Total Freedom: The Essential Krishnamurti

by J. Krishnamurti

So, is it possible for me to have the capacity to inquire into and be totally free from envy? How does that capacity arise? Does it arise through any method or practice? Do I become an artist by practicing a particular technique day after day? Obviously not. The desire to have that capacity is a selfish movement of the mind, whereas if I do not try to cultivate it, but begin to inquire into the whole process of envy, then the means of totally dissolving envy is already there. Now, in what manner do I inquire into the process of envy? What is the motive behind that inquiry? Do I want to be free of envy in order to be a great man, in order to be like Buddha, Christ, and so on? If I inquire with that intention, with that motive, such inquiry projects its own answer, all of which will only perpetuate the monstrous world which we have now. But if I begin to inquire with humility, that is, not with a desire to achieve success, then an entirely different process is taking place. I realize that I have not got the capacity to be free of envy, so I say, “I shall find out,” which means that there is humility from the very beginning. And the moment one is humble, one has the capacity to be free of envy. But the man who says, “I must have that capacity, and I am going to get it through these methods, through this system”—such a man is lost, and it is such people who have created this ugly, treacherous world.