Happy New Year Folks...For sometime I have been reading Jiddu Krishnamurthy's works (and watching his videos) and have been terribly impressed by his philosophy and his views. He is an amazing person. To summarize, the core of his teachings are as follows:
Truth, which can be thought of as something beyond time and cannot be measured (or divisible), is a pathless entity. It cannot be reached by any intellectual analysis or introspection. Nor it can be attained by any self-effort. No religion, dogma, spiritual practices or rituals (and equally political, cultural, social alliances) can lead to this entity. To make the matters worse, these personal affiliations will put oneself into more misery by "conditioning" the mind. The human mind has already been conditioned through several centuries and we are adding "more stuff" to it by involving in such false security measures - religion, politics etcetera. In a nutshell, only when the mind is "empty" of its contents, can the real Truth be known ('known' as in observed and not as in understood).
I love this philosophy and I think one has to leave aside his/her prejudices to see that this is true. And I respect this great man for his wisdom who never claimed himself to be a spiritual teacher, guru or even a philosopher. He was nobody in his opinion and he dismissed the Order of the Star under his leadership.
However, to all the people who are influenced by JK and value his teaching, I have a question. Is JK conditioned by his thoughts on Truth? This I think is a mind boggling self-loop on what could be one of the greatest theories on Truth (remember, mind has to empty its contents to verify the theory's validity!). If JK is conditioned by his own thoughts, there is nothing to argue - his teaching can only be appreciated like a poem or a painting and that he himself has fallen into the trap (on his defense, he never claimed anything and could have equally dismissed his teaching). On the other hand, if he is not conditioned by his thoughts, there cannot be any core principles in his teaching. Having a fixed set of ideas - devoid of any vitality is a conditioning by itself! In fact, we do see some central message in his teaching. Is he conditioned by his ideas? How do we break from this self-loop that his teachings create?
In my opinion, there is no way one can be out of this loop and JK fell in his own trap (unknowingly, of course). This is not surprising, after all, we all know (and it is his thesis) that the process of thinking is limiting and fragmentary. His teachings being a product of thought has to contradict itself at some point. In that case, what is the validity of the statement that Truth is a pathless land? - which I think is true. The only way to keep this thesis intact is to allow some pointers in the direction of that (Truth) land. The land may not be accessible through any path, however there could be some sign posts saying the land is there. Well, what are those sign posts? - read Eckhart Tolle.
Truth, which can be thought of as something beyond time and cannot be measured (or divisible), is a pathless entity. It cannot be reached by any intellectual analysis or introspection. Nor it can be attained by any self-effort. No religion, dogma, spiritual practices or rituals (and equally political, cultural, social alliances) can lead to this entity. To make the matters worse, these personal affiliations will put oneself into more misery by "conditioning" the mind. The human mind has already been conditioned through several centuries and we are adding "more stuff" to it by involving in such false security measures - religion, politics etcetera. In a nutshell, only when the mind is "empty" of its contents, can the real Truth be known ('known' as in observed and not as in understood).
I love this philosophy and I think one has to leave aside his/her prejudices to see that this is true. And I respect this great man for his wisdom who never claimed himself to be a spiritual teacher, guru or even a philosopher. He was nobody in his opinion and he dismissed the Order of the Star under his leadership.
However, to all the people who are influenced by JK and value his teaching, I have a question. Is JK conditioned by his thoughts on Truth? This I think is a mind boggling self-loop on what could be one of the greatest theories on Truth (remember, mind has to empty its contents to verify the theory's validity!). If JK is conditioned by his own thoughts, there is nothing to argue - his teaching can only be appreciated like a poem or a painting and that he himself has fallen into the trap (on his defense, he never claimed anything and could have equally dismissed his teaching). On the other hand, if he is not conditioned by his thoughts, there cannot be any core principles in his teaching. Having a fixed set of ideas - devoid of any vitality is a conditioning by itself! In fact, we do see some central message in his teaching. Is he conditioned by his ideas? How do we break from this self-loop that his teachings create?
In my opinion, there is no way one can be out of this loop and JK fell in his own trap (unknowingly, of course). This is not surprising, after all, we all know (and it is his thesis) that the process of thinking is limiting and fragmentary. His teachings being a product of thought has to contradict itself at some point. In that case, what is the validity of the statement that Truth is a pathless land? - which I think is true. The only way to keep this thesis intact is to allow some pointers in the direction of that (Truth) land. The land may not be accessible through any path, however there could be some sign posts saying the land is there. Well, what are those sign posts? - read Eckhart Tolle.
