J. Krishnamurti was one of the most influential and widely known spiritual teachers of the twentieth century. Here, he inquires with the reader into how remembering and dwelling on past events, both pleasurable and painful, give us a false sense of continuity, causing us to suffer. His instruction is to be attentive and clear in our perceptions and to meet the challenges of life directly in each new moment.
Jiddu Krishnamurti was born on 11 May 1895 in Madanapalle, a small town in south India. He and his brother were adopted in their youth by Dr Annie Besant, then president of the Theosophical Society. Dr Besant and others proclaimed that Krishnamurti was to be a world teacher whose coming the Theosophists had predicted. To prepare the world for this coming, a world-wide organization called the Order of the Star in the East was formed and the young Krishnamurti was made its head.
In 1929, however, Krishnamurti renounced the role that he was expected to play, dissolved the Order with its huge following, and returned all the money and property that had been donated for this work.
From then, for nearly sixty years until his death on 17 February 1986, he travelled throughout the world talking to large audiences and to individuals about the need for a radical change in humankind.
Krishnamurti is regarded globally as one of the greatest thinkers and religious teachers of all time. He did not expound any philosophy or religion, but rather talked of the things that concern all of us in our everyday lives, of the problems of living in modern society with its violence and corruption, of the individual's search for security and happiness, and the need for humankind to free itself from inner burdens of fear, anger, hurt, and sorrow. He explained with great precision the subtle workings of the human mind, and pointed to the need for bringing to our daily life a deeply meditative and spiritual quality.
Krishnamurti belonged to no religious organization, sect or country, nor did he subscribe to any school of political or ideological thought. On the contrary, he maintained that these are the very factors that divide human beings and bring about conflict and war. He reminded his listeners again and again that we are all human beings first and not Hindus, Muslims or Christians, that we are like the rest of humanity and are not different from one another. He asked that we tread lightly on this earth without destroying ourselves or the environment. He communicated to his listeners a deep sense of respect for nature. His teachings transcend belief systems, nationalistic sentiment and sectarianism. At the same time, they give new meaning and direction to humankind's search for truth. His teaching, besides being relevant to the modern age, is timeless and universal.
Krishnamurti spoke not as a guru but as a friend, and his talks and discussions are based not on tradition-based knowledge but on his own insights into the human mind and his vision of the sacred, so he always communicates a sense of freshness and directness although the essence of his message remained unchanged over the years. When he addressed large audiences, people felt that Krishnamurti was talking to each of them personally, addressing his or her particular problem. In his private interviews, he was a compassionate teacher, listening attentively to the man or woman who came to him in sorrow, and encouraging them to heal themselves through their own understanding. Religious scholars found that his words threw new light on traditional concepts. Krishnamurti took on the challenge of modern scientists and psychologists and went with them step by step, discussed their theories and sometimes enabled them to discern the limitations of those theories. Krishnamurti left a large body of literature in the form of public talks, writings, discussions with teachers and students, with scientists and religious figures, conversations with individuals, television and radio interviews, and letters. Many of these have been published as books, and audio and video recordings.
If Osho's books are Mozart's music, Krishnamurti 's this book would be a bit like Wagner's music for me. I mean, Osho's teaching is really much easier to approach, Krishnamurti 's seems a bit serious manner and no humor at all. You need to think over his words and reconstruct inside to make them yours. But Krishnamurti is a very famous thinker, I have tried to read his book (mostly dialogue style, quite similar to Osho's style)
Basically, Krishnamurti didn't think we should have a guru to learn from, he even considered authority is bad for us. His idea is very different from many other so called gurus. When we look for happiness, chasing after the meaning of life, whatever tangible or intangible, when you realized you put "I" inside, you won't get it. When the "I" disappears, then the flow arrives. To find the peace of mind, you need to forget about your existing, not to remember your past memories, you need to get rid of the burden in your brain, overloaded past knowledge and memories, otherwise you can not move forward.
I think living mindfully is also another word? or he is actually against that? I don't know...i need to read more of his books to get to know this.
