Jiddu Krishnamurti was born in May 1895, in a small town in South India near Madras. As the eighth child of a Brahmin family, and a boy, he was by tradition called Krishnamurti in honor of Shri Krishna, a Hindu divinity born an eighth child.
His father, a civil servant, then moved to Madras with his four surviving sons. In 1911, the sixteen-year-old Krishnamurti, with his younger brother, was brought to England where he was privately educated. He began to speak along lines that broke with tradition in 1929, when he repudiated all connections with organized religions and ideology.
Once he came of age, he never stayed anywhere for more than a few months and did not consider that he belonged to any country, nationality or culture. He accepted no fees for his talks or royalties on his books and recordings.
During his talks, Krishnamurti would ask of his audience to participate by listening and exploring human problems together. You cannot listen if at the same time you are comparing what is said with what you have previously read, or learned, or recorded; this prevents listening.
In other words, if you are translating what is being said according to your own past knowledge or opinion, then you cannot listen.
Listening implies attention of the whole being.
This attention comes naturally when you are deeply in thought, and you are truly concerned with the many problems our existence faces. There should be no effort or concentration necessary.
It is key to Krishnamurti’s teaching that man, if he is to truly be free, must first be aware of the psychological conditioning which prevents him from seeing things as they really are.
This quality of attention to “what is”—neither to what one likes or dislikes, nor to what some authority says is so, but to the actual thing itself—is at the very core of his work. It is in this attention to “what is” that the mind stops chattering and is still, and thus no longer separate from the thing it observes. In this silence, there is no ‘me,’ no center to which one relates all that is seen or heard. Thus, there is only “what is” and in this there is the quality of love, of beauty, of order.
Presumably observation cannot occur without the pre-existence of some sort of consciousness to do the observing.
There is a delicious irony in all this. Contemporary Western scientific theory postulates that human consciousness is solely a result of the workings of a physical brain, the physical matter comprising a brain cannot come into existence until it is the subject of observation by some pre-existing consciousness.
Jiddu Krishnamurti’s philosophical talks are instructive for those who want to raise their awareness and insight into the extraordinary teachings of a man who spent sixty-five years traveling the world speaking to millions of people about his life journeys, which have been chronicled through books, written articles, and can be found throughout the internet.
Today there are four Krishnamurti Foundations:
The Krishnamurti Foundation Trust Ltd. in England
The Krishnamurti Foundation of America
The Krishnamurti Foundation India
The Krishnamurti Foundation Hispano-America
Krishnamurti himself refused the importance of his own history and urged people rather to listen to what he was talking about. This very indifference to his own origins and world-wide importance was consistent with Krishnamurti’s teachings.
Krishnamurti suggested that we should be concerned with the present tense as the past was history, dead and of little help in acting intelligently now.
Krishnamurti’s work is permeated by what may be called the essence of the scientific approach, when this is considered in its very highest and purest form. Thus, he begins from a fact like the nature of our thought processes. This fact is established through close attention, involving careful listening to the process of consciousness, and observing it assiduously.
In this, one is constantly learning, and out of this learning comes insight into the overall or general nature of the process of thought.
On my path of discovery I stumbled upon Krishnamurti’s talks, and must admit, it took some time before I could begin to understand what I was listening to, and what I was reading. Your understanding depends on your current awareness. Krishnamurti’s talks can be obscure, and very much interconnected within all his talks. The challenge here, is to understand the whole, not just bits and pieces. I have spent many an hour on websites dedicated to Krishnamurti’s work.
I found one website that has taken a unique approach, which seems to be more along the lines of what Krishnamurti was trying to accomplish through his talks.
“Truth is a pathless land.” Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, not through any philosophical knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection.
Daniel Marks who will be referred to as the “writer” and is the creator of BeyondtheMind.net and has constructed a very complex maze of an intuitive understanding of the philosophical and psychological technique Krishnamurti had intended with his talks.
The “writer” removes himself from the equation, diminishing his role – allowing the reader to listen and observe. The reader is then able to see themselves and the psychological conditioning that has prevented them from seeing things as they really are -thus becoming liberated.
