.“Is such a thing really possible, sir?” Try it and you will find out.  :Commentaries on Living Third Series, p 303
• When death comes, it does not ask your permission; it comes and takes you; it destroys you on the spot. In the same way, can you totally drop hate, envy, pride of possession, attachment to beliefs, to opinions, to ideas, to a particular way of thinking? Can you drop all that in an instant? There is no “how to drop it”, because that is only another form of continuity. To drop opinion, belief, attachment, greed, or envy is to die—to die every day, every moment. If there is the coming to an end of all ambition from moment to moment, then you will know the extraordinary state of being nothing, of coming to the abyss of an eternal movement, as it were, and dropping over the edge—which is death.I want to know all about death, because death may be reality; it may be what we call God—that most extraordinary something that lives and moves and yet has no beginning and no end.

The Collected Works vol XI, p 242

• We know only fragmentarily this extraordinary thing called life; we have never looked at sorrow, except through the screen of escapes; we have never seen the beauty, the immensity of death, and we know it only through fear and sadness. There can be understanding of life, and of the significance and beauty of death, only when the mind on the instant perceives “what is”.You know, sirs, although we differentiate them, love, death, and sorrow are all the same; because, surely, love, death, and sorrow are the unknowable. The moment you know love, you have ceased to love. Love is beyond time; it has no beginning and no end, whereas knowledge has; and when you say, “I know what love is”, you don’t. You know only a sensation, a stimulus. You know the reaction to love, but that reaction is not love. In the same way, you don’t know what death is. You know only the reactions to death, and you will discover the full depth and significance of death only when the reactions have ceased.

The Collected Works vol XI, p 288

• From childhood we are trained to have problems. When we are sent to school, we have to learn how to write, how to read, and all the rest of it. How to write becomes a problem to the child. Please follow this carefully. Mathematics becomes a problem, history becomes a problem, as does chemistry. So the child is educated, from childhood, to live with problems—the problem of God, problem of a dozen things. So our brains are conditioned, trained, educated to live with problems. From childhood we have done this. What happens when a brain is educated in problems? It can never solve problems; it can only create more problems. When a brain that is trained to have problems, and to live with problems, solves one problem, in the very solution of that problem, it creates more problems. From childhood we are trained, educated to live with problems and, therefore, being centred in problems, we can never solve any problem completely. It is only the free brain that is not conditioned to problems that can solve problems. It is one of our constant burdens to have problems all the time. Therefore our brains are never quiet, free to observe, to look. So we are asking: Is it possible not to have a single problem but to face problems? But to understand those problems, and to totally resolve them, the brain must be free. :That Benediction is Where You Are, pp 18-19

• The answer is in the problem, not away from the problem. I go through the searching, analysing, dissecting process, in order to escape from the problem. But, if I do not escape from the problem and try to look at the problem without any fear or anxiety, if I merely look at the problem—mathematical, political, religious, or any other—and not look to an answer, then the problem will begin to tell me. Surely, this is what happens. We go through this process and eventually throw it aside because there is no way out of it. So, why can’t we start right from the beginning, that is, not seek an answer to a problem?—which is extremely arduous, isn’t it? Because, the more I understand the problem, the more significance there is in it. To understand, I must approach it quietly, not impose on the problem my ideas, my feelings of like and dislike. Then the problem will reveal its significance. Why is it not possible to have tranquillity of the mind right from the beginning?

The Collected Works vol V, p 283

• It seems to me that the real problem is the mind itself, and not the problem which the mind has created and tries to solve. If the mind is petty, small, narrow, limited, however great and complex the problem may be, the mind approaches that problem in terms of its own pettiness. If I have a little mind and I think of God, the God of my thinking will be a little God, though I may clothe him with grandeur, beauty, wisdom, and all the rest of it. It is the same with the problem of existence, the problem of bread, the problem of love, the problem of sex, the problem of relationship, the problem of death. These are all enormous problems, and we approach them with a small mind; we try to resolve them with a mind that is very limited. Though it has extraordinary capacities and is capable of invention, of subtle, cunning thought, the mind is still petty. It may be able to quote Marx, or the Gita, or some other religious book, but it is still a small mind, and a small mind confronted with a complex problem can only translate that problem in terms of itself, and therefore the problem, the misery increases. So the question is: Can the mind that is small, petty, be transformed into something which is not bound by its own limitations?

