Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jiddu Krishnamurti, whose life and teachings spanned the greater part of the 20th century, is regarded by many as one who has had a most profound impact on human consciousness. Sage, philosopher, and thinker, he illumined the lives of millions the world over: intellectuals and laymen, young and old. He gave new meaning and content to religion by pointing to a way of life that transcends all organized religions. He confronted boldly the problems of contemporary society and analyzed with scientific precision the working of the human mind. Declaring that his only concern was to “set man absolutely, unconditionally free”, he sought to liberate man from his deep conditioning of selfishness and sorrow.

Jiddu Krishnamurti was born to a pious middle-class family in the rural town Madanapalle in South India. He was “discovered” in his boyhood by the leaders of the Theosophical Society, Mrs. Annie Besant, and Bishop Leadbeater, who proclaimed that he was the World Teacher that the Theosophists were waiting for. As a young man, Krishnamurti underwent certain mystical experiences that brought about a deep transformation and gave him a new vision of life. Later he dissociated himself from all organized religions and ideologies and embarked on a solitary mission of meeting and talking to people, not as a guru, but as a friend.

From the early 1920s till 1986 Krishnamurti traveled around the world till the age of 91 giving talks, writing, and holding a discussion. His teachings were not based on book knowledge and scholarship but on his insight into the human condition and his vision of the sacred. He did not expound on any philosophy but rather talked of the things that concern all of us in our everyday life: the problems of living in modern society with its corruption and violence, the individual’s search for security and happiness, and the need for man to free himself from this inner burden of violence, fear, and sorrow.

Although he is recognized both in the East and the West as one of the greatest religious teachers, Krishnamurti himself belonged to no religion, sect, or country, nor did he subscribe to any school, political or ideological thought. On the contrary, he maintained that these are the very factors that divide man from man and bring about conflict and war.

He emphasized time and again that we are first and foremost human beings and each one of us is like the rest of humanity and not different. He pointed to the importance of bringing to our daily life a deeply meditative and religious quality. Only such a radical change can bring about a new mind, a new civilization. Thus his teachings transcend all man-made boundaries of religious beliefs, nationalistic sentiment, and sectarian outlook. At the same time, they give a new meaning and direction to modern man’s quest for truth, for the sacred. His teachings, besides being relevant to the modern age, are timeless and universal.

Krishnamurti is a spiritual teacher regarded by many as one who has had the most profound impact on human consciousness. Declaring that his only concern was to “set man absolutely, unconditionally free”, he sought to liberate man from his deep conditioning of selfishness and sorrow. He did not expound on any philosophy but rather talked of the things that concern all of us in our everyday life: the problems of living in modern society with its corruption and violence, the individual’s search for security and happiness, and the need for man to free himself from this inner burden of violence, fear, and sorrow.

Today on Luminosity we’re delving deeper into ‘what is you’ and ‘what is not’ – but not in any kind of three-dimensional physical way. We’re focusing on the mind and the integrity of thinking our own thoughts, and trusting ourselves as our own guidepost, along with the repercussions of “thinking culture’s thoughts” – being led astray by the workings of the mind. And as always we’ll be providing you with the practical toolbox on how to do just this.

We must be brave enough to look within ourselves and locate the multiple ways in which we’ve internalized culture’s thoughts and societies’ beliefs, and if you’re reading this now, I’m sure you’re being called to do so too. It’s a never-ending journey – only the journey of the spiral, circling again and again growing larger, bigger, brighter, and more beautiful each time.

Living out of context with all that we can be forges the wedge between our truest essence, and who we project into the world. How big is that gap? That void? The problem is the mind will only lead astray reinforcing the gap and building the wall higher between your true self, and your societal self. We’ve got to break ourselves down, to build ourselves up. This is where conscious awareness and glorifying the gift of our free will come into play. On a spiritual path, there is an implicit need to decondition ourselves and everything we’ve internalized that is not us, so that we can truly embody all that we are and all that we can be.

One of the main driving forces growing the gap between our true self and our societal self is that, as a society, we have handed over our power to the mind. The fundamental issue here is the ‘basic-ness’, if you like, of the mind. The mind can be likened to a computer with an input-output system. It registers and keeps track of everything that’s going on around you, and stores it as data (the input). This data goes into the overflow system of the hard drive (the subconscious mind) where it forms the circuitry of the brain according to what it has experienced. It is through this circuitry that our mind functions and our thoughts are created and brought forward into the conscious mind (output).

The fact of the matter is that each new thought is run through this same unique circuitry system of our brains – which is why we may find ourselves replaying unbeneficial behaviors again and again if we act according to the thoughts and impulses of the mind. The mind is also inevitably constricted by the unbelievable limitation of words. Naturally, we’re restricted to the limited number of words and languaging we have been exposed to throughout our life, and so it seems silly that we would put the mind as ruler by the fact of its sheer limitation. Thoughts that have come from other sources, even well-intentioned parents, friends, and teachers, are also never going to serve the highest version of ourselves because they’re not us, and we can reclaim a tremendous amount of power, and energy, each time we trust ourselves as the highest truth.

Yet how do we differentiate what are our thoughts and not those of society or exterior sources? The answer is teasingly simple, yet often daunting to follow. It is the thought which feels truest, purest, and clearest – those are thoughts coming from somewhere else. Not your brain. They’re God, Source, your intuition, or whichever label you may wish to give them, communicating with you. And they feel light, pure, honest, real, and expansive. They’re a gift.

Nonetheless, these thoughts may not come often, and the great justifier, judge, and cynic of the mind will only try to throw in a dose of confusion. More abundantly, however, we also have these things called feelings. Yes! It’s as simple as that. Your ‘gut feeling’, a ‘hunch’, your emotional inclination towards something. Often it doesn’t even make sense to the logical mind, but if we want to know what’s true of ourselves about something; tapping into our feelings can be the shortcut to accessing our highest truth. Feelings are the language of the soul, and again, the same rule sticks: it is the purest, cleanest, most unhindered feeling where our truth and ‘next right step’ lie. Anything less, or anything that is unclear and murky has been misconstrued from outside data.

If thought is true to us – it is the clearest, loudest, purest thought – one that lifts you up. Everything else is not us and we can observe, but not believe them. This guidepost will always lead you back to yourself, and if followed will make incredible shifts in your life. It will direct us back to the context of all that we can be and, one by one, close that gap between who we project, and the greatest expression of who we really are.

If however there is no loud, clear, and unignorable thought about something and we want to know what’s true for ourselves; we can also look to how we’re feeling about it. Your feeling about something represents what you intuitively know, and what your soul knows when words are only adding confusion to the matter.

These are two great guideposts to utilize in our lives if we dare greatly enough to become consciously aware of them, and acknowledge them, and then the lies magic in acting upon them. Even if the cogs of your brain start to kick in and declare otherwise, or other figures in your life are advising you differently. Remember to stay true to yourself, and be your own guru, because the more that you trust yourself, the more life trusts you.

For more information go to J. Krishnamurti Online. The official repository of the authentic teachings of J. Krishnamurti