“As the lotus that pushes heavenward through mire,
So must thou push aside all transient things
If thou wouldst discover that Kingdom of Happiness.
As the majestic tree depends for its strength on its hidden roots,
And plays with the great passing winds,
So must thou establish thy hidden strength deep within thyself,
And play with the passing world.”
“When thou art free, untrammelled,
When thy body is controlled and relaxed,
When thine eyes can perceive all things in their pure nakedness,
When thy heart is serene and burdened with affection,
When thy mind is well poised,
Then, O world,
The gates of that Garden,
The Kingdom of Happiness,
Are open.”
“Balanced between the past and the future, the “I” is poised as a tiger ready to spring, as an eagle ready to fly, as the bow at the moment of releasing the arrow. This moment of equilibrium, of high tension, is “creation.” It is the fullness of all life, it is immortality.”
“The man who is pursuing happiness will never be happy, for happiness comes upon us suddenly, obscurely, unexpectedly. Have you not noticed that the moment you know you are happy, you have lost happiness? When you say, “I am joyous”, it is over, finished. Happiness, like love, is something of which the mind can never be conscious. The moment the mind is conscious that it loves, there is no longer love.”
“Enquiry is different from analysis. Enquiry is to observe and pursue that observation.”
“To enquire means to investigate, to explore. And to explore very deeply, if the brain is conditioned, your exploration, your enquiry will be limited. Naturally. It’s like an animal being tethered to a post, the rope may be long or short, but it is tethered. If the brain is conditioned, as most people’s brains are, then the enquiry will be very limited. But the enquiry demands that we be free to look. It is necessary – if we are to enquire, to be really part of that enquiry – to be subtly doubtful, questioning, asking, skepticism. Right?”
“My enquiry must be total – you understand? It must be total, that is, my enquiry into behaviour, order, virtue, disorder, relationship with the world and with my wife, husband, girl, boy. It must be an enquiry that includes the whole of my living, not just part of it.”
“What is important is to understand the enquirer, because if the enquirer is very clear, objective, impersonal, free, non-attached, then the enquiry can be extraordinary, but if the enquirer is attached, conditioned, has a motive, his enquiry will inevitably be limited.”
“When we talk about enquiry, who is the enquirer? We come back to that old thing. The enquirer is the enquired. I don’t know if I am making myself clear on that point. That is, I enquire into matter, through telescopes, through all kinds of experiments, I enquire. But the person who enquires is different from the thing he is enquiring. Right? That’s clear. But here, in the subjective world, in the world of the psyche, the enquirer is part of the psyche, he is not separate from the psyche. If that is clear, then the enquirer has quite a different meaning.”
“I would say there is only infinite watching. There is no watcher in watching, but the extraordinary vitality, and the energy in watching, because you have watched the whole psychological world, subjective world before you come to that point. And now when you are watching there is no background which is watching, there is only watching ‘as is’. I don’t know if I am making myself clear. Because you see that means in great attention, in that attention there is no entity who is attending, there is only the attention that has space, the attention that is totally quiet, silent, attention that has tremendous gathering of energy, and therefore there is total absence of the self-interest. And is that possible for a human being to reach that point?”
J. Krishnamurti
When we look at Krishnamurti’s life, we see three major phases. 1. Boy Krishnamurti as a disciple, 2. Young Krishnamurti as an enquirer, 3. Matured Krishnamurti as the World Teacher. The first phase has been studied in the last workshop. In this workshop, the second phase will be studied. The second phase of Krishnamurti’s life started after he went through a spiritual “process” in 1922. In this period of 7-8 years, before he started talking as the World Teacher, we see him as an enquirer – thinking for himself, observing, questioning and coming to his own understanding of life. During this period, he started self-preparation groups and talked to group members as to how they should prepare themselves to receive the World Teacher and understand His Teachings. Krishnamurti’s teaching of this period probably serves as a good guideline to prepare oneself for receiving his later teachings. In this workshop the participants will be going through some of Krishnamurti’s works of that period and find out in what way it is helpful in understanding his later teachings. One of the major aspects of Krishnamurti’s teaching is self-enquiry. What is enquiry? Is it same as analysis? What is free enquiry? What is the nature of enquirer? Is there an enquiry without the enquirer? All such and many similar and related questions will be considered in this workshop. Starting from the conditioned enquiry, exploring through free enquiry without the enquirer leading to infinite watching, will be the main focus of study in this workshop. It is hoped that as the participants explore the theme, they end up in watching themselves. Soft copies of three books: 1. From Darkness to Light (Poems and Parables), 2. The Kingdom if Happiness and 3. Self-Preparation will be provided as 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.