The Collected Works vol X, pp 155-156

• Throughout life, from childhood, from school until we die, we are taught to compare ourselves with another; yet when I compare myself with another I am destroying myself. In a school, in an ordinary school where there are a lot of boys, when one boy is compared with another who is very clever, who is the head of the class, what is actually taking place? You are destroying the boy. That’s what we are doing throughout life. Now, can I live without comparison—without comparison with anybody? This means there is no high, no low—there is not the one who is superior and the other who is inferior. You are actually what you are and to understand what you are, this process of comparison must come to an end. If I am always comparing myself with some saint or some teacher, some businessman, writer, poet, and all the rest, what has happened to me—what have I done? I only compare in order to gain, in order to achieve, in order to become—but when I don’t compare I am beginning to understand what I am. Beginning to understand what I am is far more fascinating, far more interesting; it goes beyond all this stupid comparison.

Talks & Dialogues Saanen 1967, p 86

• The understanding of relationship, fear, pleasure and sorrow is to bring order in our house. Without order you cannot possibly meditate. Now the speaker puts meditation at the end of the talks because there is no possibility of right meditation if you have not put your house, your psychological house, in order. If the psychological house is in disorder, if what you are is in disorder, what is the point of meditating? It is just an escape. It leads to all kinds of illusions.
  The Network of Thought, p 96

• Meditation is not a process of learning how to meditate; it is the very inquiry into what is meditation. To inquire into what is meditation, the mind must free itself from what it has learnt about meditation, and the freeing of the mind from what it has learnt is the beginning of meditation.

The Collected Works vol IX, p 192

• It is astonishingly beautiful and interesting, how thought is absent when you have an insight. Thought cannot have an insight. It is only when the mind is not operating mechanically in the structure of thought that you have an insight. Having had an insight, thought draws a conclusion from that insight. And then thought acts and thought is mechanical. So I have to find out whether having an insight into myself, which means into the world, and not drawing a conclusion from it is possible. If I draw a conclusion, I act on an idea, on an image, on a symbol, which is the structure of thought, and so I am constantly preventing myself from having insight, from understanding things as they are.

On Mind and Thought, p 34

• Insight is not a matter of memory, of knowledge and time, which are all thought. So I would say insight is the total absence of the whole movement of thought as time and remembrance. So there is direct perception. It is as though I have been going North for the last ten thousand years, and my brain is accustomed to going North, and somebody comes along and says, that will lead you nowhere, go East. When I turn round and go East the brain cells have changed. Because I have an insight that the North leads nowhere. I will put it differently. The whole movement of thought, which is limited, is acting throughout the world now. It is the most important action, we are driven by thought. But thought will not solve any of our problems, except the technological ones. If I see that, I have stopped going North. I think that with the ending of a certain direction, the ending of a movement that has been going on for thousands of years, there is at that moment an insight that brings about a change, a mutation, in the brain cell.

Questioning Krishnamurti, p 165

• ... The first step is the last step. The first step is to perceive, perceive what you are thinking, perceive your ambition, perceive your anxiety, your loneliness, your despair, this extraordinary sense of sorrow, perceive it, without any condemnation, justification, without wishing it to be different. Just to perceive it, as it is. When you perceive it as it is, then there is a totally different kind of action taking place, and that action is the final action. Right? That is, when you perceive something as being false or as being true, that perception is the final action, which is the final step. Now listen to it. I perceive the falseness of following somebody else, somebody else’s instruction—Krishna, Buddha, Christ, it does not matter who it is. I see, there is the perception of the truth that following somebody is utterly false. Because your reason, your logic and everything points out how absurd it is to follow somebody. Now that perception is the final step, and when you have perceived, you leave it, forget it, because the next minute you have to perceive anew, which is again the final step.

