Krishnamurti

A short introduction

Historical background

When around 1900 Leadbeater, a Theosophy leader, saw the young Krishnamurti playing on a beach in India, he said that he never saw an aura so devoid of egotism. Leadbeater believed then that he finally found the next "vehicle" for what Theosophists believed was the coming manifestation of Maitreya (or Christ), and Krishnamurti was thus raised by them accordingly. In his late 20's, Krishnamurti began indeed to experience an intense spiritual awakening, but what he started to teach was closer to the Advaita philosophy than the esoteric tradition of Theosophy. The gap gradually increased, and in 1929 he decided to dissolve the organization built around him and to continue to teach on his own.

Krishnamurti's teaching

What is for me the central part in K's teaching is the meditation part, but this is not to be understood by meditation in the usual sense, where you sit cross-legged on a mountain top, but more in what is commonly referred to as "mindfulness" - wherein you pay attention and are aware of your every thoughts and actions during the day, and therefore learn to increasingly discover your own self and "wake up":

"If you really want to know yourself, you will search out your heart and your mind to know their full content and when there is the intention to know, you will know. Then you can follow, without condemnation or justification, every movement of thought and every feeling as it arises; by following every thought and every feeling as it arises you bring about tranquility which is not compelled, not regimented, but which is the outcome of having no problem, no contradiction. It is like the pool that becomes peaceful, quiet, any evening when there is no wind; when the mind is still, then that which is immeasurable comes into being."

Nothing can be said, or even conceived, about the supreme reality, because "It" is beyond the reach of thought, and thought itself can deceive us in many ways. Krishnamurti however, asserts that there is such a "Reality", a Truth who's beauty is the fulfillment of everything each and everyone is looking for, but this reality is not necessarily dissociated from everyday life, nor necessarily reserved for the selected few. Krishnamurti's expression of this reality is very close to the one of the Tao - an Intelligence that not only sustains the whole universe, but that can also guide our every move if we align with it. There is, however, nothing we can "do" to "tap" into this force, because every doing, every willingness even to do something, to have something, to achieve something, is the result of movements from the ego, which is exactly what prevents this force to manifest itself:

"There is no path to truth, it must come to you. Truth can come to you only when your mind and heart are simple, clear, and there is love in your heart; not if your heart is filled with the things of the mind."

Krishnamurti and other spiritual approaches

There may be a tendency from those who listen to Krishnamurti to systematically condemn every more formalized spiritual paths. It isn't my case. Although I don't belong to any spiritual group nor do I practice any spiritual discipline, I think that everything complements each other. It's a matter of priority and perspective. What K points to is the most basic element. Something enough on its own to help someone, whether he follows a spiritual path or not, but this doesn't necessarily mean that there is no truth or value in other approaches. We just have to exert our discernment.