Jiddu Krishnamurti - Quodid

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Picture of Jiddu Krishnamurti

Jiddu Krishnamurti (pronounced /ˈdʒɪduː ˌkrɪʃnəˈmʊərti/ ; 11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was an Indian spiritual figure, speaker, and writer. Adopted by members of the Theosophical Society as a child, Krishnamurti was raised to fill the mantle of the prophesied World Teacher, a role tasked with aiding humankind's spiritual evolution. In 1922, he began to suffer from painful, seizure-like mystical episodes that would produce a lasting change in his perception of reality. In 1929, he broke from the Theosophy movement and disbanded the Order of the Star in the East, a related movement which had been formed around him. He spent the rest of his life speaking to groups and individuals around the world, hoping to contribute a radical transformation of mankind.

Jiddu Krishnamurti is sometimes cited as:

J. Krishnamurti
Krishnamurti

Quotes from Jiddu Krishnamurti

Our education, our environment, our whole culture insists that we must become something. Our philosophies, our religions and sacred books all say the same thing. But now I see that the very process of becoming something implies envy, which means that I am not satisfied with being what I am; and I want to understand what I am, I want to find out why I am always comparing myself with another, trying to become something; and in understanding what I am there is no need for discipline. In the process of that understanding, integration comes into being. The contradiction in me yields to the understanding of myself, and this in turn brings an action which is integral, whole.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti in Think on These Things

religion philosophy being becoming

Really to live requires a great deal of love, a great feeling for silence, a great simplicity with an abundance of experience; it requires a mind that is capable of thinking very clearly, that is not bound by prejudice or superstition, by hope or fear.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti in Think on These Things

love fear hope silence simplicity prejudice

True education is to learn how to think, not what to think. If you know how to think, if you really have that capacity, then you are a free human being—free of dogmas, superstitions, ceremonies—and therefore you can find out what religion is.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti in Think on These Things

freedom religion education dogma

If you can look at yourself without condemning what you see, without comparing yourself with somebody else, without wishing to be more beautiful or more virtuous; if you can just observe what you are and move with it, then you will find that it is possible to go infinitely far. Then there is no end to the journey, and that is the mystery, the beauty of it.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti in Think on These Things

others virtue beauty self mystery self-image journey comparing

It is only when you don’t vitally feel the truth of something that you say it is difficult to put it into action.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti in Think on These Things

feeling awareness action

The understanding of what you actually are is far more important than the pursuit of what you should be.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti in Think on These Things

what you are understanding

Because we are inwardly empty, dull, mediocre, we use our relationships and our social reforms as a means of escaping from ourselves. I wonder if you have noticed how lonely most people are?

—Jiddu Krishnamurti in Think on These Things

loneliness relationships activism

If you can understand loneliness and go beyond it, then you will find there is no need to escape, no urge to be gratified or entertained, for your mind will know a richness that is incorruptible and cannot be destroyed.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti in Think on These Things

mind loneliness satisfaction entertainment gratitude

You want to be loved because you do not love; but the moment you love, it is finished, you are no longer inquiring whether or not somebody loves you. As long as you demand to be loved, there is no love in you; and if you feel no love, you are ugly, brutish, so why should you be loved? Without love you are a dead thing; and when the dead thing asks for love, it is still dead. Whereas, if your heart is full of love, then you never ask to be loved, you never put out your begging bowl for someone to fill it.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti in Think on These Things

love life heart death fullness wanting demands ugliness

You must find out for yourself what it is you love to do. Don’t think in terms of choosing a vocation in order to fit into society, because in that way you will never discover what you love to do. When you love to do something, there is no problem of choice. When you love, and let love do what it will, there is right action, because love never seeks success, it is never caught up in imitation; but if you give your life to something which you don’t love, you will never be free.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti in Think on These Things

love freedom vocation career society self-discovery right action success

The mind which is alert, watchful, which is free of fear, is an innocent mind; and it is only the innocent mind that can understand reality, truth or God.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti in Think on These Things

truth understanding reality God mindfulness fear innocence

Ideals are a curse because they prevent you from thinking directly, simply and truly, when you are faced with facts. The ideal, the what should be, is an escape from what is. The what is is the fact that you are afraid—afraid of what your parents will say, of what people will think, afraid of society, afraid of disease, death; and if you face what is, look at it, go into it even though it brings you misery, and understand it, then you will find that your mind becomes extraordinarily simple, clear; and in that very clarity there is the cessation of fear.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti in Think on These Things

fear simplicity society facts thinking misery ideal

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti

society disease mental health

Don't put your faith in anyone. You have it all inside you. You're always asking the masters. Why don't you ask yourselves? Forget the masters.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti

faith experts masters

Everyone who receives the protection of society owes a return for the benefit.

—Jiddu Krishnamurti

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Books

Jiddu Krishnamurti has the following books quoted on Quodid:

Think on These Things