Page 206 - JOURNAL OF THE KRISHNAMURTI SCHOOLS

the journal of the krishnamurti schools no.25

The true meaning of religion
Mankind has lost itself in a labyrinth of its own making and its
technical dominance and selfish ways is the greatest threat to its
own survival as well as to the sustainability of life on the only liv-
ing planet in the known universe. Krishnamurti’s insights into the
nature of consciousness are fundamental in the understanding
and ending of violence and sorrow, which are the core endemic
problems facing humanity since time immemorial. This author
cannot think of a more relevant and urgent endeavour than the
unfolding of the liberating potential of self-knowledge that the
teachings so sensitively and truthfully reflect. This potential is
not merely a matter of bringing about a quality of moral integrity
and the corresponding social and universal order, but of discov-
ering the inward or spiritual dimension he called the religious
mind.
Again, in K’s language words such as ‘meditation’, ‘wholeness’
and ‘religion’ acquire a profound significance. The word religion,
particularly in the West, has practically lost its meaning in our
time. And yet K’s teachings are essentially concerned, from begin-
ning to end, with awakening the religious spirit. His approach to
religion is perhaps the purest there has ever been, for it dissolves
all sectarian identity, dogma, authority and practice. It is perhaps
the most austere, for at its core lies his essential insight that truth
is a pathless land. And yet K also makes it clear that without the
total freedom of that timeless truth there cannot be a wholesome
culture or a peaceful world.
For this author K’s teachings represent a deep mirroring of the
human condition and the way of its liberation and wholeness.
That’s why they deserve the greatest attention, not only within the

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