The "writer" is a complete outsider, not affiliated in any way with these Foundations, Centers, Schools, Committees and/or dialogue forums.
The "writer" has no nationality, belief system or ideology, and is not a member of or involved with any other secular, spiritual or religious organization.
Organizations by their very nature promote a conformist groupthink; they are insular and the antithesis of dynamism, originality and creativity.
Although the site went online in 2007, Mr. Marks (the writer) has a life commitment to the work of Krishnamurti. The writer’s initial intention was (and remains) to share the understanding (through 'studying' the books for many years) to anyone globally who is, or may be, interested.
A secondary intention is to bring the pointers to a much larger audience.
This is a non-profit site that accepts contributions which will go towards both promotion of this site and the further dissemination of Krishnamurti's work to the public in general, which is a secondary intention behind this site's creation.
Such dissemination will be conducted through the auspices of the various international Foundations.
I think that’s it’s important to know that the “writer” is not affiliated in any way with these Foundations or any of the Trustees who administer them.
"This site was never intended to be done for reward, monetary or otherwise. It is a sharing of understanding only. It was and is never seen as an "effort." If you love what you are doing there is no effort in it. If it brings about responses from visitors, which it has been doing, then this is all to the good." — The "writer", BeyondtheMind.net
The cornerstone of this entire site is the writer's discoveries from looking into the 'mirror' that is the talks. Time and again the pointers in the talks allude to the actual nature of the contents of consciousness (ie., thought, desire, time, and the self) - the actual workings of the mind on a daily basis.
The key is to observe one's mind - and the pointers, once read and understood, can then be put aside.
Take a simple perusal of the site, and you will realize that this is a serious website devoted to an ongoing investigation of the talks and it is grounded in many years of reading and reflection. The writer is unimportant. It is the clarity of what is presented, and the depth or otherwise of the understanding, that is the only issue. It is clear that the talks present a mirror to the entire contents and structure of the human mind per se.
The key to it all is to directly perceive the facts presented through this mirror, not through an interpretational or past, self-interested and prejudicial distortion of it.
"The dissolution of the illusory self can only come about through direct insight into the workings of the mind. For this insight to occur, the mind must be entirely still, free of its continual reactions. The mind itself, as it is, cannot bring about its own transformation." —The "writer", BeyondTheMind.net
There is no end to learning, no destination, no arrival point. The outlining of this understanding does not preclude further learning — in fact, the contrary has proved to be the case. The talks are truly vast in their scope, an all-encompassing penetration into the human condition. This site has focused on what is perceived to be the central themes, comprising the essence of it all; it is not a complete look at all the myriad issues raised in the talks. It is a work in understanding and must not be regarded as an authority — or, more importantly, an interpretation — on either the talks or the themes that are pointed out - there is simply no authority, one must see the truth for oneself.
The "writer" has seen in the workings of the mind the factual nature of what is pointed out in the talks, again and again, and it is from this basis alone that this site has been created.
I think it’s important to note that the “writer” is not in any way a 'follower' or 'devotee' of the Krishnamurti.
Truth is ever-changing and cannot be captured.
Whereas the talks consist entirely of pointers to the workings of the mind, which is trapped in time and is unable to perceive truth. This site is thus an investigation into these pointers, but this is not to say that the pointers are all that there is and the final word on everything; seeing the contents of the mind, of consciousness, is what is important.
As I always say to my readers, “you must find your own truth.”
No-one can help another, hence this site is not to 'help' anyone. Just like my blog is my journey. BeyondtheMind.net is the "writer's" journey into the pointing out, into himself. So keep in mind when reading through the site, this is the understanding of the "writer", and not of the reader.
It is an exploration into the totality of the work - the books, dialogues, articles, and public talks covering in all around 38 years, from 1948-1986.
The overarching contention of BeyondtheMind.net, is that all these subjects need a fresh airing and evaluation, free as far as possible from all existing conclusions and biases.
I highly recommend you visit the site and may you therefore find, somewhere, something of value.
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