Jiddu Krishnamurti - the guru who didn't want to be one
His lectures are thought provoking and individualistic. Krishnamurti continually points out our own responsibility in changing our selves - as the only way to make this world a better place. Dependence on others - psychologically - may be human, but will not make us happy (or so he says - this is where I have to disagree a bit).
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986)
Born a poor Brahmin boy in Southern India
Born a poor Brahmin boy in Southern India, Krishnamurti was saved from bad teachers, ill health and probably death by C.W. Leadbeater. Leadbeater, the then famous theosophical clairvoyant, saw Krishnamurti and his brother playing on the Adyar beach (near Madras). He saw something special in the boy and asked to be allowed to raise them. Since the father was poor and a working member of the Theosophical Society, he readily consented to his boys getting a decent English style education.He was raised by Leadbeater, Annie Besant and other theosophists to see himself as a spiritual teacher. In 1929 Krishnamurti ended 'The Order of the Star of the East', which had been founded with the specific purpose of helping 'the world teacher'.
After this, Krishnamurti went his own way and the Theosophical Society another. Krishnamurti would lecture all over the world.
Krishnamurti's discovery on the beach at Adyar
Jiddu Krishnamurti on relationships
Freedom & Love
His view of relationships was that they were often more based on memory, then on the actual people in it now. He challenged people in relationships to forget about the past and look at each other afresh.
He stressed that most marriages come about because the biological urge to get kids is very strong. This isn't love, it's desire. Only a few relationships passed his test of being so real that they can't be broken by anything. In those cases marriage itself isn't necessary. On other hand most relationships are based on habit, sexual urges and in it people find out how very different they are... how little they have in common.
Krishnamurti on marriage, love and psychological problems
Krishnamurti on Love, relationships and marriage
Jiddu Krishnamurti on Love
Love as a spiritual concern
As on many topics, Krishnamurti's discussions on love centre around questions:
Can love be divided into the sacred and the profane, the human and the divine, or is there only love? Is love of the one and not of the many? If I say,`I love you', does that exclude the love of the other? Is love personal or impersonal? Moral or immoral? Family or non-family? If you love mankind can you love the particular? Is love sentiment? Is love emotion? Is love pleasure and desire?
He stressed that to really find out what love is about, we have to let go of the words other people have taught us about love. We have to look afresh and find out for ourselves. The flame of love is something that can't be experienced through words, concepts or clichés.
Jiddu Krishnamurti on love
Your favourite Jiddu Krishnamurti Books
I've started with my own Krishnamurti favorites. Please add your own.
Awakening of Intelligence, by Jiddu Krishnamurti
True intelligence is beyond everyday learning.2 points
Freedom from the Known by Jiddu Krishnamurti
This book deals with the basic Krishnamurti idea: more...1 point
Think on These Things by Jiddu Krishnamurti
A good Krishnamurti starter: several themes explor more...1 point
One Thousand Suns: Krishnamurti at Eighty-Five and the Last Walk by Asit Chandmal
Impressive: Krishnamurti's last conversations.1 point
Meeting Life: Writings and Talks on Finding Your Path Without Retreating from Society by Jiddu Krishnamurti
The classic Indian spirituality implies retreating more...1 point
On Love and Loneliness by Jiddu Krishnamurti
Love and loneliness seem opposite things - but act more...0 points
At the Feet of the Master by Jiddu Krishnamurti (Alcyone)
At the Feet of the Master was the first book publi more...0 points
Krishnamurti on Education
"Conventional education makes independent thinking extremely difficult. Conformity leads to mediocrity. To be different from the group or to resist environment is not easy and is often risky as long as we worship success. The urge to be successful, which is the pursuit of reward whether in the material or the in the so-called spiritual sphere, the search for inward or outward security, the desire for comfort - this whole process smothers discontent, puts an end to spontaneity and breeds fear; and fear blocks the intelligent understanding of life. With increasing age, dullness of mind and heart sets in."
Jiddu Krishnamurti as a teacher, on education
Growing up in theosophical care
Jiddu Krishnamurti online
- Jiddu Krishnamurti: history, quotes and personal remembrances
- Quotes on life, love, meditation, clairvoyance and many other things. Includes transcripts of personal talks he had with people, as well as lectures and parts of his diaries.
