The spiritual sage Jiddu Krishnamurti who wished to transform mankind at the very root-Tribute on 125th birth anniversary year
This year in May we celebrated the 125th birthday of Jiddu Krishnamurti who was arguably the greatest spiritual philosopher of the last few centuries. No spiritual philosopher arguably was less dogmatic, penetrated or delved more deeply in the spiritual realm..To some he is the equivalent of a Budha or Christ today. I have never known a more open -minded spiritual philosopher or anyone who took philosophical questions to such metaphysical depth. with the possible exception of Osho Rajneesh. To some in his very delivery he gave overtones of enlightenement they never witnessed in anyone else. and reached depths of inner liberation unequalled in his time. In many ways Krishnamurti was an incarnation of Ramana Maharishi.
I was introduced to K in 1996 . I have attended 2 All India gatherings in Varanasi,2 international retreats in Varanasi and one retreat in Brockwood.From those I met there were a handful who had firm conviction that he could sit with the great prophets.
What distinguished Krishnamurti from others was that he never preached theories of Karma,re-incarnation,pre-destiny,acknowledged existence of the soul etc. nor worshipped any images and rejected every religion.
To K truth was pathless land and spirituality could never be attained by consciously seeking it. Although never preaching God in a subtle manner he negated the mechanistic view of the atheists and explained how true consciousness overlapped the boundaries of psychological thought or materialism. His basic accent or theme was on how we were all part of the universal energy and truth could only be reached by moving away from the self..He basically dealt with the relationship of the movement of thought with the Self and on watching thought.He did not prescribe any rituals or organized forms of meditation. through chanting mantras etc.In subtle manner he explains the relationship between consciousness, thought ,energy ,intelligence ,mind ,self etc.I n his own language even if rejecting every God he explains that everything is a manifestation of the Universal energy y.K placed great emphasis on distinguishing between awareness and thought ,asserting that thought was always fragmented but awareness represented the whole. Above al K’S main objective was to break the conditioning of the mind .
There are countless teachings permanently embedded in our memories like,’Truth is a pathless land’, the ‘observer and observed are one’, ‘choiceless awareness’, ‘fragmentation of thought and awareness’, ‘pure consciousness’ ,’universal energy’ , ‘truth only reached in state of thoughtlessness and dropping the I ‘,’perception is true action’ ,’There is ‘action inaction’, ‘Only the now is truth,, ‘incarnate in this life itself’, ‘fragmentation of thought and awareness.’,You are the World, “Root of the self lies in the movement of thought’ etc.I am also most touched by his teaching son ‘Stillness.’.and ‘Source of thought.”
Unlike Marxists or Gandhians Krishnamurti felt revolution can be acheived only through inner change and Gandhi’s non-violence was as insignificant as a Communist Revolution. He condemned the selfishness of capitalism or imperialism but felt that true liberation could only be attained through stopping thought. Ofcourse I am critical of his not speaking positively about Socialism.
It is ofcourse debatable whether techniques like Vipassana could be a road to reach the path of K to drop the I and reach state of thoughtlesness .Many K folowers reject such techniques but thee are those who support it.Krishnamurti’s philosophy has its roots in Buddhism and could be classed as neo-Buddhism. Still it has important distinctions.Personally I feel without Vipassana one can never attain the state of thoughtlessness.
It is amazing that Krishnamurti won the admiration of playwrights like George Bernard Shaw and David Bohm.Scientist David Bohm through K saw a meeting point between Science and spirituality while BernardShaw never saw such a deeply enlightened person.
In the Krishnamurti schools a new type of education was inculcated which opposed rote learning and stressed on de-conditioning the mind.Competitivity of the capitalist or consumerist world was confronted.
Even Marxists or revolutionaries have to understand that it without inner or spiritual change a true revolution cannot be undertaken. I disagree with Krishnamurty on his negative view son Socialism and negating ideology. He virtually placed Socialism on the same pedestal as Capitalism. However he did speak out against the war inVietnam,against the cruelties of American expansionism. Today I ma sure he would have opposed many of the cruelties on environment subjected by designs of globalisation. Let us remember that morally Karl Marx wished to create a spiritually liberated man. He would vehemently have spoken out against Hindutva fascism today and arguably even caste.Nevethless I am critical of his relationship with Prime minister Indira Gandhi and his criticism of Socialist China.
Above all a man with great humility unlike Osho Rajneesh who mantained strong sense of dignity. throughout his life and had the modesty to even reject the red star very early in hi slife.
Harsh Thakor A graduate from Elphinstone college and now a political commentator touring various parts of India,mainly Punjab. Written for blogs like ‘democracy and class struggle’ and in ‘Frontier Weekly’. Also visited J.Krishnmaurti institutions.,attending gatherings.Main writings are on Moaism,mass line and democratic struggles.
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Thank you Harsh Thakor for commemorating Krishnamurti’s spiritual blitzkrieg upon the somnambulistic mundane mind…he was, as you point out the apogee of humility and dignity… I remain his grateful novice