early Krishnamurti

November 30, 1999

Dear Gloria,

I agree with you that J.K.'s act

in dissolving the Order of the Star

in the East is very remarkable.

This is the act of a FREE MAN!

Alan Watts talked about J.K. in his

"In My Own Way - An Autobiography":

Just after World War I, Annie Besant, then president of the

Theosophical Society in Madras, proclaimed him avatar, incarnation

of the Christ, and Savior of the World. In his honor she founded the

Order of the Star in the East, which had offices all over the world, and

he was given a castle in the Netherlands, Schloss Erde, at Ommen,

and a stadium in Australia. But supposing that Krishnamurti was

indeed the jagad-guru, the world teacher, HOW WOULD HE HAVE

RESPONDED TO SUCH ADULATION? He would have done exactly

what he did, which was--in 1928--to dissolve the Order of the Star,

and to proclaim that he was not a guru and acknowledged no disciples.

Nevertheless, this incredibly gracious man goes on giving lectures

and is surrounded with nondisciples.

And Henry Miller in the Chapter Krishnamurti

of his "The Books in My Life":

There is a name ... which stands out in contrast to all that is secret,

suspect, cofusing, bookish and enslaving: Krishnamurti. Here is one

man of our time who may be said to be a master of reality. He stands

alone. He has renounced more than any man I can think of, except

the Christ. Fundamentally he is so simple to understand that it is

easy to comprehend the confusion which his clear, direct words and

deeds have entailed. Men are reluctant to accept what is easy to

grasp. Out of a perversity deeper than all Satan's wiles, man refuses

to acknowledge his own God-given rights: he demands deliverance or

salvation by and through an intermediary; he seeks guides, counsellors,

leaders, systems, rituals. He looks for solutions which are in his own

breast. He puts learning above wisdom, power above the art of

discrimination. But above all, he refuses to work for his own liberation,

pretending that first "the world" must be liberated. Yes, as Krishnamurti

has pointed out time and again, the world problem is bound up with

the problem of the individual. TRUTH IS EVER PRESENT. ETERNITY

IS HERE AND NOW. And salvation? What is it, O man, that you

wish to save? YOUR PETTY EGO? Your soul? Your identity? Lose

it and you will find yourself. Do not worry about God--God knows

how to take care of Himself. Cultivate your doubts, embrace every

kind of experience, keep on desiring, strive neither to forget nor to

remember, but assimilate and integrate what you have experienced.

Roughly, this is Krishnamurti's way of speaking. It must be revolting

at times to answer all the petty, stupid questions which people are

forever putting to him. Emancipate yourself! he urges. No one else

will, because no one else can. This voice from the wilderness is,

of course, the voice of a leader. But Krishnamurti has renounced

that role too.

[...]

What distinguishes Krishnamurti, even from the great teachers of

the past, the masters and the exemplars, is his absolute nakedness.

The one role he permits himself to play is--himself, a human being.

Clad only in the frailty of the flesh, he relies entirely upon the spirit

which is one with the flesh. If he has a mission it is to strip men

of their illusions and delusions, to knock away the false supports

of ideals, beliefs, fetishes, every kind of crutch, and thus render back

to man the full majesty, the full potency, of his humanity. He has

often been referred to as "the World Teacher." If any man living

merits the title, he does. But to me the important thing about

Krishnamurti is that he imposes himself upon us not as a teacher,

nor even as a Master, but as a MAN--"Find out for yourself," he says,

"what are the possessions and ideals that you do not desire. By

knowing what you do not want, by elimination, you will unburden the

mind, and only then will it understand the essential which is ever

there."

Be Well,

KKT

==================================

<<

"Gloria Lee" <glee

Having just read a biography of the early years of K's life, the well known

facts of his being raised and prepared to become the World Teacher of the

Theosophical Society are now a vivid story to me. Considering how his entire

life from childhood on had been controlled and planned to fulfill these

expectations, his courage to renounce not only that role, but the entire

belief system of the organization as well..it is simply remarkable. He had

no relationships outside the society and even without considering his

financial dependence on the organization itself, I can believe he sincerely

regretted the need to put aside the life's work of those persons closest to

him. While the actual dissolution took a few years, what follows is an

excerpt from his first revolutionary speech to address the issue of his

beliefs, entitled, "Who Brings the Truth." (1927) It makes for a nice advent

meditation. -Glo

I have been asked what I mean by 'the Beloved.' I will give you a meaning,

an explanation, which you will interpret as you please. To me it is all --

it is Sri Krishna, it is the Master K.H., it is the Lord Maitreya, it is the

Buddha, and yet it is beyond all these forms. What does it matter what name

you give?

... What you are troubling about is whether there is such a person as the

World Teacher who has manifested Himself in the body of a certain person,

Krishnamurti; but in the world nobody will trouble about this question. So

you will see my point of view when I talk about my Beloved. It is an

unfortunate thing that I have to explain, but I must. I want it to be as

vague as possible, and I hope I have made it so. My Beloved is the open

skies, the flower, every human being. . . . Till I was able to say with

certainty, without any undue excitement, or exaggeration in order to

convince others, that I was one with my Beloved, I never spoke. I talked of

vague generalities which everybody 'wanted. I never said: I am the World

Teacher; but now that I feel I am one with my Beloved, I say it, not in

order to impress my authority on you, not to convince you of my greatness,

nor of the greatness of the World Teacher, nor even of the beauty of life,

but merely to awaken the desire in your hearts and in your own minds to seek

out the Truth. If I say, and I will say, that I am one with the Beloved, it

is because I feel and know it. I have found what I longed for, I have become

united,

so that henceforth there will be no separation, because my thoughts, my

desires, my longings-those of the individual self-have been destroyed.... I

am as the flower that gives scent to the morning air. It does not concern

itself with who is passing by.... Until now you have been depending on the

two Protectors of the Order [Mrs Besant and Leadbeater] for authority, on

someone else to tell you the Truth, whereas the Truth lies within you. In

your own hearts, in your own experience, you will find the Truth, and that

is the only thing of value. . . . My purpose is not to create discussions on

authority, on the rnanifestations in the personality of Krishnamurti, but to

give the waters that shall wash away your sorrows, your petty tyrannies,

your limitations, so that you will be free, so that you will eventually join

that ocean where there is no limitation, where there is the Beloved....

Does it really matter out of what glass you drink the water, so long as that

water is able to quench your thirst.... I have been united with my Beloved,

and my Beloved and I will wander together the face of the earth. . . . It is

no good asking me who is the Beloved. Of what use is explanation? For you

will not understand the Beloved until you are able to see Him in every

animal, in every blade of grass, in every person that is suffering, in every

individual.

>>

November 30, 1999