- Jiddu Krishnamurti
- The complete Krishnamurti Collected Works online - that is: all the material starting the 1930's. The lectures, stories and poems from Krishnamurti's theosophical days aren't here.
- Krishnamurti & theosophy
- Historical material and observations on the relationship between Jiddu Krishnamurti and the Theosophical Society - as well as its worldview.
- Jiddu Krishnamurti - essentials
- On the essence of Jiddu Krishnamurti
Classic books by Jiddu Krishnamurti
Beyond theosophy: leaving the organisation built for him
J. Krishnamurti on loneliness versus being alone
quote
" Loneliness, with its fear and ache, is isolation, the inevitable action of the self. This process of isolation, whether expansive or narrow, is productive of confusion, conflict and sorrow. Isolation can never give birth to aloneness; the one has to cease for the other to be. Aloneness is indivisible and loneliness is separation. That which is alone is pliable and so enduring. Only the alone can commune with that which is causeless, the immeasurable. To the alone, life is eternal; to the alone there is no death. The alone can never cease to be. "
from commentaries on living, first series, chapter 5
More from Jiddu Krishnamurti on Aloneness and Being Alone
Jiddu Krishnamurti on film
DVD's with J. Krishnamurti
On Interpretation - or against it rather
Jiddu Krishnamurti...???
As a teacher myself, I have trouble accepting this attitude of his - I feel that one of the things that makes us human is our willingness to share and learn from each other. But this lens is about Krishnamurti, not Katinka Hesselink - so here is his opinion about interpretation, in his words:
If you need a mediator, an interpreter, then you are not seeking truth; what you want is comfort, gratification, and you might just as well take a pill.
(13 Jan 1957 Colombo)I want to make people .. question the very things they hold most dear and precious ... Examine [what I say] impartially, logically; dissect, tear it to pieces; but do not listen to anyone, listen to your own minds and your own hearts"
(Jan 1930 Star Bulletin p.6)You seek guides, masters, systems, because you hope that by following them, obeying them, imitating them you will have peace [and] comfort. They are the tricksters who become priests, exploiters, preachers, mediators, swamis and yogis.
(24th Jan 1934 Ojai)To be capable of learning, the mind must put aside all that it has learnt, which is extraordinarily difficult ... We are in a state of freedom when we want to find out, to understand or discover. That freedom is destroyed the moment we begin to interpret what we discover in terms of our conditioning, our established morality, environmental influences, and so on.
(8th Feb 1959 New Delhi)When writing about the teachings, can you not state that you are only investigating them? Both you and your readers are going on a voyage of discovery together. Neither of you is exactly sure what exactly K meant by a certain statement. It is good to use words like 'perhaps' and 'probably' because they introduce an element of doubt in the mind of the reader. Sir, if you do that you will not run the risk of becoming a misinterpreter.
(Krishnamurti's advice to authors, as reported in S.Weeraperuma, Krishnamurti as I Knew Him, 1988 p.103)source
Jiddu Krishnamurti poems
- The Path
- On the spiritual path. The young Jiddu Krishnamurti explores the image of the spiritual path, and how the path transforms as the traveler changes. Ultimately he discovers...
- Immortal Friend
- Fragment of this long prose-poem. Describes meeting the 'immortal friend', the ultimate spiritual teacher.
- I will sing to thee the song of my Beloved
- Another fragment of 'the immortal friend'. In this fragment he expresses poetically how it feels to have found 'the beloved'.
More Jiddu Krishnamurti
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Best Jiddu Krishnamurti Books
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Krishnamurti's books were usually compiled by others from his talks. Below you will find introductions to his work, but also deeper philosophic reflection and specific themes. Learn about God, relationships and the nature of experience - as well...
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Krishnamurti DVD's and Books YOU like
Is it Possible to Live with Total Lucidity
Krishnamurti asks, "Is it possible for a human being living in this world to find within himself a clarity that is constant, that is true, in the sense, not contradictory, is it possible for a human being to find it?" Krishnamurti goes on to explain that he feels it is possible.
More Spiritual Lenses
Annie Besant was a lifelong friend of Jiddu Krishnamurti's - despite his giving up his roll of theosophical messiah, they remained friendly.More spiritual and religious inspiration. See also my blog about spirituality.
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These are the ultimate philosophy questions we all ask ourselves about religion and spirituality. Vote, get inspired and share. Part lensography, part hey monkeybrain lens - I hope you all enjoy.
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