J. Krishnamurti

Pupul Jayakar

Description

A classic biography of one of the greatest spiritual teachers of our times In 1909, when he was just fourteen, Krishnamurti was proclaimed the world teacher in whom Maitreya, the Bodhisattva of compassion, would manifest. The proclamation was made by Annie Besant, then president of the Theosophical Society, a movement that combined Western occult philosophy with Buddhist and Hindu teachings. Besant trained Krishnamurti in his role as the chosen one but twenty years later he chose to disband the order he was head of and set out alone on his endless journey As a contemporary of Krishnamurti and one of his closest associates. Pupul Jayakar offers an insider's view of the fascinating life and thought of an extraordinary individual.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Penguin Books Ltd
• Date de parution: 14 octobre 2000
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789351182849
• Langue: English

Extrait

Pupul Jayakar
J. Krishnamurti
A Biography
PENGUIN BOOKS
Contents
About the Author
Dedication
Preface
A Song Bestowed Upon a Tethered Bird
Part 1: The Young Krishnamurti 1895-1946
Chapter 1: In Space One Is Born and Unto Space One Is Born
Chapter 2: The Theosophical Society and the Occult Hierarchy
Chapter 3: The Dream: Is That You My Lord?
Chapter 4: Mother, Please Touch My Face. Is It Still There?
Chapter 5: Our Life Here Is One of Intense Inner Activity.
Chapter 6: I and My Brother Are One
Chapter 7: The Personality of J. Krishnamurti Has Been Swallowed Up in the Flames.
Chapter 8: Krishnamurti in Ojai: The Forgotten Years, 1938-1947
Part 2: Krishnamurti in India 1947-1949
Chapter 9: The Gathering of the Friends
Chapter 10: You Are the World.
Chapter 11: Go and Make Friends with the Trees.
Chapter 12: There Was the Face Beside Me.
Chapter 13: Why Don t You Begin to Clean Your Front Doorstep, the Part of Your Street Which Is Yourself.
Chapter 14: Under the Last Rays of the Sun, the Waters Were the Color of Newborn Flowers.
Chapter 15: The Mind Operating as Part of the Whole Is Endless.
Part 3: The Unfolding of the Teaching 1950-1959
Chapter 16: Religion Comes When the Mind Has Understood the Workings of Itself
Chapter 17: The Mind Seemed to Expand without an End
Chapter 18 Can There Be Action Without Consequence?
Chapter 19: To Speak with the Whole Head
Part 4: The Rivers of Insight 1960-1962
Chapter 20: Through Negation There Is Creation.
Chapter 21: The Mind That Goes into Itself Deeply Enters on a Pilgrimage from Which There Is No Return.
Chapter 22: Be Awake.
Chapter 23: Happy Is the Man Who is Nothing : Letters to a Young Friend
Part 5: Changing Horizons 1962-1977
Chapter 24: People Who Are without Creativity Build Dead Institutions.
Chapter 25: It Is Necessary to Ask Questions to Which There Are No Answers.
Chapter 26: Love Does Not Suffer.
Chapter 27: The Observer Is the Observed.
Chapter 28: The Pebble in the Pond
Chapter 29: Riding the Back of a Tiger.
Chapter 30: She Is Very Vulnerable.
Chapter 31: Don t Hold Memories of Her in Your Mind, that Holds Her to the Earth. Let Her Go.
Part 6: The Summation of the Teaching 1978-1985
Chapter 32: Can You from Today Look at the Thirty Years, as the Past? Not from the Thirty Years Look at Today?
Chapter 33: Energy Is Cosmos, It Is Also Chaos. That Is the Source of Creation.
Chapter 34: Negation and the Ancient Mind
Chapter 35: One Touched the Source of the Energy of All Things.
Chapter 36: Doubt as the Essence of Religious Enquiry
Chapter 37: I Suddenly Saw the Face.
Chapter 38: Is It Possible to Keep the Brain Very Young?
Chapter 39: The Nature of God
Chapter 40: The Meaning of Death
Chapter 41: Learn to Die to Yourself Completely
Chapter 42: The Limits of Thought
Chapter 43: How Far Can One Travel?
Chapter 44: The Good Mind
Chapter 45: What Is Time?
Chapter 46: The Lineage of Compassion
Chapter 47: No Beginning, No End : Krishnamurti at Ninety
Epilogue
Illustrations
Endnotes
Footnotes
“A Song Bestowed Upon a Tethered Bird”
Chapter 3: The Dream: “Is That You My Lord?”
Chapter 4: “Mother, Please Touch My Face. Is It Still There?”
Chapter 5: “Our Life Here Is One of Intense Inner Activity.”
Chapter 6: “I and My Brother Are One”
Chapter 7: “The Personality of J. Krishnamurti Has Been Swallowed Up in the Flames.”
Chapter 8: Krishnamurti in Ojai: The Forgotten Years, 1938-1947
Chapter 9: The Gathering of the Friends
Chapter 11: “Go and Make Friends with the Trees.”
Chapter 14: “Under the Last Rays of the Sun, the Waters Were the Color of Newborn Flowers.”
Chapter 16: “Religion Comes When the Mind Has Understood the Workings of Itself”
Chapter 18 “Can There Be Action Without Consequence?”
> Chapter 19: “To Speak with the Whole Head”
Chapter 22: “Be Awake.”
Chapter 24: “People Who Are without Creativity Build Dead Institutions.”
Chapter 29: “Riding the Back of a Tiger.”
Chapter 30: “She Is Very Vulnerable.”
Chapter 31: “Don’t Hold Memories of Her in Your Mind, that Holds Her to the Earth. Let Her Go.”
Chapter 36: “Doubt as the Essence of Religious Enquiry”
Copyright
About the Author
Pupul Jayakar was born in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, in 1915. She has been closely involved with the development of indigenous culture, handicrafts and textiles in India since the country achieved independence in 1947.
She was president of the Krishnamurti Foundation from 1968 to 1978; she has also served on the boards of several cultural institutions and has written many books on Indian art.