Krishnamurti in India 1970-71, p 50

• So you must ask this question, put this question to yourself, whether your mind can be empty of all its past and yet retain the technological knowledge, your engineering knowledge, your linguistic knowledge, the memory of all that, and yet function from a mind that is completely empty. The emptying of that mind comes about naturally, sweetly without bidding, when you understand yourself, when you understand what you are. What you are is the memory, bundle of memories, experiences, thoughts. When you understand that, look at it, observe it; and when you observe it, see in that observation that there is no duality between the observer and the observed; then when you see that, you will see that your mind can be completely empty, attentive, and in that attention you can act wholly, without any fragmentation.

Krishnamurti in India 1970-71, p 56

• There are the states of inattention and of attention. When you are completely giving your mind, your heart, your nerves, everything you have, to attend, then the old habits, the mechanical responses, do not enter into it, thought does not come into it at all. But we cannot maintain that all the time, so we are mostly in a state of inattention, a state in there is not an alert choiceless awareness. What takes place? There is inattention and rare attention and we are trying to bridge the one to the other. How can my inattention become attention or, can attention be complete, all the time?

Talks and Dialogues Saanen 1968

• You know what concentration is—from childhood, we are trained to concentrate. Concentration is the narrowing down all our energy to a particular point, and holding to that point. A boy in school looks out of the window at the birds and the trees, at the movement of the leaves, or at the squirrel climbing the tree. And the teacher says: “You are not paying attention, concentrate on the book”, or “Listen to what I am saying.”This is to give far more importance to concentration than to attention. If I were the teacher I would help him to watch; I would help him to watch that squirrel completely; watch the movement of the tail, how its claws act, everything. Then if he learns to watch that attentively, he will pay attention to the book.

Questions and Answers, p 43

• Just observe what you are. What you are is the fact: the fact that you are jealous, anxious, envious, brutal, demanding, violent. That is what you are. Look at it, be aware; don’t shape it, don’t guide it, don’t deny it, don’t have opinions about it. By looking at it without condemnation, without judgement, without comparison, you observe; out of that observation, out of that awareness comes affection.Now, go still further. And you can do this in one flash. It can only be done in one flash—not first from the outside and then working further and deeper and deeper and deeper; it does not work that way, it is all done with one sweep, from the outermost to the most inward, to the innermost depth. Out of this, in this, there is attention—attention to the whistle of that train, the noise, the coughing, the way you are jerking your legs about; attention whereby you listen to what is said, you find out what is true and what is false in what is being said, and you do not set up the speaker as an authority. So this attention comes out of this extraordinarily complex existence of contradiction, misery and utter despair. And when the mind is attentive, it can then give focus, which then is quite a different thing; then it can concentrate but that concentration is not the concentration of exclusion. Then the mind can give attention to whatever it is doing, and that attention becomes much more efficient, much more vital, because you are taking everything in.

The Collected Works vol XIV, pp 301-302

• Attention is not concentration. When you concentrate, as most people try to do—what takes place when you are concentrating? You are cutting yourself off, resisting, pushing away every thought except that one particular thought, that one particular action. So your concentration breeds resistance, and therefore concentration does not bring freedom. Please, this is very simple if you observe it yourself. But whereas if you are attentive, attentive to everything that is going on about you, attentive to the dirt, the filth of the street, attentive to the bus which is so dirty, attentive of your words, your gestures, the way you talk to your boss, the way you talk to your servant, to the superior, to the inferior, the respect, the callousness to those below you, the words, the ideas—if you are attentive to all that, not correcting, then out of that attention you can know a different kind of concentration. You are then aware of the setting, the noise of the people, people talking over there on the roof, your hushing them up, asking them not to talk, turning your head; you are aware of the various colours, the costumes, and yet concentration is going on. Such concentration is not exclusive, in that there is no effort. Whereas mere concentration demands effort.

The Collected Works vol XV, p 321

• How can one be free of the images that one has? First of all, I must find out how these images come into being, what is the mechanism that creates them. You can see that at the moment of actual relationship, that is, when you are talking, when there are arguments, when there are insults and brutality, if you are not completely attentive at that moment, then the mechanism of building an image starts. That is, when the mind is not completely attentive at the moment of action, then the mechanism of building images is set in motion. When you say something to me which I do not like—or which I like—if at that moment I am not completely attentive, then the mechanism starts. If I am attentive, aware, then there is no building of images.

