Krishnamurti & the Art of Awakening

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Krishnamurti Quote of the Day

Public Talk, 22nd February 1948 | Mumbai, India

So, meditation is self-knowledge, and without self-knowledge there is no meditation. If you are not aware of all your responses all the time, if you are not fully conscious, fully cognizant of your daily activities, merely to lock yourself in a room and sit down in front of a picture of your guru, of your Master, to do puja, to meditate, is an escape. Because, without self-knowledge there is no right thinking, and without right thinking, what you do has no meaning, however noble your intentions are. So, prayer has no significance without self-knowledge; but when there is self-knowledge, there is right thinking, and hence right action. When there is right action, there is no confusion, and therefore there is no supplication to someone else to lead you out of it. A man who is fully aware, is meditating; he does not pray, because he does not want anything. Through prayer, through regimentation, through repetition, through japam and all the rest of it, you can bring about a certain stillness; but that is mere dullness, reducing the mind and the heart to a state of weariness. It is drugging the mind; and exclusion, which you call concentration, does not lead to reality, no exclusion ever can. What brings about understanding is self-knowledge, and it is not very difficult to be aware if there is right intention. If you are interested to discover the whole process of yourself - not merely the superficial part, but the total process of your whole being - , then it is comparatively easy. If you really want to know yourself, you will search out your heart and your mind to know their full content; and when there is the intention to know, you will know. Then you can follow, without condemnation or justification, every movement, of thought and feeling; and by following every thought and every feeling as it arises, you bring about tranquillity which is not compelled, not regimented, but which is the outcome of having no problem, no contradiction. It is like the pool that becomes peaceful, quiet, any evening when there is no wind; and when the mind is still, then that which is immeasurable comes into being.

Tags: meditation, self-knowledge

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You are forcing your mind to fix itself on an idea which is not born of innate and vital interest, because if it were, there would be no conflict, you would concentrate spontaneously and without effort.
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Surely, meditation is understanding - meditation of the heart is understanding.
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Understanding the thought process is the beginning of meditation, which is self-knowledge.
Stillness comes to the mind only through self-knowledge - not through denial of the self or acceptance of the self, but through understanding every movement, every thought, every feeling of the self, both the high and the low.
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Until I, in my relationship to you, understand myself, I am the cause of chaos, misery, destruction, fear, brutality.
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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.
Self-knowledge as distinct from factual knowledge or the knowledge of a technique, is not a matter of learning from another;
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.
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.