Pupul Jayakar is currently vice president of the Krishnamurti Foundation India, executive vice chairman of the Indian Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, chairman of the Festival of India Advisory Committee, vice president of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, vice chairman of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust and an adviser to the Prime Minister of India on heritage and cultural resources.
Pupul Jayakar lives in New Delhi.
To Krishnaji with profound Pranaums
Preface
In the late 1950s Krishnaji, as J. Krishnamurti is known in India and to his friends throughout the world, suggested that I write a book on his life, based on the notes I had kept since I first met him in 1948. I began writing this book in 1978.
I have attempted to write of Krishnamurti the man, the teacher, and his relationships with the many men and women who formed part of the Indian landscape. The book concentrates on Krishnaji s life in India between 1947 and 1985, but some recording of his early life became necessary as a backdrop to the unfoldment of the story of the young Krishnamurti. Some new material, hitherto unpublished, has also been included.
The reader will soon notice that Krishnamurti is called by several different names in this book. I have referred to Krishnamurti as Krishna when he was a young person, for so he was known; as Krishnaji from 1947, for by then he was to me the great Teacher and Seer. Ji is a term of respect added to names both of men and women in North India; in an old-fashioned household even the child s name has the suffix added, for it is considered discourteous to address a person by her or his first name. In South India no suffix is added and ji is unknown. It is likely that Annie Besant, because of her close associations with Varanasi, added the ji to Krishna s name as a term of endearment and respect.
Most religious teachers in India have a prefix added to their names, such as Maharshi, Acharya, Swami, or Bhagwan. Krishnaji never accepted any such title. Krishnaji referred to himself in the dialogues or in his diaries either as K or as the impersonal we, to suggest an absence of the I, the ego s sense of individuality. In this book, therefore, when I refer to the man or the teacher in an impersonal manner, I refer to him as Krishnamurti or as K.
Krishnaji agreed to hold dialogues with me, and these form part of the book. Most of the writing is from notes kept by me during or immediately after conversations or dialogues. From 1972 onwards, some of the dialogues were on tape and have been taken from there.
Certain incidents discussed in the book-Krishnaji s meetings with Indira Gandhi, his relationship with Annie Besant-could have become controversial. These chapters I read aloud to Krishnaji for his comments. I also sent Indira Gandhi the chapter on her meetings with him; she suggested some minor changes, which have been incorporated.
I wish to acknowledge my deep gratitude to Sri Rajiv Gandhi for permission to include the letters of Indira Gandhi; to the Krishnamurti Foundation, England, for permission to publish the dialogues held by me with Krishnaji at Brockwood Park; to the Krishnamurti Foundation, India, for permission to publish the dialogues and talks in India; to Smt. Radha Burnier, President, Theosophical Society, for all her kindness and help in making available material from the archives of the Theosophical Society; to Sri Achyut Patwardhan for his many conversations; to Smt. Sunanda Patwardhan for giving me access to her notes and personal records; to my daughter Radhika and her husband, Hans Herzberger, for their critical comments; to Sri Murli Rao for certain manuscripts he brought to my notice; and to the many other friends who have shared their experiences with me. I would also like to acknowledge Sri Asoke Dutt for his friendship and immense help in making the publication possible; to Mr. Clayton Carlson of Harper & Row for his valuable suggestions, interest, and support; to Sri Benoy Sarkar for his valuable help in sorting out and collating the photographs; to the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad; to the heirs of Mitter Bedi; to Asit Chandmal; Mark Edwards, and A. Hamid, for permission to use their photographs; to A. V. Jose for his overall support and supervision; and to M. Janardhanan for bearing with me in preparing the manuscript.
A Song Bestowed Upon a Tethered Bird
Awake, arise, having approached the great teacher, learn The road is difficult, the crossing is as the sharp edge of a razor.
KATHA UPANISHAD III
I first met Krishnamurti in January 1948. I was thirty-two years of age and had come to live in Bombay after marrying my husband, Manmohan Jayakar, in 1937. My only child, a daughter, Radhika, was born a year later.
India had been independent for five months and I saw a sweet future stretching ahead. My own entry into politics was imminent. It was a time when men and women involved in the freedom struggle had also turned to what was then known as social or constructive programs initiated by Mahatma Gandhi. This covered every aspect of nation building, particularly those activities related to village India. From 1941 I became very active in organizational matters related to village women s welfare, cooperatives, cottage industries. For me, it was a tough and rigorous initiation.