The Awakening of Intelligence, p 337

• Attention is this hearing and this seeing, and this attention has no limitation, no resistance, so it is limitless. To attend implies this vast energy: it is not pinned down to a point. In this attention there is no repetitive movement; it is not mechanical. There is no question of how to maintain this attention, and when one has learnt the art of seeing and hearing, this attention can focus itself on a page, a word. In this there is no resistance which is the activity of concentration. Inattention cannot be refined into attention. To be aware of inattention is the ending of it: not that it becomes attentive. The ending has no continuity. The past modifying itself is the future—a continuity of what has been—and we find security in continuity, not in ending. So attention has no quality of continuity. Anything that continues is mechanical. The becoming is mechanical and implies time. Attention has no quality of time. All this is a tremendously complicated issue. One must gently, deeply go into it.

Letters to the Schools vol II, p 31

• Attention involves seeing and hearing. We hear not only with our ears but also we are sensitive to the tones, the voice, to the implication of words, to hear without interference, to capture instantly the depth of a sound. Sound plays an extraordinary part in our lives: the sound of thunder, a flute playing in the distance, the unheard sound of the universe; the sound of silence, the sound of one’s own heart beating; the sound of a bird and the noise of a man walking on the pavement; the waterfall. The universe is filled with sound. This sound has its own silence; all living things are involved in this sound of silence. To be attentive is to hear this silence and move with it.

Letters to the Schools vol II, p 30

• You cannot find truth through anybody else. How can you? Surely, truth is not something static; it has no fixed abode; it is not an end, a goal. On the contrary, it is living, dynamic, alert, alive. How can it be an end? If truth is a fixed point, it is no longer truth; it is then a mere opinion. Truth is the unknown, and a mind that is seeking truth will never find it. For mind is made up of the known, it is the result of the past, the outcome of time—which you can observe for yourself. Mind is the instrument of the known, hence, it cannot find the unknown; it can only move from the known to the known. When the mind seeks truth, the truth it has read about in books, that “truth” is self-projected, for then the mind is merely in pursuit of the known, a known more satisfactory than the previous one. When the mind seeks truth, it is seeking its own self-projection, not truth.

The Collected Works vol VI, p 5

• Please let us be clear on this point—that you cannot by any process, through any discipline, through any form of meditation, go to truth, God, or whatever name you like to give it. It is much too vast, it cannot possibly be conceived of; no description will cover it, no book can hold it, nor any word contain it. So you cannot by any devious method, by an sacrifice, by any discipline or through any guru, go to it. You must await it, it will come to you, you cannot go to it. That is the fundamental thing one has to understand, that not through any trick of the mind, not through any control, through any virtue, any compulsion, any form of suppression, can the mind possibly go to truth. All that the mind can do is be quiet but not with the intention of receiving it. And that is one of the most difficult things of all because we think truth can be experienced right away through doing certain things. Truth is not to be bought any more than love can be bought.

The Collected Works vol XI, p 20

• The questioner says, how can the conditioned brain grasp the unlimited, which is beauty, love, and truth? What is the ground of compassion and intelligence, and can it come upon us—each one of us? Are you inviting compassion? Are you inviting intelligence? Are you inviting beauty, love, and truth? Are you trying to grasp it? I am asking you. *Are you trying to grasp the quality of intelligence, compassion, the immense sense of beauty, the perfume of love and that truth which has no path to it? Is that what you are grasping—wanting to find out the ground upon which it dwells? Can the limited brain grasp this? You cannot possibly grasp it, hold it. You can do all kinds of meditation, fast, torture yourself, become terribly austere, having one suit, or one robe. All this has been done. The rich cannot come to the truth, neither the poor. Nor the people who have taken a vow of celibacy, of silence, of austerity. All that is determined by thought, put together sequentially by thought; it is all the cultivation of deliberate thought, of deliberate intent.

Last Talks at Saanen, p158

• God or truth cannot be thought about. If you think about it, it is not truth. Truth cannot be sought; it comes to you. You can go after only what is known. When the mind is not tortured by the known, by the effects of the known, then only can truth reveal itself. Truth is in every leaf, every tear; it is to be known from moment to moment. No one can lead you to truth; and if anyone leads you, it can only be to the known.

