Today’s Book: What Are You Doing with Your Life? by J. Krishnamurti

Most of Jiddu Krishnamurti’s publications are derived from his spontaneous talks delivered all over India and the world.

His “teaching” (he did not like this word) was simple – as soon as the mind BEGINS analysis we have ESCAPED life! Words, terms, theories, philosophies, teachings and even teachers and Gurus cannot take you anywhere unless you totally stay with your OWN experience and NOT escape into a thought (which is nothing but a description or a theory).

In his words:

Mere acquisition of knowledge, mere listening to a lot of ideas, to a great many talks does not bring about wisdom. What brings wisdom is self-observation, examination of ourselves.

But, beware, experiences will trigger thoughts. Of course, thoughts will always come – we cannot stop them and there is no need to stop them – but, as soon as you begin a thought, you get away from experience and life!

The longer your descriptions and narratives, the more you are away from the real opportunity of life – from transformation and from real freedom and joy.

He gave a simple and powerful access: you can experience life totally, here and now, this very moment, if you are not doing doing any seeking, following any dictum or guru and not allowing your mind to cling to anything. He says:

So long as we are seeking a result, whether through analysis, through awareness, through constant examination of every thought, we are still within the field of thought, which is within the field of the ‘me’, of the ‘I’, of the ego, or what you will.

On intelligence, he clarified:

Training the intellect does not result in intelligence. Rather, intelligence comes into being when one acts in perfect harmony, both intellectually and emotionally.

On being ambitious, he indicated that most ambitions arise out of fear. You are not really ambitious – you are actually fearful of being authentically yourself.

The real opportunity, in his words, is:

…to do something marvelously, completely truly according to what you think; this is not ambition, in that there is not fear.

Finally:

We are talking about the necessity of gathering all energy to bring about a radical revolution in consciousness itself, because we must have a new mind; we must look at life totally differently. To bring about this explosion we must find out how we waste our energies.