Documentary/Biographical Story
about Krishnamurti, with rare film footage.
J. KRISHNAMURTI : Part 1 : Life Story & Teachings
J. KRISHNAMURTI : Part 2 : Life Story & Teachings
J. KRISHNAMURTI : Part 3 : Life Story & Teachings
J. KRISHNAMURTI : Part 4 : Life Story & Teachings
J. KRISHNAMURTI : Part 5 : Life Story & Teachings
Brief History of Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti lived from 1895 to 1986, and is regarded as one of
the greatest philosophical and spiritual figures of the twentieth century.
Krishnamurti claimed no allegiance to any caste, nationality or religion
and was bound by no tradition. His purpose was to set humankind unconditionally
free from the destructive limitations of conditioned mind. For nearly
sixty years he traveled the world and spoke spontaneously to large audiences
until the end of his life in 1986 at the age of ninety. He had no permanent
home, but when not traveling, he often stayed in Ojai, California, Brockwood
Park, England, and in Cennai, India. In his talks, he pointed out to people
the need to transform themselves through self knowledge, by being aware
of the subtleties of their thoughts and feelings in daily life, and how
this movement can be observed through the mirror of relationship.
Krishnamurti was first discovered by the Theosophists on a beach in India
in 1910. He was just 13 years old. Annie Besant, leader of the Theosophical
Society at that time, undertook to educate Krishnamurti and his brother
in England. Krishnamurti was on a trajectory to be the new "World
Teacher" for the ages. Then he took an extraordinary turn. In 1929,
at the age of 32 and at one of the enormous annual European gatherings
of the Theosophists in Holland, he announced his decision to step down
from any formal role or plan to promote him as a World Teacher, resigned
as figure head of the Theosophists, and cut all ties to any notion of
a religious or spiritual organization. This was followed immediately by
a "core" statement, summarized as "Truth Is A Pathless
Land: man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed,
through any dogma, priest or ritual, not through any philosophic knowledge
or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship,
through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation
and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection."
For the rest of his long life, he taught not as an authority but as an
investigator looking into life's fundamental issues through questioning
all assumptions, and challenging his listeners to do the same.
The body of Krishnamurti's work is enormous, some estimate it at more
than 100 million words; 60 years of more or less uninterrupted appearances
around the world. His charge to the Foundations at his death in 1986 was
to spread his un-interpreted, authentic body of work around the world.
His talks and dialogues have been compiled and published in more than
sixty books and translated into as many different languages. His books
include The Ending of Time, Freedom from the Known, Commentaries on Living,
Education and the Significance of Life, The Awakening of Intelligence,
and The First and Last Freedom.
The Core of the Teachings
Krishnamurti's
When asked in 1974 by his biographer, Mary Lutyens, to define his teachings
Krishnamurti wrote the following:
"The core of Krishnamurti's teaching is contained in the statement
he made in 1929 when he said 'Truth is a pathless land'. Man cannot come
to it through any organisation, through any creed, through any dogma,
priest or ritual, not through any philosophical knowledge or psychological
technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through
the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation
and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection. Man
has built in himself images as a fence of security - religious, political,
personal. These manifest as symbols, ideas, beliefs. The burden of these
images dominates man's thinking, his relationships and his daily life.
These images are the causes of our problems for they divide man from man.
His perception of life is shaped by the concepts already established in
his mind. The content of his consciousness is his entire existence. This
content is common to all humanity. The individuality is the name, the
form and superficial culture he acquires from tradition and environment.
The uniqueness of man does not lie in the superficial but in complete
freedom from the content of his consciousness, which is common to all
mankind. So he is not an individual.
Freedom is not a reaction; freedom is not a choice. It is man's pretence
that because he has choice he is free. Freedom is pure observation without
direction, without fear of punishment and reward. Freedom is without motive;
freedom is not at the end of the evolution of man but lies in the first
step of his existence. In observation one begins to discover the lack
of freedom. Freedom is found in the choiceless awareness of our daily
existence.
Thought is time. Thought is born of experience, of knowledge, which are
inseparable from time. Time is the psychological enemy of man. Our action
is based on knowledge and therefore time, so man is always a slave to
the past.
When man becomes aware of the movement of his own consciousness he will
see the division between the thinker and the thought, the observer and
the observed, the experiencer and the experience. He will discover that
this division is an illusion. Then only is there pure observation which
is insight without any shadow of the past . This timeless insight brings
about a deep radical mutation in the mind.
Total negation is the essence of the positive. When there is negation
of all those things which are not love – desire, pleasure –
then love is, with its compassion and intelligence."
Reviews of Facing a World in Crisis
"Krishnamurti is one of the greatest philosophers of our age."—the
Dalai Lama
"Few modern thinkers have integrated psychology, philosophy, and
religion so seamlessly as Krishnamurti."— Publishers Weekly
Description of Facing a World in Crisis
J. Krishnamurti, one of the most beloved and renowned religious teachers
of the twentieth century, often taught his students that they must look
at the state of the world, with all its violence and conflict, if they
are ever to understand themselves. To turn away from world events was
for him not to be alive to what life has to teach.
Facing a World in Crisis presents a selection of talks that Krishnamurti
gave on how to live in and respond to troubling and uncertain times. His
message of personal responsibility and the importance of connecting with
the broader world is presented in a nonsectarian and nonpolitical way.
Direct and ultimately life-affirming, Facing a World in Crisis will resonate
with readers today who are looking for a new way to understand and find
hope in challenging times.