The Collected Works vol VI, p 5

• Questioner: Can one love truth without loving man? Can one love man without loving truth? What comes first? Krishnamurti: Love comes first. To love truth, you must know truth. To know truth is to deny truth. What is known is not truth. What is known is already encased in time and ceases to be truth. Truth is an eternal movement, and so cannot be measured in words or in time. It cannot be held in the fist. You cannot love something which you do not know. But truth is not to be found in books, in images, in temples. It is to be found in action, in living. The very search for the unknown is love itself, and you cannot search for the unknowable away from relationship. You cannot search for reality, or for what you will, in isolation. It comes into being only in relationship, only when there is right relationship between man and man. So the love of man is the search for reality.

The Collected Works vol IV, p 172

• Therefore sacredness is the essence of religion. You know, a great river may become polluted as it flows past a town, but if the pollution isn’t too great, the river cleanses itself as it goes along, and within a few miles it is again clean, fresh, pure. Similarly, when once the mind comes upon this sacredness, then every act is a cleansing act. Through its very movement the mind is making itself innocent, and therefore it is not accumulating. A mind that has discovered this sacredness is in constant revolution-not economic or social revolution, but an inner revolution through which it is endlessly purifying itself. Its action is not based on some idea or formula. As the river, with a tremendous volume of water behind it, cleanses itself as it flows, so does the mind cleanse itself when once it has come upon this religious sacredness.

The Collected Works vol XV, pp 244-245

• To understand oneself, one needs enormous pliability, and that pliability is denied when we specialize in devotion, in action, in knowledge. There are no paths such as devotion, as action, as knowledge, and he who follows any of these paths separately as a specialist brings about his own destruction. That is, a man who is committed to a particular path, to a particular approach, is incapable of pliability, and that which is not pliable is broken. As a tree that is not pliable breaks in the storm, so a man who has specialized breaks down in moments of crisis.

The Collected Works vol V, p 128

• Truth is not something in the distance; there is no path to it, there is neither your path nor my path; there is no devotional path, there is no path of knowledge or path of action, because truth has no path to it. The moment you have a path to truth, you divide it, because the path is exclusive; and what is exclusive at the very beginning will end in exclusiveness. The man who is following a path can never know truth because he is living in exclusiveness; his means are exclusive, and the means are the end, are not separate from the end. If the means are exclusive, the end is also exclusive. So there is no path to truth, and there are not two truths. Truth is not of the past or the present, it is timeless; the man who quotes the truth of the Buddha, of Shankara, of Christ, or who merely repeats what I am saying, will not find truth, because repetition is not truth. Repetition is a lie.

The Collected Works vol VI, p 134

• In seeking there are several things involved: there is the seeker and the thing that he seeks after. When the seeker finds what he thinks is truth, is God, is enlightenment, he must be able to recognize it. He must recognize it, right? Recognition implies previous knowledge, otherwise you cannot recognize. I cannot recognize you if I had not met you yesterday. Therefore when I say this is truth, I have already known it and therefore it is not truth. So a man who is seeking truth lives a life of hypocrisy, because his truth is the projection of his memory, of his desire, of his intentions to find something other than “what is”, a formula. So seeking implies duality—the one who seeks and the thing sought after—and where there is duality there is conflict. There is wastage of energy. So you can never find it, you can never invite it.

Krishnamurti in India 1970-71, pp 157-158

• What brings understanding is love. When your heart is full, then you will listen to the teacher, to the beggar, to the laughter of children, to the rainbow, and to the sorrow of man. Under every stone and leaf, that which is eternal exists. But we do not know how to look for it. Our minds and hearts are filled with other things than understanding of "what is". Love and mercy, kindliness and generosity do not cause enmity. When you love, you are very near truth. For, love makes for sensitivity, for vulnerability. That which is sensitive is capable of renewal. Then truth will come into being. It cannot come if your mind and heart are burdened, heavy with ignorance and animosity.

