The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti

by J. Krishnamurti

To find that which is not the fabrication of the mind, the mind must be quiet

Stillness that is induced, enforced, is not stillness at all. It is like putting a child in the corner—superficially he may be quiet, but inwardly he is boiling.

Is there not truth in religions, in theories, in ideals, in beliefs? Let us examine.

Why do you have beliefs? Obviously, because beliefs give you security, comfort, safety, a guide. In yourself you are frightened, you want to be protected, you want to lean on somebody, and therefore, you create the ideal, which prevents you from understanding that which is. Therefore, an ideal becomes a hindrance to action.

The search for truth is individual, not congregational. To commune with the real there must be aloneness; not isolation, but freedom from all influence and opinion.

Would it not be wiser to have small informed groups of twenty or twenty-five persons, without dues or membership, meeting where it is convenient to discuss gently the approach to reality? To prevent any group from becoming exclusive, each member could from time to time encourage and perhaps join another small group; thus, it would be extensive, not narrow and parochial.

To climb high one must begin low. Out of this small beginning one may help to create a more sane and happy world

because you cling to these beliefs as the most potent means of destroying limitation, whereas they but intensify it.

Life carries you where it will because you are part of itself; then there is no problem of security, of what people say or don’t say, and that is the beauty of life.

we must be very clear in ourselves whether this search after God is an escape, or whether it is a search for truth in everything—truth in our relationships, truth in the value of things, truth in ideas.

if we try to find the truth, not in one exclusive set of actions, but in all our actions, ideas, and relationships, if we seek the right evaluation of food, clothing, and shelter, then because our minds are capable of clarity and understanding, when we seek reality we shall find it.

if we are confused with regard to the things of the world—food, clothing, shelter, relationship, and ideas—how can we find reality? We can only invent reality.

Reality is the unknown, and that which is known is not the real.

Obstacles to truth/reality: - escapism masquerading as truth seeking - confusion - conditioned mind (the known covering the unknown) - fear of these - fear of fear of these

If you are open to the unknown, there can be no belief in it.

belief is a form of self-protection,

The mind is the product of the past, it is the result of yesterday, and can such a mind be open to the unknown? It can only project an image, but that projection is not real;

There can be reality only when the mind understands the total process of itself and comes to an end. When the mind is completely empty—only then is it capable of receiving the unknown.

Only when the mind is wholly silent, completely inactive, not projecting, when it is not seeking and is utterly still—only then that which is eternal and timeless comes into being.

the mind that is capable of saying, “I do not know,” is in the only state in which anything can be discovered.

The religious man is he who does not belong to any religion, to any nation, to any race, who is inwardly completely alone, in a state of not-knowing, and for him the blessing of the sacred comes into being.

If you have so far followed what I am talking about, not just verbally, but if you are actually experiencing it, you will find that when you can say, “I do not know,” all conditioning has stopped. And what then is the state of the mind?

Intelligence, to me, is mind and heart in full harmony; and then you will find out for yourself, without asking anyone, what that reality is.

Without meditation, there is no self-knowledge; without self-knowledge, there is no meditation.

You cannot go far without beginning near, without understanding your daily process of thought, feeling, and action.

if you are capable of feeling, of going into this you will find, as you become aware, that you are not free, that you are bound to very many different things, and that at the same time the mind hopes to be free.

If you have watched a little in the world, you know there is no such thing as security. The wife dies, the husband dies, the son runs away—something happens.

do not be mesmerized by that word. To be aware of every thought, to know from what source it springs and what is its intention—that is meditation.

to know the whole content of one thought reveals the whole process of the mind.

There is comprehension only when the mind is still, and the mind cannot be still as long as it is ignorant of itself.

Understanding

Tranquillity comes only when I understand the whole process of myself—the various entities in conflict with each other which compose the “me.”

Stillness emerges from awareness of conflict

The tricks of the mind are not meditation. Meditation is the beginning of self-knowledge, and without meditation, there is no self-knowledge.

A still mind is not seeking experience of any kind.

Such a mind knows what is creation—not the creation of the painter, the poet, the verbalizer; but that creation which has no motive, which has no expression. That creation is love and death.

Without knowing yourself, you cannot go far. However much you may attempt to go far, you can go only so far as your own projection; and your own projection is very near, is very close, and does not lead you anywhere.

to meditate is to purge the mind of its self-centered activity. And if you have come this far in meditation, you will find there is silence, a total emptiness.