Sunday, August 28, 2005

Krishnamurti

Krishnamurti: “Suppose, if there were no book, no guru, no teacher, what would you do? What would you do? No drugs, no tranquilizers, no organized religions, what would you do?

Questioner: “I can’t imagine what I would do.”. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Perhaps there would be a moment of urgency there.”

Krishnamurti: “That’s it. We haven’t the urgency because we say, “well somebody is going to help me.”

Questioner: “But most people would be driven insane by that situation.”

Krishnamurti: “I am not so sure sir.”

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I maintain that truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, un approachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. If you understand that, then you will see how impossible it is to organize a belief. A belief is purely an individual matter, and you must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others. This is what everyone throughout the world is attempting to do. Truth is narrowed down and made a plaything for those who are weak, for those who are only momentarily discontented. Truth cannot be brought down, rather the individual must make the effort to ascend to it. You cannot bring the mountintop to the valley. If you would attain to the mountaintop, you must pass through the valley, climb the steeps, unafraid of the dangerous precipices. You must climb towards the truth, it cannot be “stepped down” or organized for you. Interest in ideas is mainly sustained by organizations, but organizations only awaken interest from without. Interest, which is born out of love of truth for its own sake, but aroused by an organization, is of no value. The organization becomes a framework into which its members can conveniently fit. They no longer strive after the truth or the mountaintop, but rather carve for themselves a convenient niche in which they put themselves, or let the organization place them, and consider that the organization will thereby lead them truth... I maintain that no organization can lead man to spirituality.

If an organization is to be created for this purpose, it becomes a crutch, a weakness, a bondage, and must cripple the individual, and prevent him from growing, from establishing his uniqueness, which lies in the discovery, for himself of the absolute, unconditioned truth.

Krishnamurti - August 3, 1929

1 comment:

  1. Krishnamurti is brilliant. The first time I heard him, he spoke about focus. He revolutionized the word for me. He said focus is merely sustained attention, light as a feather. (Light as a feather are my words. That is what I felt he meant). It is continuance of attention alighting upon something, not a bearing down as of one is trying to wrestle it to the ground. As thoughts themselves are light as a feather, weightless it only makes sense. Sometimes it is the simplest tweak of a perception that frees the mind in a moment. It is not always hard work or a burden to challenge distortion of thought. If we believe it is, we work against our truth. What he says here on this page is in perfect alignment with his brilliance. I was told once in a dream by an old man who stopped me as I was going up some steps that my path is 'no path'. So the words written here from Krishnamurti make a great deal of sense to me. Love and Light to All...Namaste.

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