The Collected Works vol. IV, p 200

• No description can ever describe the origin. The origin is nameless; the origin is absolutely quiet, it is not whirring about making noise. Creation is something that is most holy, that is the most sacred thing in life, and if you have made a mess of your life, change it. Change it today, not tomorrow. If you are uncertain, find out why and be certain. If your thinking is not straight, think straight, logically, Unless all that is prepared, all that is settled, you cannot enter into this world, into the world of creation.

The Last Talks, p100

• Goodness shows itself in behaviour and action and in relationship. Generally our daily behaviour is based on either the following of certain patterns - mechanical and therefore superficial - or according to very carefully thought-out motive, based on reward or punishment. So our behaviour, consciously or unconsciously, is calculated. This is not good behaviour. When one realizes this, not merely intellectually or by putting words together, then out of this total negation comes true behaviour.

Letters to the Schools vol I

• Goodness has no opposite. Most of us consider goodness as the opposite of the bad or evil and so throughout history in any culture goodness has been considered the other face of that which is brutal. So man has always struggled against evil in order to be good; but goodness can never come into being if there is any form of violence or struggle.

Letters to the Schools vol I

• Can't you fall in love and not have a possessive relationship? I love someone and she loves me and we get married - that is all perfectly straightforward and simple, in that there is no conflict at all. (When I say we get married I might just as well say we decide to live together - don't let's get caught up in words.) Can't one have that without the other, without the tail as it were, necessarily following? Can't two people be in love and both be so intelligent and so sensitive that there is freedom and absence of a centre that makes for conflict? Conflict is not in the feeling of being in love. The feeling of being in love is utterly without conflict. There is no loss of energy in being in love. The loss of energy is in the tail, in everything that follows - jealousy, possessiveness, suspicion, doubt, the fear of losing that love, the constant demand for reassurance and security. Surely it must be possible to function in a sexual relationship with someone you love without the nightmare which usually follows. Of course it is.

Krishnamurti Foudation Trust Bulletin 3, 1969 Krishnamurti Foudation Trust Bulletin 4, 1969

• Learning in the true sense of the word is possible only in that state of attention, in which there is no outer or inner compulsion. Right thinking can come about only when the mind is not enslaved by tradition and memory. It is attention that allows silence to come upon the mind, which is the opening of the door to creation. That is why attention is of the highest importance. Knowledge is necessary at the functional level as a means of cultivating the mind, and not as an end in itself. We are concerned, not with the development of just one capacity, such as that of a mathematician, or a scientist, or a musician, but with the total development of the student as a human being. How is the state of attention to be brought about? It cannot be cultivated through persuasion, comparison, reward or punishment, all of which are forms of coercion. The elimination of fear is the beginning of attention. Fear must exist as long as there is an urge to be or to become, which is the pursuit of success, with all its frustrations and tortuous contradictions. You can teach concentration, but attention cannot be taught just as you cannot possibly teach freedom from fear; but we can begin to discover the causes that produce fear, and in understanding these causes there is the elimination of fear. So attention arises spontaneously when around the student there is an atmosphere of well-being, when he has the feeling of being secure, of being at ease, and is aware of the disinterested action that comes with love. Love does not compare, and so the envy and torture of `becoming' cease.

J. Krishnamurti Life Ahead Saanen 4th Public Dialogue 3rd August 1974

• Now, one sees all that by observing, by being aware, watching, one is aware of all this. Then out of that awareness you see there is no division between the observer and the observed. It is a trick of thought which demands security. Please don't madam, please. And by being aware it sees the observer is the observed, that violence is the observer, violence is not different from the observer. Now how is the observer to end himself and not be violent? Have you understood my question so far? I think so. Right? The observer is the observed, there is no division and therefore no conflict. And is the observer then, knowing all the intricacies of naming, linguistically caught in the image of violence, what happens to that violence? If the observer is violent, can the observer end, otherwise violence will go on? Can the observer end himself, because he is violent? Or what reality has theobserver? Right sir? Is he merely put together by words, by experience, by knowledge? So is he put together by the past? So is he the past? Right? Which means the mind is living in the past. Right? obviously. You are living in the past. Right? No? As long as there is an observer there must be living in the past, obviously. And all our life is based on the past, memories, knowledge, images, according to which you react, which is your conditioning, is the past. And living has become the living of the past in the present, modified in the future. That's all, as long as the observer is living. Now does the mind see this as a truth, as a reality, that all my life is living in the past? I may paint most abstract pictures, write the most modern poems, invent the most extraordinary machinery, but I am still living in the past.

