Think on these things...

We are seldom alone

We are so very seldom alone; always with people, with thoughts that crowd in, hopes that have not been fulfilled, or are going to be-recollections. To be alone is essential for man to be uninfluenced, for something uncontaminated to take place. For this aloneness there seems to be no time, there are too many things to do, too many responsibilities and so on. To learn to be quiet, shutting oneself in one’s room, to give the mind a rest, becomes a necessity. Love is part of this aloneness. To be simple, clear, and inwardly quiet, is to have that flame.

J Krishnamurti – Letters to a young friend

Can you watch your gestures, the way you walk, the way you talk…

By looking at the mirror everyday, you begin to know your face, and you say: “That is me.” Now can you in the same way know what you are by watching yourself? Can you watch your gestures, the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you behave, whether you are hard, cruel, rough, patient? Then you begin to know yourself. You know yourself by watching yourself in the mirror of what you are doing, what you are thinking, what you are feeling. That is the mirror—the feeling, the doing, the thinking. And in that mirror you begin to watch yourself.

Krishnamurti on Education

Very few sustain or maintain the quality of a mind that is young.

I think constant endeavor to be something, to become something, is the real cause of the destructiveness and the aging of the mind. Look how quickly we are aging, not only the people who are over 60, but also the young people. How old they are already, mentally! Very few sustain or maintain the quality of a mind that is young. I mean by young not the mind that merely wants to enjoy itself, to have a good time, but the mind that is uncontaminated, that is not scratched, warped, twisted by the accidents and incidents of life, a mind that is not worn out by struggle, by grief, by constant strivings. Surely it is necessary to have a young mind because the old mind is so full of the scars of memories that it cannot live, it cannot be earnest; it is a dead mind, a decided mind. A mind that has decided and lives according to its decisions is dead. But a young mind is always deciding anew, and a fresh mind does not burden itself with innumerable memories. A mind that carries no shadow of suffering, though it may pass through the valley of sorrow, remains unscratched.

I do not think such a young mind is to be acquired. It is not a thing that you can purchase through endeavor, through sacrifice. There is no coin to it and it is not a marketable thing, but if you see the importance of it, the necessity of it, if you see the truth of it, then something else takes place.

J. Krishnamurti – Daily Meditations

The moment you are ‘very clear’ about what you want to do, things happen.

Life is very strange. The moment you are ‘very clear’ about what you want to do, things happen. Life comes to your aid – a friend, a relation, a teacher, a grandmother, somebody helps you. But if you are afraid to try because your father may turn you out, then you are lost. Life never comes to the aid of those who merely yield to some demand out of fear. But if you say “This is what I really want to do and I am going to pursue it”, then you will find that something miraculous takes place. You may have to go hungry, struggle to get through, but you will be a worth while human being, not a mere copy, and that is the miracle of it.

J. Krishnamurti

Home | J Krishnamurti | Foundation | Publications | Study Centres | Schools | Reading Room | Book Store | Events | Contact Us

© Copyright 2003. Krishnamurti Foundation India
Designed and Maintained by Arvind Ranganathan