.........................................below copied from the book
Inward revolution by J. Krishnamurti mainly treats the theme of freedom of ideas while one is doing a spiritual quest. In fact, if you are conditioned by religion, any religion, by a guru, or by your stock of knowledge, you cannot see yourself and reality as they are. You see things as you have been taught. By doing so, you give rise to a conflict between what it actually is and what it should be. According to Krishnamurti, such conflict must be avoided not only when you do meditation but also in your ordinary daily life. In other words, the mind must be free of prejudices and preconceived ideas. Throughout the book, from the first to the last page, the author insists on the theme of freedom from conditioning. I have found some similarities between Osho's teachings and Krishnamurti's. On the other hand, all great masters and superior minds are closer to the truth than we can imagine. Ettore Grillo author of these books: – November 2: The Day of the Dead in Sicily – A Hidden Sicilian History – The Vibrations of Words – Travels of the Mind http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregr...
A good book which is basically a transcript from several lectures. 'Observer is the Observed' is the central theme that runs through the book. Krishnamurti was without doubt one of the greatest spiritual speakers and philosophers of the 20th century. Through the book, he constantly reiterates that this is a discussion and not a discourse from a guru. The series of lectures which constitute the book are aimed at helping understand what awareness means and how self observation can help negate the misery and confusion that exist within us. To quote J.Krishnamurti -
"For everybody to be happy means that they must live a different kind of life, a life in which there is no conflict, with a total change in the very structure of the brain cells, in their hearts, in their minds. You have to do it, not your environment. Nobody else can do it except you. You are the world and the world is you. You alone can do it, nobody else. Haven't you put your faith in the temples, in the gods, in the gurus, in the systems? And where are you; after these thousands of years, where are you? Still in dark ness, still in misery, confused, aren't you? So why do you have faith in somebody else? All that you have to do is observe yourself, which anybody can do who wants to. To observe yourself, to know yourself actually as you are, and not say, "I am not beautiful; I am ugly"--just observe your ugliness. To observe, don't call it "ugly," just observe. Don't name it, don't condemn it, don't justify it. Just observe. And out of that observation comes joy, which you cannot possibly invite."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Adı ve tanıtım yazısını okuduğumda büyük bir beklenti ve heyecanla kitabın kapağını açtım. Çünkü ele aldığı konu oldukça ilgi çekici ve benim de kafamı kurcalayan sorulara yönelik bir konuydu fakat hayal kırıklığı yaşadım. Öncelikle kendini tekrar eden dilini hiç sevmedim. Konuşmacı ve soru soran kişiler bütün bir kitap boyunca aynı kavramlar üzerinde aynı/benzer cümleler kuruyorlar. Ek olarak değerli öğretiler hakkında konuşulduğu su götürmez bir gerçek olsa da çok uç noktalara vardığını düşünüyorum ve bu hoşuma gitmiyor. İmgeyi, inancı, bilgiyi gözlemlemek ve kendini anda tutmak, kendini ana teslim etmek kesinlikle özgürleştirici bir eylem fakat bütün ikilikleri, çatışmaları, düşünceleri, inançları reddetmek aşırı geliyor. Sonuçta hepimiz maddi dünyada yaşayan insanlarız ve bütün maddî şeyleri reddedip birer Buda'ya dönüşemeyiz. Bu nedenle benim için beklentilerimin altında bir okuma oldu.
La tesi di base è semplice e ripresa anhe da filosofi occidentali. Ossia partire da sè stessi per cambiare il mondo: senza cambiare il nostro modo di comportarci, di vedere le cose, di esprimerlo in rapporti sociali non è possibile nessuna rivoluzione duratura. Cambia il metodo: conoscersi, ascoltarsi, fare spazio al silenzio e all'attimo presente.