Saanen, Switzerland, 5 August 1973

• Do you decide to observe? Or do you merely observe? Do you decide and say, `I am going to observe and learn'? For then there is the question: `Who is deciding?' Is it will that says, `I must'? And when it fails, it chastises itself further and says, `I must, must, must; in that there is conflict; therefore the state of mind that has decided to observe is not observation at all. You are walking down the road, somebody passes you by, you observe and you may say to yourself, `How ugly he is; how he smells; I wish he would not do this or that'. You are aware of your responses to that passer-by, you are aware that you are judging, condemning or justifying; you are observing. You do not say, `I must not judge, I must not justify'. In being aware of your responses, there is no decision at all. You see somebody who insulted you yesterday. Immediately all your hackles are up, you become nervous or anxious, you begin to dislike; be aware of your dislike, be aware of all that, do not `decide' to be aware. Observe, and in that observation there is neither the `observer' nor the `observed' - there is only observation taking place. The `observer' exists only when you accumulate in the observation; when you say, `He is my friend because he has flattered me', or, `He is not my friend, because he has said something ugly about me, or something true which I do not like,. That is accumulation through observation and that accumulation is the observer. When you observe without accumulation, then there is no judgement.

J. Krishnamurti 5th Public Talk Saanen 26th July 1970 "Fear and Pleasure" The Collected Works Vol. X

• Surely, since you have burnt yourself in politics, your problem is not only to break away from society, but to come totally to life again, to love and to be simple. Without love, do what you may, you will not know the total action which alone can save man. "That is true, sir: we don't love, we aren't really simple." Why? Because you are concerned with reforms, with duties, with respectability, with becoming something, with breaking through to the other side. In the name of another, you are concerned with yourself; you are caught in your own cockleshell. You think you are the center of this beautiful earth. You never pause to look at a tree, at a flower, at the flowing river; and if by chance you do look, your eyes are filled with the things of the mind, and not with beauty and love. "Again, that is true; but what is one to do?" Look and be simple.

J. Krishnamurti Commentaries on Living Series III

• The earth and everything upon it became holy. It was not that the mind was aware of this peace as something outside of itself, something to be remembered and communicated, but there was a total absence of any movement of the mind. There was only the immeasurable.

J. Krishnamurti Commentaries on Living Series III

• The craving for experience is the beginning of illusion. As you now realize, your visions were but the projections of your background, of your conditioning, and it is these projections that you have experienced. Surely this is not meditation. The beginning of meditation is the understanding of the background, of the self, and without this understanding, what is called meditation, however pleasurable or painful, is merely a form of self-hypnosis. You have practised self-control, mastered thought, and concentrated on the furthering of experience. This is a self-centred occupation, it is not meditation; and to perceive that it is not meditation is the beginning of meditation. To see the truth in the false sets the mind free from the false. Freedom from the false does not come about through the desire to achieve it; it comes when the mind is no longer concerned with success with the attainment of an end. There must be the cessation of all search, and only then is there a possibility of the coming into being of that which is nameless.

J. Krishnamurti Commentaries on Living Series III

• The only thing that really matters is that there be an action of goodness, love and intelligence in living. Is goodness individual or collective, is love personal or impersonal, is intelligence yours, mine or somebody else? If it is yours or mine then it is not intelligence, or love, or goodness. If goodness is an affair of the individual or of the collective, according to one s particular preference or decision, then it is no longer goodness.

• Goodness is not in the backyard of the individual nor in the open field of the collective; goodness flowers only in freedom from both.

The Urgency of Change, Conversation 5.

• The essence of goodness is a mind that is not in conflict. Examine it, look at it. Goodness cannot flower through another, through a religious figure, through dogma, through belief, it can only flower in the soil of total attention in which there is no authority. You are following all this? Is this all too complex? And goodness implies great responsibility. You cannot be good and allow wars to take place. So a man that is really good is totally responsible for all his life.

This Light in Oneself, conversation 1316, Ojai, April 1979

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