Unconditionally free

Jiddu Krishnamurti would have bristled at being called a philosopher. The philosophy fraternity, too, would take umbrage at the suggestio...

Jiddu Krishnamurti would have bristled at being called a philosopher. The philosophy fraternity, too, would take umbrage at the suggestion, since he dismissed their speculation as pointless. But what else do you call someone who spent 60 years talking about freedom, death, fear, the purpose of life and the nature of intelligence?

It is not easy to approach Krishnamurti. The Teachings are not easy to understand, primarily because he refused to systemise them and in the case of Krishnamurti, we also have to contend with the wealth of material over a hundred books and many audio and video tapes. And his fascinating personal story distracts one away from the Teachings.

An obscure boy is picked up on the beaches of Adyar by the Theosophists at the turn of the century, and proclaimed their long-awaited messiah, The World Teacher. In 1929, he turns his back on them, saying that he wants no followers or disciples. He only wants to make man 8220;unconditionally free8221;.Not just free, but unconditionally free. In oneform or another, this is the message which underpins his talks and dialogues. What is this conditionality Krishnamurti speaks of? It is the conditioning of individual mind by society. Krishnamurti wants to end this conditioning through a psychological revolution, a fire in the mind, which leads to what he called 8220;choiceless awareness8221;.

Krishnamurti averred that this change could be brought about by oneself. You don8217;t need a guru or a teacher to give you a mantra or guidance to bring about this change. There may be someone who will open the door, but no one to take your hand and guide you to the other side of the door. Krishnamurti often described himself as an instrument, a telephone, a mirror or a radio through which others could see or hear themselves.

He denies the transferability of experience: 8220;A theory based on another man8217;s experience in the matter of the psyche has no meaning at all8230; we have to let go completely because we have to stand alone.8221; He invites us to a most radical self-inquiry,in which by finding out what we are not, we find what we are. According to Krishnamurti, 8220;When one sees life as it is, when one sees oneself as one is, only from there can one move ahead.8221; When someone dies, we hold on to the memory of that person because we are afraid of the loneliness in which we have been plunged. We have to discover the cause of this fear, and then move on.

Krishnamurti used that old platonic and Buddhist standby, the dialogue, to bring his message home. But he warned that 8220;what the speaker is saying has very little importance in itself. The really important thing is for the mind to be so effortlessly aware that it is in a state of understanding all the time. If we don8217;t understand and merely listen to words, we invariably go away with a series of concepts or ideas, thereby establishing a pattern to which we then try to adjust ourselves in our daily or so-called spiritual lives.8221;

Like Sri Aurobindo, who spoke of integral yoga, but gave no method to practice it, Krishnamurtiinsisted that mediation was not a method, but a process: 8220;Meditation8230; is absolutely no effort, no achievement, no thinking, the brain is quiet, not made quiet by will, by intention, by conclusion it is quiet. And, being quiet, it has infinite space.8221; Or again: 8220;There is only the problem, there is no answer, for in the understanding of the problem lies its solution.8221;

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Reading or listening to Krishnamurti is a deeply moving experience. Simple words hammer at the core of your being, leaving you shaken out of your complacency. There is a line in Krishnamurti8217;s speech disassociating himself from the Theo-sophists which resonates across time and space: 8220;I maintain that Truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever.8221; That, is the crux of Krishnamurti8217;s Teachings.