JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI

“It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society,” he repeated. A shy child, he was used to a humble life -he grew up in British India, in a large and poor family-, and nobody could just imagine that Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) would become one of the more important philosophical and spiritual writers and masters in the Twentieth century.

In his early years, the Theosophical Society saw him as the new World Teacher and was tutored and educated within this institution. However, over the years, Krishnamurti split up from this organization and began travelling the world to be a speaker both for individuals and for large audiences. In these meetings, his message is distinguished by being devoid of ideologies affected to any religion, nationality, class or politics. For him, the personal center lies in a psychological revolution, the nature of mind, self-inquiry and meditation, and human relations, in order to cause a radical social change, from the personal to the collective.

Today, his philosophy continues to be transmitted at independent schools in all countries, and his writings and lectures can be followed on recordings and in his many books, including ‘The First and Last Freedom’, ‘The Only Revolution’ or his Notebook. Here is a sample of those pearls of wisdom:

The word ‘reaching’ implies time and distance. Our mind is a slave of the word ‘reach’. If the mind can get rid of the words ‘get’, ‘reach’, ‘achieve’, then seeing can be immediate.

 

The religion of all men must be to believe in themselves.

 

We do not see things as they are but as we are.

 

Freedom is essential for love; not the freedom of the revolt, not the freedom to do as we please or openly or secretly give in to our desires, but rather the freedom which comes with understanding.

 

Love itself is provided as a flower gives its perfume.

 

No understanding first and then acting. When we understand, that absolute understanding is action.

 

Only if we listen we can learn. And listening is an act of silence; only a calm but extraordinarily active mind can learn.

 

Giving a name to something means we have simply put it in a category, and we think we have understood it; so we do not look at it more closely. But if we do not name it we are obliged to look at that. So, we aproach the flower, or whatever, with a sense of novelty, a new quality test: we look at it as if we had never seen it before.

 

Wisdom is not a collection of memories, but a supreme vulnerability to the truth.

 

Once you sow wheat, you reap once. Planting a tree, you reap tenfold. You instruct the people, you will reap a hundred times.

 

Beauty is an appreciation, sensitivity to things that surround us: nature, people, ideas.

As we can see, the thoughts of this Master remain deeply attached to the pulse of today’s society. Therefore, his work is worth knowing, as his learning, which is our teaching.

I wish you a pleasant week,

Álex