Showing results by author "Jiddu Krishnamurti" in All Categories

What is truth, and what is reality? 18 May 1975. Duration: 70 minutes. What is truth, and what is reality? Anything that thought thinks about or reacts upon or projects - that is reality. And that reality has nothing to do with truth. The art of seeing is to place reality where it is and not move that in order to get truth. You can't get truth. How am I to empty that consciousness and yet retain knowledge - otherwise I couldn't function - and reach a state which will comprehend reality?

On its 40th anniversary, Krishnamurti was invited to speak to the United Nations. He was then 90 years old, and they used the opportunity to give him a peace medal. The editors at the Krishnamurti Foundation of America were then requested to add more content from various recorded talks to create a book to be distributed by the World Future Society. The book was given out for free at their convention in Washington, D.C. in 1992 but other than that it has never been published. The location of the talks transcribed ranges from Brussels to Mumbai, and from San Diego to Colombo.

This comprehensive record of Krishnamurti’s teachings is an excellent, wide-ranging introduction to the great philosopher’s thought. With among others, Jacob Needleman, Alain Naude, and Swami Venkatasananda, Krishnamurti examines such issues as the role of the teacher and tradition; the need for awareness of ‘cosmic consciousness; the problem of good and evil; and traditional Vedanta methods of help for different levels of seekers.

To look without a concept is to be aware of the observer and the thing observed. 20 May 1967. Duration: 88 minutes. Violence and sorrow are not limited to the West or the East; they are parts of the human structure psychologically. Is it possible to bring about a change radically, a total revolution in the psyche itself, not through time? The first and last freedoms are when the mind is totally free from concepts and the mechanical process of building a formula.

The roots of psychological conflict. 1 April 1980. Duration: 82 minutes. Has humanity taken a wrong turn? What is the root of this tremendous inward conflict of humanity? When I am trying to become something, it is a constant battle. Can the brain itself see that it is caught in time and as long as it is moving in that direction conflict is eternal, endless? Can the mind realise, resolve a psychological problem immediately?

Complete freedom from thought. 9 September 1972. Duration: 76 minutes. Learning is instant perception and action. What place has thought in learning? To learn about freedom, must thought be completely silent? Does insight into freedom take time? Can thinking, however rational, bring about a psychological revolution in us? Is thought always conditioned? Is freedom the nonexistence of thought?

Living with a sustained seriousness. 21 February 1970. Duration: 91 minutes. What does it mean to be serious? Becoming. Why do I compare myself with you or with somebody else? Do I look at people through images? Can the brain operate without recourse to the past? 22 February 1970. Duration: 92 minutes. Is there self-progress? Conflict. Security. Any form of division within oneself is a source of conflict. Can the brain be quiet?

To perceive 'what is' is the basis of truth. 7 February 1971. Duration: 86 minutes. Where there is division, there must be conflict. A mind in conflict must inevitably be distorted, and therefore it cannot possibly see clearly what is truth. We need a total change, a deep revolution, psychological revolution, the inward revolution, without which you cannot possibly create a new society. Is it possible to observe, to perceive without the observer?

At the Feet of the Master authored by Jiddu Krishnamurti when he was 14 years old. Written under the name Alcyone, it was first published in 1910. It was his first recorded message to the world. Included in this selection are a collection of quotes from the 1960’s talks representative his midlife wisdom. Krishnamurti died when he was 90 years old in 1986.

A radical transformation in the psyche itself. 8 November 1968. Duration: 80 minutes. To communicate we must know that the word is not the thing and also be in that state of mind whose quality is attention, care. That can take place only if we are serious. We are the world, and the world is us. To bring about a radical transformation, which is so essential in society, there must be radical transformation in ourselves.

The role of the teacher. 26 March 1971. Duration: 56 minutes. There is much talk of a spiritual revolution among young people. Do you see in this very mixed phenomenon any hope of a new flowering for civilisation or possibility of growth? One can go into oneself at tremendous depths and find out everything. To go into oneself is the problem. Not being able to do it, we ask for help. If there were no books, no gurus, what would you do?

When you are really quiet, alone with yourself, you begin to know yourself and to see the intricacies of your mind. When we say anything that is a bit alternative to what our elders think, we are stopped. There is great tension between us. Will you say what we should do about it? What is humanity, and when can a man be called a human being?

Is thought detrimental? 15 August 1965. Duration: 63 minutes. Why does one seek pleasure? Can the mind face only facts and not thought? Why have I never said, 'Thought is poison' to myself? Meeting something one doesn't know, facing something which has no answer. Acting without knowing. What is a state of mind which is silent? Time is detrimental. Are we twisting everything to our core of pleasure?

Can the mind be free? 3 February 1969. Duration: 99 minutes. The society in which we live is the result of our psychological state. Where there is fear there is aggression. For most of us, freedom is something that we don’t want. Inaction is total action. What is the machinery that builds images? Questions from the audience follow the talk.

What is the operation of thought? 14 July 1974. Duration: 84 minutes. In the world around us and inside us, is there a relationship between the inner and the outer? Are you free to listen, or do you listen with interpretation and prejudices? Do I observe the content of my consciousness as an outsider?

Why do we divide the world, the human being and the divine? Do good and evil really exist or are they simply conditioned points of view? Is there a permanent ‘me’. Is there in me a place where there is no corruption, where there is real, absolute peace, order? Are the various scriptures of India and the Middle East similar to or in contradiction to your teaching? Is there any connection between the supernatural and religion?

Consciousness, because it is in constant movement, has never found an energy which is not contradictory, which is not produced by desire and thought.

What is the relationship of the brain to the totality of the mind? Fear of not being, fear of isolation, fear of not having pleasure, fear of having no relationship, is the soil from which the stem of contradiction grows. I want to be free of this stem to see what happens if there is no attachment, no detachment, because I am not afraid. Is there a peace with no entity saying, ‘I am peaceful?'

Attention implies the total abandonment of the 'me'. 6 March 1971. Duration: 100 minutes. Can the mind undergo a radical revolution? How do you observe the world? What solves our human problem is observing the whole process of ourselves without judging, condemning, translating or rejecting - just to observe.

Is thought detrimental? 15 August 1965. Duration: 63 minutes. Why does one seek pleasure? Can the mind face only facts and not thought? Why have I never said, 'Thought is poison' to myself? Meeting something one doesn't know, facing something which has no answer. Acting without knowing. What is a state of mind which is silent? Time is detrimental. Are we twisting everything to our core of pleasure?