Inarticulate, incoherent - perhaps the speeches weren't transcribed well. But hard to read - too repetitive, without any great insights in the first 30% of the book where I stopped. Only notable thing is his passionate opposition to gurus and teachings of all religions and cultures - "do your thinking yourself, don't repeat what you heard form others"
It is said that J. Krishnamurti is one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century and I feel this book, one of many which transcribe his many talks, serves to further solidify that as fact. Those not interested much in organized religion, spirituality or deism can perhaps look to Jiddu as an appropriate source of contemplation beyond the machinations of routine everyday life. Those interested in, or practitioners of the previously stated will ALSO find Krishnamurti's talks extremely interesting. Or, at least I did. Jiddu advocates a rigorous contemplation of the mind, the nature and sources of its conditioning from external and internal factors such as school, work, religion, memories, biases, government, etc. Jiddu asks that we think about these systems of control and their impact on what may or may not be ultimate truth. To stand outside the realm of any conditioning the mind has been enslaved to, or to at least recognize it, is a step toward ultimate freedom of thought. He doesn't state you must agree with him, this too is a condition placed upon the mind, but rather to think logically in the investigation of oneself and the society and psyche in which we operate. This is some deep shit, yo. And I find his ideas incredibly challenging and thus appealing. However don't get any ideas that you can follow this philosophy as some kind of road map to enlightenment - Krishnamurti emphatically rejects "guruism" in all its forms. Rather, we must start with the realization we have a mind, that's it, and go from there. It's seems the ultimate in the idea of total self sufficiency of thought which is perhaps why many find it so appealing. I have only scratched the surface here of the concepts he presents.
Further lectures can be found in a plethora of books and YouTube videos as well as iTunes and Amazon Prime Music.
A collection of transcripts of 14 lectures given between December 1970 and February 1971. Krishnamurti, the Punk rock, Kung fu, anti-guru, continues his attack on the misuse of, thought, meditation and authority, whilst promoting self-observation as the only way out of the horrors of inward and outward human existence. Intelligence has been annihilated by thought, he posits, which wastes energy through fragmenting the inner and outer world for utility and pleasure and is permanently engaged in chasing the illusion of security and permanence. The same themes as most of his books, from what I can gather, although he does find new ways of communicating the same messages, you find yourself knowing which direction the script is going most of the time, which is fine if you need his ideas reinforcing or you haven't just finished one of his other books...which I had. As I've only read three of his books I'm not really in a position to comment on how this volume compares with the multitude of others. It’s shorter than "The Awakening of Intelligence" but less diverse and it still takes considerable effort to read for no apparent reason, which may be you’re dull thought based habituated mind protesting at the usurping of its authority...I don’t know. Anyway the pattern that is emerging is that the transcripts of his lectures are very loosely grouped around a common theme but as the root of most problems have the same cause the conversations inevitably end on the same ground, albeit via different paths.
This book seems to take various talks from different time periods. You're really not focused on a topic perse, but seems to be scattered in different genres. The information is still good, but does not flow together well. I've read only 3 new chapters from this book, the rest of it I've read before in other Krishnamurti's books.
Kind of reminded me of a mini Bible which is a let down. But the thoughts in it are still very good.
Leggere Krishnamurti è, come sempre, un'esperienza al limite tra il fastidio e l'apertura totale della mente. All'inizio può generare un moto di rifiuto, ma proseguendo nella lettura ci si rende conto pian piano che quello di cui parla non è semplice snobbismo, ma ciò che davvero passa anche per la nostra mente.
Hernevi otorite red edilmeden bi cacık olmucak bu dünyada. Olan cacıklarda da, insanlık* denilen şey kıyılmış hıyar olacak. Cacığı da otorite hüpletecek.
*insanlık lafı da çok sorunlu ama anlayın siz onu...
I don't have words to describe the profound teachings from this book. You are awakened to see how we live our life through memories and how we can bring the freshness into life. How our mind tricks us into believing separateness of thinker and thought or experiencer and experience. The teachings help you understand and quieten the mind naturally.
Some interesting enough ideas for me to keep reading, albeit rather quickly, but not good enough to stick. Too much contradiction and detachment to be a realistic manifesto for living in the world. I much prefer Ramacharaka.
This guy probably gave me the best advice ever: don't trust authority. Learn from yourself. I keep letting this important maxim slip me by.. but I will get it (er, shouldn't say that. I get it now!..). His tone was kind of harsh...and I did not like it much. XD
Truly a beautiful, transformative challenge, a challenged to look into ourselves and break the millenary forms of conflict and fragmentation that run our lives as individuals in society.
Fierce. K. at his most irascible (& humorous imho). Repetitive, useful-- these talks from 1969-1970 really hammer home some of K.s most challenging topics.