“If there is right comprehension of the fact that there cannot be true discernment as long as the will of want continues, this very comprehension brings the “I” process to an end. There is not another or higher “I” to bring this “I” process to an end; no environment and no divinity can bring this “I” process to an end. But the very perception of the “I” process itself, the very discernment of its folly, of its transient nature, brings it to an end.”
“We have developed extraordinary skills, capacities, in almost every direction, in every field of our existence. And these skills, these extraordinary capacities have brought about a great deal of confusion, have exaggerated the importance of the self, the ‘me’, and perhaps divided people a great deal – those who know, and those who do not know. And without clarity, as we were saying, these skills will be disastrous because unless the mind is very clear, objective, and that clarity can only come about through compassion. Compassion, clarity, and skill. Where there is compassion there is clarity and out of that clarity there is intelligence. And that intelligence is not personal – yours or mine. And that intelligence will use the skill without giving importance to the self, the ‘me’.”
“So from the understanding of desire, not intellectually, but in your heart, in your depth, see the nature of it, the operations of it, the movement of it, the nature of desire, the nature of will and the total movement of all your senses, then you will see that pleasure is a very small affair. There is a much greater thing than pleasure… If you have not that compassion, haven’t understood the nature of all desire and so on, you will never come upon that glory which is truth.”
“Goodness is not the opposite of that which is bad… Goodness is by itself unrelated to that which we may consider evil, ugly, bad… Goodness is totally unrelated to every form of authority… Goodness is not the pursuit of conformity. If you conform to a belief, to a concept, to an idea, to a principle, that is not good, because it creates conflict. The essence of goodness is a mind that is not in conflict. Goodness cannot flower through another, through a religious figure, through dogma, through belief, it can only flower in the soil of total attention in which there is no authority. And goodness implies great responsibility. You can’t be good and allow wars to take place… Can this goodness, with its beauty, with its holiness – that word means that – can we live that way?”
“To the so-called religious to be sensitive is to sin, an evil reserved for the worldly; to the religious the beautiful is temptation, to be resisted; it’s an evil distraction to be denied. Good works are not a substitute for love, and without love all activity leads to sorrow, noble or ignoble. The essence of affection is sensitivity and without it all worship is an escape from reality. To the monk, to the sannyasi, the senses are the way of pain, save thought which must be dedicated to the god of their conditioning. But thought is of the senses. It is thought that puts together time and it is thought that makes sensitivity sinful. To go beyond thought is virtue and that virtue is heightened sensitivity which is love. Love and there is no sin; love and do what you will, there is no sorrow.”
J. Krishnamurti
If we look at Krishnamurti’s life, we can see three major stages. 1. Boy Krishnamurti as a disciple, 2. Young Krishnamurti as an enquirer, 3. Matured Krishnamurti as the World Teacher. Most of us are familiar with the teachings of Krishnamurti as the World Teacher. We study, discuss and admire these teachings but when it comes to application of it in our life, how often have we felt that if only these teachings were given as simple instructions, how easy it would have been to implement it in our life! The small booklet titled: ‘At the Feet of the Master’ precisely does that. It contains instructions given to boy Krishnamurti in order to prepare him for the manifestation of the World Teacher. Expressed in simple traditional English words, the content does mirror the teachings given later by Krishnamurti as the World Teacher. The purpose of this workshop is to study the content of this little book in the light of J. Krishnamurti’s later teachings. It is hoped that the workshop will be helpful for the participants to discern for themselves as to what needs to be done if they want to live the teachings. Various selections from Krishnamurti’s works relevant to the theme of this workshop along with the soft copy of the booklet: ‘At the Feet of the Master’ will be provided as a reading material to each participant. Also links to the relevant videos of Krishnamurti will be provided. Each participant is expected to devote these two days fully to the study in order to benefit maximum from this workshop.