Krishnamurti & the Art of Awakening

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Krishnamurti Quote of the Day

Group Discussion 27th November, 1947 | Madras, India

Self-knowledge as distinct from factual knowledge or the knowledge of a technique, is not a matter of learning from another; it can come about only through awareness. No understanding or comprehension can come when our relationship is that of the teacher and the taught, a Master and a Disciple, or a Guru and a 'Sishya'. Learning is not understanding; it is really destructive, whereas understanding is creative. Understanding comes only through communion, which is possible only when there is deep love.

These discussions are meant to establish that extraordinary depth of understanding in which right relationship with another can be established.

Tags: self-knowledge

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Demand is born out of duality. 'I am un- happy and I must be happy.'
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Self-knowledge is not a conclusion, an end; it has no beginning and no end.
To go beyond the self-enclosing activities of the mind, you must understand them;
Until I, in my relationship to you, understand myself, I am the cause of chaos, misery, destruction, fear, brutality.
Self-knowledge is only from moment to moment, and therefore there is a creative happiness from moment to moment.
Man is a total process. The totality must be understood and not merely a part, however temporarily important this part may be.
If you find the garden that you have so carefully cultivated has produced only poisonous weeds, you have to tear them out by the roots;
Self-knowledge is the beginning of wisdom.
To be fully aware of the present is an extraordinarily difficult task because the mind is incapable of facing a fact directly without deception.
Is it possible for the mind to be so attentive all the time, so sensitive that every challenge is answered completely and immediately, and to come to a state when there is no challenge and no response, when it is no longer in a state of experiencing?
We are attempting to understand ourselves, to open up the hidden corners of the mind, to see the various escapes, so that spontaneously we shall face life, deeply and fully.
Instead of being concerned with the change that must take place in ourselves, let us see if we have preconceived ideas of what we should be.
If we can but realize that it is not how another acts that is of primary importance, but how each one of us acts and reacts and if that reaction and action can be fundamentally, deeply understood, then relationship will undergo a deep and radical change.
If you can find out what are the causes of your thought-feeling, and from that discovery know how to think-feel, then there is the beginning of understanding.
In understanding myself, I shall understand my relationship with another, with the world; for in me, as in each one, is the whole;
Without self-knowledge, to make a choice between the opposites must inevitably lead to further ignorance and sorrow.
What is important is to become aware of every thought-feeling, from which arises self-knowledge.
Gentleness, compassion, is not the result of suppression or substitution but is the outcome of self-knowledge and right thinking.
We can think - feel completely only when we are not seeking a result, an end.
Through the present the past is revealed;
Do not depend on time but be arduous in the search of self-knowledge.
... through self-knowledge thought-feeling frees itself from its own self-created impediments of ill will and ignorance, worldliness and craving
Self-knowledge is a process of creative discovery which is hindered when thought-feeling is concerned with gain.
Constant alertness is arduous because we are lazy; we would rather gain through others, through much reading, but information is not self-knowledge.
Understanding is not substitution; mere change of patterns, of conclusions, does not yield understanding.
Seeking security is an indication that you do not know what you are.
Self-knowledge is not an end in itself. It is like following a stream to its source. Is there a source to a stream? Surely not.
If you go into this problem [of self-knowledge] and become aware of its significance you will see what it reveals and that is what I have just now shown - a series of imitations, a series of habits, a series of clouds, and memories.
I mean by self-knowledge, not the mysterious, the hidden, the super-self, the higher self, the Atman or anything of that kind;
We use belief as the most gratifying means to guide ourselves.
Mere gathering of knowledge from books really conditions your mind because you search for security in knowledge, and you agree with what is pleasant to you;
Self-knowledge is the beginning of meditation - not the knowledge that you pick up from my books, from authorities, from gurus, but the knowledge that comes into being through self-inquiry, which is self-awareness.
To know the deeply concealed activities, the hidden motives, responses, thoughts and feelings, there must be tranquillity in the conscious mind; that is, the conscious mind must be still in order to receive the projection of the unconscious.
Without self-knowledge there is no right thinking, and without right thinking, what you do has no meaning, however noble your intentions are.
Experiencing is not possible to him for whom the result is far more important than the means;
Very few of us have self-knowledge, the knowledge of what one actually is.
You must understand where you are limited, the extent of your limitation; you must be passively aware of it, and in that passivity truth comes into being.